“That ICPA Qld lobbies the State Government and the Department of Education to cease sending teachers on Permission to Teach (PTT) to rural and remote schools.”
Rural and remote schools are finding it increasingly hard to attract quality teachers to their schools. Cost of living pressures, perceived limited social opportunities, and distance to family means that there are very few teachers willing to relocate into rural and remote areas.
To assist with this issue, the Department of Education allows, as a temporary solution to staffing shortages, many teachers to be on Permission to Teach (PTT) while still studying. Whilst they are supposed to be supervised by a qualified teacher, in a suitably staffed school and be endorsed as suitable for the position, they haven’t finished their degree and have NOT had practical time in a classroom.
Because of this many PTT teachers (especially those employed in a Secondary classroom) find it overwhelming, and very difficult to cope with students, lesson plans and their study load. This then leads to them resigning with little to no notice, leaving the students and schools in limbo. In rural and remote schools, access to relief teachers to fill this sudden void is very limited, thus stretching the available teaching resources, to the detriment of students and staff alike. This is also not a good outcome for the PTT teachers, leaving them with a poor experience in the classroom, and discouraging their teaching aspirations.
A better solution to the shortfall in staff in rural and remote schools would be to support and encourage the appointment of experienced teaching staff.
