According to the Daily Telegraph, the number of students applying for a teaching degree has fallen sharply for the first time, with some universities reporting that the number of students applying for admission has even fallen by 40 percent.
Teachers, once one of Australia's most popular professions, have seen a sharp decline in the number of students applying for a teaching degree in recent years, experts say, as a result of the ill-being of the teaching profession and violence.
As national standards of education fall, some have begun to worry about whether many teachers are competent enough for the job.
The federal education minister Dan Tehan this week announced a parliamentary inquiry into the state of the teaching profession in the hope of stopping the problem from getting worse. Questioning will explore ways to make teaching more attractive, lighten the burden on teachers after work and ease job burnout among graduates.
"Australia has the best teachers and principals in the world, and we need to do more to increase respect for this profession among students and the wider community," Tehan said.
In addition, the low starting salary of the new teachers and the difficulty to get a high salary are one of the reasons for the decrease in the number of people who learn to teach.
This year, graduates of the public system teaching major earn 67,000 yuan a year, roughly in line with the annual salary of administrative assistants who do not have a degree.
It's worrisome that the University of Australia, alliance, has admitted that fewer people are learning to teach, "says director Catriona Jackson, an executive at the University of Australia."
This year, the number of students studying in university courses has fallen by 11.4%.
Council of Deans of Education Chairman Tania Aspland said the Catholic University of Australia and The University of Western Sydney were the institutions with the largest drop in teaching students.
"in some universities, between 2015 and 2017, the number of students applying for a degree in teaching dropped even 40 percent," Aspland said. "Social criticism of teachers has also contributed to the decline in the number of applicants, and the public image of the profession has been tarnished. David Browne, executive officer of the Council of Professional Teachers, says he can understand why people are not interested in teaching. " Society continues to focus on the wrong things, the broken things, and the problems that need to be solved. "
Browne points out that young people considering teaching will talk to their current educators. " They will talk to their current teachers, and many will say, 'before I begin to decide to do this, I will seriously consider it'. "
Rob Stokes, the new state education director, said he was willing to accept creative approaches as long as he could attract good teachers, but he would never sacrifice quality for quantity.
New states have introduced new standards for those who want to be honest in the public system to get higher credit averages in college studies and have to show superior emotional intelligence and cognitive abilities.
Robyn O'Neill, a Sydney Montessori School teacher, entered the industry later. She said it was the most difficult thing she had ever done. "I think this is an undervalued profession in terms of salary. You know, teachers carry a lot of expectations. It is absurd, however, that a man with a degree is not as well paid as an apprentice to a bricksmith. We face a lot of emotional and mental problems when dealing with our children, some of them life and death. A teacher's job requires a strong sense of responsibility. "