Teacher-training applications at all-time high as salary boost raises profession’s popularity. Geoff Maslen reports

Record numbers of young Australians are being attracted to teaching as a career with universities reporting a surge in applications for places on teacher-training courses.

With the academic year due to begin late next month, demand for undergraduate teacher-training places in the two most populous states, Victoria and New South Wales, has jumped for the second year running.

In Victoria, applications are up by 20 per cent at some institutions on last year when there was a 25 per cent increase in demand.

Australia’s two oldest and most prestigious universities, Sydney and Melbourne, both experienced strong demand. Sydney received 400 applications for the 110 undergraduate primary teaching places.

At Melbourne, students’ first preferences for primary education were up 13 per cent and demand for early childhood studies rose by 16 per cent.

Educationists believe the Australia-wide trend is due to improved pay and conditions for graduate teachers, and wide publicity about a looming teacher shortage.

Following campaigning by the Australian Education Union over the past two years, most state governments have boosted teacher salaries so that a beginning teacher can now expect to earn $40,000 a year, rising to more than $50,000 (pound;14,300-pound;18,000) after a decade in the classroom.

However, due to low prices, in terms of spending power the Australian dollar is roughly equivalent to the British pound.

Teachers with additional responsibilities earn more while school principals now enjoy annual salaries of $70,000-$80,000 (pound;25,000-pound;28,700) , depending on the size of the school and their experience.

In Victoria, where schools have been given greater autonomy to appoint their own teachers - rather than have them appointed by the department - principals are also offering higher pay to attract teachers in high-demand subjects such as maths, science and ICT.

Warnings by deans of education that Australia is already facing a growing shortage of teachers, and reports that teacher recruitment agents from Britain and America have been here offering high wages, seem to be strongly inflencing student choices.

The deans are convinced students are choosing teacher-training courses because of the rising market demand. “People are aware of the shortage of teachers,” one dean said. “Students know it’s a safe job market.”

She said people were also realising the importance and value of teaching as a profession.

This is borne out by the fact that the surge in interest has occurred despite a buoyant economy: it is not a case of graduates turning to the teaching profession because of a lack of jobs in other sectors.

Cuts to university budgets and an apparent teacher surplus in the 1990s forced institutions to reduce teacher education intakes. This led to a slump in graduate numbers which are now insufficient to meet the growing demand from schools.