Strategies to reduce teacher workloads will be trialled as part of a national plan to tackle the causes of severe staff shortages in schools across the nation.
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The federal government will spend $25 million to work with states and territories on testing new approaches to ease the burden on "burnt out" teachers, freeing them up to focus on students.
Sharing lesson plans and relieving teachers of some administrative tasks could be some of the approaches trialled through the so-called Workload Reduction Fund.
The fund is part of a wider $328 million package announced as part of a draft plan to respond to national teacher shortage crisis.
Speaking at a conference for principals on Thursday, federal Education Minister Jason Clare said the crisis was 10 years in the making and the result of declining rates of school leavers enrolling in teaching degrees, high rates of students dropping out of courses and teachers quitting the profession in droves.
"So, not enough students going in, not enough coming out, and too many teachers leaving the profession they love," he said.
"That all comes together to create a teacher shortage crisis"
The new draft plan, which is out for consultation until December 1, includes 28 measures aimed at attracting, training and retaining teachers.
It includes Labor's election promise to offer bursaries of up to $40,000 to entice high-achieving school leavers to enrol in teaching degrees.
A national campaign to raise the profession's profile, growing the number of certified highly accomplished and lead teachers to 10,000 by 2025 and prioritising the processing of visas for qualified teachers are among other measures included in the draft plan.
Australian Education Union ACT branch president Angela Burroughs welcomed the federal government's interest in confronting the teacher shortage crisis.
But Ms Burroughs said the plan itself would not fix the shortages and it was up to the ACT government to address the most pressing problems - staff workload and pay.
She said the union was pushing for "clear limits" on staff workloads and competitive salaries in the latest round of enterprise bargaining with the government.
"Teachers are paid to work 36.75 hours a week and you wouldn't find a teacher that does ... they are doing an incredible amount of unpaid work," she said.
Ms Burroughs said generic or shared lesson plans might benefit some new teachers, but most preferred to adapt material to suit the needs of their students.
"It's not going to be the great solution that some have suggested," she said.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Dan covers federal politics from Parliament House, with a special focus on climate policy and the NDIS. He has previously reported on ACT politics and urban affairs since joining the Canberra Times in 2018.
Dan covers federal politics from Parliament House, with a special focus on climate policy and the NDIS. He has previously reported on ACT politics and urban affairs since joining the Canberra Times in 2018.
