Applications for teaching positions decline in Australia

Entry scores for future teachers in Australia are predicted to fall despite criticism they are already too low, as demand for teaching places plummets across the nation. Applications for teaching places had plunged by 30% over two years in Queensland, and Western Australia is unlikely to fill places for the coming year. A leading educator, University of Queensland academic Ken Wiltshire, said teaching wasn’t “attracting enough knowledgeable or intelligent people.” “It’s a crisis. The tertiary entrance ranks are too low. The status of the profession is too low. We need to be talking it up and offering performance pay,” said Professor Wiltshire, who ran the Queensland Government’s curriculum review. Read more about the impending teacher shortage in The Australian online.