The chronic shortage of specialised mathematics teachers in Tasmania’s education system needs to be addressed “urgently”, experts warn.
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A “comprehensive plan” was needed to ensure all schools had appropriately trained mathematics teachers, the Mathematical Association of Tasmania president Brett Stephenson said.
“We currently have shortages of mathematics teachers and we believe that the situation will worsen as experienced teachers retire,” Mr Stephenson said.
University of Tasmania Associate Professor of mathematics Rosemary Callingham said there had been a shortage of specialised mathematics teachers “for some time now” that would likely worsen with the policy of all state school extending beyond grade 10.
“Particularly with the push to put on [grade] 12 in all schools, there’s no way we could cater even for the lowest level pre-tertiary course in Tasmania,” Professor Callingham said.
“There isn’t an overall strategy and that’s what we probably need.
“We need to encourage people to be thinking about maths teaching as a potential career.”
A report released on Sunday by the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth showed only 79 per cent of Australian grade 10 students met the international mathematics baseline, down 8 per cent from 2006.
Mr Stephenson urged both Labor and the Liberals to plan for an aging workforce of mathematics teachers and source the next generation of specialised teachers.
He said both Western Australia and the Northern Territory had been actively recruiting mathematics and science teachers away from the eastern states, offering attractive third or fourth-year salaries and remote living compensation.
Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff said the Liberals had pledged 35 specialist numeracy and literacy teachers, and enacted a $4.2 million strategy for specialist skills, including maths and science.
An audit proposed by opposition education spokeswoman Michelle O’Byrne would seek to identify how many teachers were teaching out of their own subjects.
She said following such an audit, Labor would seek to work with the University of Tasmania to better target workforce gaps.
Professor Callingham said a graduate certificate offered by UTAS and the Education Department to bridge skill shortages had encouraged teacher confidence in teaching out of their area, but more was needed to resolve the shortage.
