Minister Tehan could take the Plibersek or Pyne paths on teacher education entry

“Marks to get into teaching are getting lower and lower. The quality of some teaching degrees is simply not good enough. For years Labor has been saying we must take action to raise the standard. We believe our school kids deserve the best. When will the Libs do something to fix this?,” Labor education shadow Tanya Plibersek, via Twitter yesterday.

Smart politics, because the government has not taken the populist path of attacking teacher education faculties over entry scores.

Instead of demanding higher ATARS, former education ministers Chris Pyne and Simon Birmingham both acted to enforce new teacher ed standards, notably mandatory literacy and numeracy exams for graduates. And Education Minister Dan Tehan presents as a friend to classroom teachers, commissioning a House of Reps committee inquiry into the status of the profession (the election was called before the report was tabled, but the substance of the committees conclusions were in CMM for April 9).

But the ATAR has a powerful appeal for people who want higher entry scores to attract students who will combine teacher education degrees with building quantum computs. As Tania Aspland, deans of education association chair, said in April, “we, as the stakeholders, need to give the politicians something to run with if we don’t want them to run with the ATAR figure,” (CMM April 17)

The teacher ed community needs to watch which policy path Mr Tehan takes.