Barriers to the Future Growth of Australia's Human Capital

The 700 page draft report released by the Productivity Commission on November 2, Public Support for Science and Innovation, in one section refers to what it calls "barriers to future growth to human capital", and opens the section with, "there is a recognised shortage of engineers and secondary school teachers in science and mathematics."

Time and again the Minister for Education, Science and Training and her predecessor, Julie Bishop and Brendan Nelson respectively, have referred to this shortage and this past July Ms Bishop in addressing the Sydney Institute referred to Australia suffering a likely short-fall of as much as 35% in its estimated requirement of 55,000 additional scientific professionals (just over 19,000 individuals) within six years.

On a number of occasions the commission's report refers to the shortage of  competent and inspirational teaching in science and maths in the secondary school system and suggests what in the end amounts to offering better pay and  conditions.

While necessary, they are far from sufficient.

There is no discussion of the deficiencies in numbers of academics and quality of  teaching provided to the prospective teachers at the tertiary level and just how this should be remedied. One is left with the impression that once the prospective increases in pay of maths and science teachers were instituted, competent and  enthusiastic secondary and primary school teachers would follow automatically. The matter  of who was to educate and inculcate enthusiasm is left as a void.

The fundamental deficiency in the system is a direct result of the systematic starvation by the federal government of the university sector as a result primarily of the inadequate indexing of university resources. Academic departments in engineering, the enabling sciences and mathematics are understaffed, overworked and under resourced. And whether members of the federal coalition cabinet are prepared to accept it or not, in maths and the science faculties those who are not researchers are inadequate teachers. That doesn't mean that all researchers are good teachers but research is a prerequisite, which is why the faculties of the best liberal arts colleges in the United States not only do research but supervise research projects of their students, who incidentally are undergraduates. Some of those students will go on to graduate school but others will become school teachers in science and mathematics.

Recently, an article in the journal Science described partnerships between graduate students and high school students in St. Louis, Missouri called the Young Scientist Program which benefits both groups, and brings real laboratory experiences to the high school students.

But what is an essential requisite is that those secondary school students who are then inspired to go into science or mathematics at university can come into contact with faculty who are in significant numbers enthusiastic researchers and in a number of cases inspiring teachers.

Not until Australia's universities are adequately resourced and their academic staff not treated as agents of sedition will the teachers of secondary and primary school pupils evolve into a cohort of intelligent, well trained and enthusiastic pedagogues.

And not until they are in place will the numbers of matriculating secondary schools students look to careers in science, engineering and mathematics.

To date the coalition government has not demonstrated that it has a seriously considered program to overcome the problem.

The folly of the Research Quality Framework is a superb example of a government disinterested in supporting the nation's academic sector.
 

Alex Reisner

The Funneled Web