While national coverage continues to focus on acute shortages, particularly in regional and disadvantaged schools, new analysis shows that nation’s teaching workforce could grow by 4% if Australia revamps its skills recognition system.
According to Activate Australia’s Skills campaign, 20,590 qualified teachers currently underutilised nationwide. That equates to a potential 3.7% expansion of the workforce at a time when schools report growing teacher shortages and rising burnout.
For an industry facing these omnicrises, the question isn’t just “where are the teachers?”, but why thousands of qualified educators aren’t fully participating in the system.
According to Violet Roumeliotis, Activate Australia’s Skills spokesperson and CEO of campaign convener SSI, a big part of the problem lies with Australia’s skills recognition system.
“Australia’s costly system for recognising overseas-acquired skills and qualifications locks teachers out of the jobs they’re qualified for because of barriers unrelated to their skills: excessive fees, unnecessary red tape, slow and confusing processes, and a lack of accountability,” Roumeliotis told The Educator.
“Many teachers have already undergone a skills assessment to get their skilled visa in the first place, but having moved here, instead of teaching reading, writing and arithmetic, they’re working in retail, stacking shelves or driving rideshare.”
To address this, the Activate Australia’s Skills campaign is calling for four practical solutions that they believe will help get migrant teachers into the classroom.
“Firstly, we’re calling for one national governance system to be established for all overseas skills and qualifications recognition, including a Commissioner to make the system faster, fairer and more affordable,” Roumeliotis said.
“There must also be a more joined-up system that links skills recognition for migration purposes with licensing and accreditation for employment purposes.”
The campaign is also calling for practical measures to cut through financial and bureaucratic barriers that prevent skilled migrants from returning to the professions they’re trained for.
“Financial support must be provided for individuals to remove cost barriers and an online portal with all the information so people know what they need to do,” Roumeliotis said.
“Our campaign is also calling for Migrant Employment Pathway Hubs, or career gateways, with skills recognition navigators to guide people through the recognition process and get them working in their professions again.”