Grattan Institute report suggests $800k pay rise to attract teachers

The Grattan Institute released a paper earlier this week that recommended sweeping reform to teaching recruitment and the education of future teachers to attract higher quality graduates into the field.

The report details an Australia-first survey of nearly 1000 young high achievers (aged 18-25 and with an ATAR of 80 or higher) which found that more bright young Australians would take up teaching if it offered higher top-end pay and greater career challenge.

"The low status of teaching in Australia has become self-reinforcing, putting off high achievers who might otherwise want to teach. By contrast, high-performing countries such as Singapore and Finland get many high-achieving students to apply, and then select the most promising candidates," Grattan Institute school education program director Peter Goss said.

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Australian Education Union Tasmania branch president Helen Richardson, who has long advocated for an increase to the wages of Tasmania's teachers, said the report would generate a "necessary conversation".

"Tasmania must present teaching as an attractive profession to high achievers. Any initiatives which help to attract and retain academically-successful students into teaching are worthy of consideration," she said.

Wage increases have remained central to the union's recent pay negotiations with the government, with the union calling to scrap the Tasmanian government's public service wage cap.

A key tenet of the union's negotiation is the claim Tasmania's teachers are the lowest paid in the country.

Mr Goss said Australia needed more high achievers in teaching because "great teachers are the key to better student performance".

Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff said several initiatives were in place to increase the quality and quantity of teachers in Tasmania.

"Tasmania's teachers also have access to high-quality professional learning through the department's Professional Learning Institute, which includes work done with the Hardie Fellowship," he said.

"Support is also provided to early career teachers to develop world-class teaching practices through the department's teacher intern placement program."

Mr Rockliff said the government would consider the recommendations made in the Grattan Institute report in line with the other work.