THERE ARE LESSONS IN IT FOR ALL
ALMOST 40,000 extra school teachers are expected to be needed by 2022, with certain skills in particular demand. New figures from the Employment Department predict in the five years to May, 2022, an extra 12,000 early childhood teachers, 11,000 primary teachers, 6000 high school teachers and 1000 special education teachers will be among those hired across Australia.
This would bring the national workforce of education professionals to almost 600,000.
School principal Julia Shea says the forecasts do not surprise her, as the student population is growing. “Although I have had to recruit from overseas on occasion, we’re in the fortunate position of being able to attract and retain highquality staff,” she says.
“However, across Australia there are numerous maths, physics and IT classes being taught by teachers who do not specialise in those areas. It’s also very difficult to recruit quality male primary teachers.”
Digital technologies and coding teacher Monique Green pursued teaching after an in- itial career in IT. She returned to university to study an intense postgraduate qualification and landed her first contract role within a month of graduation. Despite things working out for her very quickly, she says it was not “easy” as a lot of hard work went in beforehand.
“Jobs do not come easy,” she says. “Put in the time and the effort developing your teaching portfolio so you can show employers your potential.
“Preparing myself for a career in STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths), I wanted to understand how STEM is being taught now and how it will need to be taught to support the future success of our students.
“This involved building relationships with teachers at other schools to discuss current technology trends in education and, where possible, sharing resources. As an emerging STEM teacher, I feel that talking to and building as many contacts as possible in industry and education is the key to success.”
Green says anyone considering a career in teaching should choose subject areas they are passionate about. They should also find men- tors in the industry who share those passions.
“Be open with your potential employers about your aspirations,” she says.
“For teachers in digital technologies, learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.
“You will not have all the answers and that’s OK. You will make mistakes and have bad lessons, and you will learn from them.”