Teaching pathways to combat classroom shortages

The University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) is playing its part in getting the next generation of teachers to the front of the classroom faster than ever, amid a national teacher shortage.

But the fast-tracked teaching pathways won’t compromise on education quality, thanks to new research led by UniSQ School of Education senior lecturer Dr Ellen Larsen, alongside her colleagues Associate Professor Mia O'Brien, Dr Lisa Ryan and Dr Katie Cawte.

Dr Larsen said the team’s research project would investigate the experiences of preservice teachers learning to teach, whilst also being paid to teach in Queensland classrooms.

“We have a number of pathways now where we have preservice teachers who are still studying to be teachers, but they’re also employed and working as teachers in schools,” Dr Larsen said.

“Our research is making sure that our preservice teachers are still experiencing high quality and equitable teacher preparation and learning while they’re undertaking these pathways.”

Dr Larsen said UniSQ was in a unique position to investigate the experiences of these practising preservice teachers because it was one of the only universities to offer all three different teaching pathways available to preservice teachers in Queensland.

The three pathways include Queensland Government internship initiatives Trade to Teach and Turn to Teaching, as well as opportunities to undertake Permission to Teach, which allows a school to employ a pre-service teacher if they are unable to recruit a fully qualified teacher.

“Australia is experiencing an escalating teacher shortage and one way of addressing that issue is to draw on these eager and passionate preservice teachers who are keen to get out and into classrooms,” she said.

“But because all these opportunities for pre-service teachers have escalated really quickly, we’re still learning how to support them in the best way possible. It is an ongoing process of transformation as we strive for excellence in preparing our teachers.

“We are excited to have the opportunity to work with the Queensland Department of Education and the range of stakeholders involved in this work who are all committed to quality teacher education.”

This research project is funded by a Queensland Government Education Horizon grant.

It is an 18-month project, but Dr Larsen said she hoped to share some initial findings by the end of 2024.

Find out more about studying Education at UniSQ.