Teaching standards in the classroom

1 in 20 Victorian teachers haven’t passed a compulsory numeracy and literacy test.

3AW’s Neil Mitchell spoke with Professor Christine Ure, Deakin University’s Head of Education and the President of the Victoria Council of Deans of Education.

‘Within that test, our graduating teachers have to demonstrate they’re in the top 30% of performance level of literacy and numeracy in Australia’.

‘Some of those student teachers who are just graduating haven’t yet had an opportunity to sit the test. Some of them have sat it and might need to re-sit, one or both…’

When asked if numeracy and literacy should be a deal breaker for teachers, Professor Ure says ‘No I don’t think it should be a deal breaker at this level, I think we need to have more research about what standard of and literacy and numeracy we require for good teaching, 30 per cent has been taken as a fairly good indicator.’

Click PLAY to hear the full interview.