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Appendix 1 - A national profile of Australian teachers

There is no detailed and nationally comparable data available on which to develop a comprehensive profile of the Australian teaching force. However, from the data supplied in submissions and at public hearings the following rough sketch emerges.

A teacher in Australia is likely to be in his/her mid forties.

Almost half the teaching workforce is four year trained. Another quarter is currently upgrading its qualifications. Over 50% of secondary teachers are female and this proportion increases to around 75% of primary teachers.

Teachers are most likely to leave the profession within the first two years, or after 10 to 15 years of service. Those who stay on will probably retire between the ages of 55 and 60.

The majority reach the top of their salary scale within 10 years. Promotion opportunities are limited and in most cases lead out of the classroom. Promotional opportunities continue to favour males, despite the large proportion of females in the teaching workforce.

Very few teachers are from non English speaking backgrounds. While still small in number, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teaching force is increasing as a result of government initiatives designed to recruit and train more teachers from this group. Retention of Aboriginal teachers remains a problem.

Contract employment is increasingly replacing permanent employment.

The following tables provide further information on the backgrounds and career paths of Australia's teachers and are taken from the Graduate Destination Survey, 1996 published by the Graduate Careers Council of Australia.

This table gives an indication of the number of people from Non-English speaking backgrounds who undertake an Education course leading to a teaching career.

 

Non-English speaking Background

English speaking Background

 

Males

Females

All

Males

Females

All

Agricultures

0.9

0.4

0.6

2.5

1.1

1.6

Architecture, Building, Urban & Reg. Planning

2.9

1.3

2.0

3.1

1.2

1.9

Humanities, Social Science
Visual & Perform Arts

11.2

25.2

19.3

18.2

29.2

25.1

Business, Administration, Economics

26.1

20.9

23.1

23.0

12.5

16.5

Education

4.2

12.5

9.0

8.3

18.3

14.6

Engineering, Surveying

17.8

2.4

8.9

12.5

1.3

5.5

Health

11.6

19.7

16.3

8.2

22.7

13.5

Law, Legal Studies

3.5

3.2

3.3

4.4

3.2

3.7

Science

21.8

14.3

17.4

19.3

10.0

13.5

Veterinary Science

0.1

0.2

0.2

0.5

0.4

0.5

Note: Only graduates with Australian Citizenship and permanent residence were used in this comparasion.  No overseas graduates were included.
Source:  Graduate Destination Survey, 1996, Table 12 p.30

 

Destination, Bachelor Education Degree Graduates (%)

 

Males

Female

All

Avail.FT. Employ

79.2

71.7

73.3

FT Study

11.9

14.9

14.3

PT Employment

6.6

10.0

9.3

Unavailable

2.3

3.4

3.1

Total %

100

100

100

Number

1,206

4,210

5,416

Graduate Destination Survey, 1996, p.40

 

Main Occupations, Full-time employment (%), of Education Degree Graduates

 

Males

Females

All

Primary Teacher

24.3

39.9

36.1

Secondary Teacher

34.8

22.4

25.5

Pre-Primary Teacher

1.2

12.6

9.8

Other Teacher

13.2

8.4

9.6

Management/Admin

5.4

3.1

3.7

Clerical/Sales

5.2

6.3

5.5

All others

15.9

7.3

9.8

TOTAL

100

100

100

Number

773

2,358

3,131

Graduate Destination Survey Statistics 1996

Total number of Graduates
(1995 completers surveyed in 1996)     

125,361

Total number of Usable responses To 1996 survey


88,797

Response Rate

 

 70.8%


The following table reveals the employment status of Education graduates who responded to the Graduate Destination Survey, 1996.

 

Initial Teacher Education General

Teacher Education General

Early Childhood Teacher
Education

Primary Teacher
Education

Secondary Teacher
Education

TAFE   Teacher Education

Special Teacher Education

Teacher Education General

Early Childhood Teacher Education

Primary Teacher
Education

Secondary Teacher
Education
  FULL-TIME EMPLOYMENT

Schools

40.0

29.8

43.2

42.2

53.5

2.9

62.5

60.7

40.8

62.1

56.5

Higher Education

0

8.2

0.5

0.7

1.3

38.2

0

1.2

3.8

1.0

5.4

Other Education & Training

0

4.4

2.9

1.1

1.7

7.4

2.8

4.7

5.4

1.4

2.0

TOTAL Education

40.0

42.4

46.5

44.0

56.5

48.5

65.3

66.7

50.0

64.5

63.9

Other Full-Time Employment n.e.i.

0

0.5

5.0

1.1

0.7

0.4

0

2.5

12.3

0.3

0

      TOTAL Full-Time Employment

40.0

62.4

66.0

48.5

63.8

79.4

69.4

74.9

76.2

69.7

70.7
  SEEKING FULL-TIME EMPLOYMENT

Work P/T seeking F/T Employment

0

11.3

7.0

13.6

15.6

7.0

5.6

6.4

3.1

10.2

8.2

Not working, seeking F/T Employment

0

4.3

2.6

2.8

3.3

2.2

0

1.8

0.8

2.0

1.4

   TOTAL seeking F/T Employment

0

15.6

9.6

16.3

18.9

9.2

5.6

8.2

3.8

12.2

9.5
  NOT SEEKING FULL-TIME EMPLOYMENT

Work P/T Not seeking F/T Employment

0

10.7

10.0

7.7

7.4

5.5

15.3

7.9

13.8

11.5

5.4

Not Working, seeking P/T, Casual Employment

0

0.6

0

1.6

0.4

0.4

1.4

1.2

0

0.8

0.7

   TOTAL Not seeking F/T Employment

0

11.3

10.9

9.2

7.8

5.9

16.7

9.1

13.8

12.4

6.1
  STUDYING FULL-TIME

Honours Year

0

0.2

0.9

1.3

0.8

0.7

0

0.1

0

0.1

0.7

Higher Degree

40.0

1.1

0.3

0.2

1.1

0

0

0.7

0

0.2

0

Other  Degree or Diploma

0

06.7

8.2

20.0

4.2

1.8

4.2

1.1

1.5

1.8

10.2

Other  Full-Time Study

0

0.6

0.6

1.0

0.4

0

0

0

0

0.2

0

TOTAL Full-Time Study

40.0

8.5

10.0

22.6

6.5

2.6

4.2

1.9

1.5

2.2

10.9
  UNAVAILABLE

Unavailable F/T Employment or F/T Study

20.0

2.1

3.5

3.4

2.9

2.9

4.2

5.8

4.6

3.5

2.7
  GRAND TOTAL

TOTAL RESPONDENTS, %

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

Number

5

655

658

2,450

1,304

272

72

825

130

1,189

147

Source:  Graduate Destination Survey, 1996 p.57
(Australian Citizens/permanent residents only)

Main destinations of bachelor degree graduates of all ages by field of study, 1996*

Field
Of
Study

(1)
Avail.
For
FT
Emp



(%)

(1a)
In
FT
Emp.




(%)

(1b)
Seek
FT empl.
Work
PT


(%)

(1c)
Seek
FT empl
Not
Work


(%)

(2)
In
FT
Study




(%)

(3)
Not
Wrk
Seek
PT
Emp.


(%)

(4)
Wrk
PT
Not
Seek FT emp.

(%)

(5)
Not avail
For emp
Or
Study

(%)

(6)
Total
No.

(7)
Median
Srting
Salary
(1st FT
empl)
($,000)

(8)
% had
same FT
emp. As
fnl yr
(%)

Agriculture

75.5

78.5

9.9

11.6

17.0

0.3

4.2

3.1

913

26.8

11.1

Architecture

68.1

84.1

7.2

8.7

23.0

0.1

4.5

4.2

709

23.0

7.1

Building & Related

88.8

83.8

6.9

9.4

7.4

0.6

0.0

3.2

312

28.0

28.8

Urban/Reg. Planning

85.0

84.1

8.0

8.0

12.6

0.0

1.9

0.5

207

31.0

26.1

Humanities

48.7

68.3

17.1

14.6

35.6

1.9

8.0

5.8

7388

26.0

11.2

Languages

44.7

66.5

21.0

12.5

39.8

2.1

7.4

6.1

1288

26.3

6.5

Visual/P'forming Art

52.6

52.9

22.6

24.5

26.2

2.2

14.2

4.8

2255

25.0

2.7

Social Sciences

55.1

67.0

17.3

15.6

27.5

1.9

10.2

5.2

1623

28.0

11.6

Psychology

43.3

65.9

20.5

13.6

41.3

1.2

9.5

4.6

2888

27.0

8.0

Social Work

82.2

81.7

10.6

7.8

3.7

1.4

9.7

3.0

657

29.2

11.9

Business Studies

82.3

79.5

11.8

8.7

10.8

0.4

3.7

2.9

5262

27.9

21.6

Accounting

87.6

87.7

4.8

7.5

7.8

0.3

1.8

2.6

4302

27.0

25.8

Economics

69.0

78.8

11.1

10.1

23.7

0.4

3.3

3.5

1580

28.0

10.6

Education: Initial

73.3

78.8

17.1

4.1

14.3

1.0

8.3

3.1

5416

29.0

12.1

Education: Post/Other

80.6

87.8

9.9

2.3

3.1

1.0

10.7

4.6

2998

34.0

54.0

Engineering: Aero

84.9

75.4

12.7

11.9

8.6

0.0

3.6

2.9

139

34.3

26.6

Engineering: Chemical

77.6

81.9

5.6

12.5

15.4

0.0

2.0

5.0

299

34.2

3.0

Engineering: Civil

91.7

89.6

3.2

7.2

5.2

0.1

0.9

2.1

773

31.0

15.7

Engineering: Elect’l

88.3

88.7

2.9

8.4

9.6

0.2

0.8

1.2

512

33.0

22.3

Eng: Elect/Comp.

85.4

84.9

4.8

10.3

11.2

0.6

1.1

1.7

636

33.0

11.6

Engineering: Mech’l

88.3

83.4

5.6

11.0

6.1

0.4

1.1

4.1

724

33.0

14.2

Engineering:Mining

92.3

98.1

0.9

0.9

3.4

0.0

1.7

2.6

117

43.0

2.6

Engineering: Other

89.6

84.8

5.1

10.0

6.9

0.0

1.0

2.5

479

33.0

15.0

Surveying

89.4

89.8

6.3

3.9

8.5

0.0

0.7

1.4

142

30.0

11.3

Dentistry

90.4

93.2

4.3

2.5

2.8

0.0

2.8

3.9

178

40.0

1.7

Health:  Other

77.7

88.1

6.7

5.2

13.8

0.3

6.1

2.1

1733

28.0

18.9

Nursing: Initial

83.9

90.6

7.7

1.7

2.7

0.4

10.6

2.5

3915

27.0

8.7

Nursing:  Post

66.7

93.6

5.8

0.6

2.6

0.9

25.8

4.1

2371

33.6

45.6

Pharmacy

88.3

96.4

0.7

2.9

9.8

0.6

1.0

0.3

315

21.8

3.2

Medicine

96.3

99.9

0.0

0.1

2.2

0.1

0.5

0.9

988

40.0

1.3

Rehabilitation

88.4

91.5

5.4

3.1

3.1

0.5

6.2

1.8

1063

29.0

0.9

Law

74.0

91.6

4.1

4.3

18.9

0.5

3.0

3.6

1700

27.5

13.8

Law: Other

64.8

84.9

8.5

6.6

26.5

0.5

6.0

2.1

563

25.9

20.6

Computer Sciences

80.6

82.7

5.9

11.5

15.3

0.2

2.0

2.0

22.42

30.2

17.7

Life Sciences

46.0

61.5

21.3

17.1

45.2

0.6

5.1

3.2

4912

27.5

4.7

Mathematics

53.9

67.0

10.5

22.6

36.4

0.4

5.5

3.8

781

30.0

8.8

Chemistry

48.3

70.2

9.5

20.2

46.6

0.1

2.6

2.4

870

29.0

6.6

Physical Sciences

43.9

67.0

13.0

20.0

50.1

0.2

2.1

3.6

421

30.0

9.5

Geology

51.5

85.2

7.7

7.2

42.6

0.0

2.2

2.7

406

36.0

3.7

Veterinary Science

86.6

94.4

2.3

3.3

10.9

0.0

0.8

1.6

247

30.0

0.0

TOTAL (all ages)

68.8

80.6

10.8

8.5

20.0

0.8

6.8

3.5

64324

29.0

15.5

FEMALE (all ages)

66.4

80.2

12.2

7.6

19.4

1.1

9.2

4.1

39535

28.0

14.0

MALE  (all ages)

72.8

81.3

8.8

9.9

21.0

0.5

3.1

2.7

24789

30.0

17.9

Source:  Graduate Destination Survey, 1996, Table 4.1(a), p. 72

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