❓ Question regarding the number, qualifications, and funding for Languages Other Than English (LOTE) teachers in WA public schools. The answer provides some data but lacks specific details on teacher qualifications and funding allocation due to data collection limitations and the student-centred funding model.
AnsweredQoN 1761Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Can the Minister please advise: (a) how many FTE teachers are employed by the Department of Education to teach a language other than English; (b) what additional skills/qualifications are required for a teacher to teach a language other than English; (c) how many FTE teachers, employed by the Department of Education, possess those skills/qualifications as referred to in part (b); and (d) how much funding was allocated towards the study of languages other than English for the 2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 financial years?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
13 September 2017
Responded by
Minister representing the Minister for Education and Training
Response time
9 days
(a) 304.6 FTE.
The FTE provided is based on the title coding of the Department’s Human Resource system. There may be teachers teaching other subject areas or generalist primary who do not report specifically for LOTE.
(b) To teach in a Western Australian public school, applicants must hold a recognised tertiary teaching degree. The qualification can be either a four-year Bachelor of Education, or a minimum three-year degree in another discipline, followed by a one- year graduate diploma or master in education for a particular age group (e.g. early childhood, primary or secondary). Where principals need to appoint a teacher to deliver a Languages program in their school, they may consider eligible and qualified teacher applicants who have Language-specific skillsets, including those who:
• have tertiary study of the language and language curriculum units;
• have successfully completed the Department’s Aboriginal Languages Teacher Training course;
• have undertaken the Department’s Switch Languages course;
• have a Certificate IV in Applied Languages;
• have completed an ATAR Language course;
• have in-country language experience where they taught previously, where the language is a medium of communication (first language);
• are Language speakers; and/or
• have demonstrated experience working as a Language teacher in other jurisdictions.
(c) The Department does not record this information to a level of detail that readily enables a response. I am not prepared to devote further resources to provide this enormous amount of detail.
(d) The student-centred funding model (SCFM) supports greater local control and decision-making by principals and their school communities in determining how funds are spent. All schools now operate with a one-line budget, which provides greater flexibility to develop educational programs and staffing profiles that best suit the needs of the school communities. This includes decisions related to how much of their funds they spend on teaching languages other than English and the number of teachers they employ. Since the SCFM was implemented in 2015, schools are no longer allocated FTE.
The FTE provided is based on the title coding of the Department’s Human Resource system. There may be teachers teaching other subject areas or generalist primary who do not report specifically for LOTE.
(b) To teach in a Western Australian public school, applicants must hold a recognised tertiary teaching degree. The qualification can be either a four-year Bachelor of Education, or a minimum three-year degree in another discipline, followed by a one- year graduate diploma or master in education for a particular age group (e.g. early childhood, primary or secondary). Where principals need to appoint a teacher to deliver a Languages program in their school, they may consider eligible and qualified teacher applicants who have Language-specific skillsets, including those who:
• have tertiary study of the language and language curriculum units;
• have successfully completed the Department’s Aboriginal Languages Teacher Training course;
• have undertaken the Department’s Switch Languages course;
• have a Certificate IV in Applied Languages;
• have completed an ATAR Language course;
• have in-country language experience where they taught previously, where the language is a medium of communication (first language);
• are Language speakers; and/or
• have demonstrated experience working as a Language teacher in other jurisdictions.
(c) The Department does not record this information to a level of detail that readily enables a response. I am not prepared to devote further resources to provide this enormous amount of detail.
(d) The student-centred funding model (SCFM) supports greater local control and decision-making by principals and their school communities in determining how funds are spent. All schools now operate with a one-line budget, which provides greater flexibility to develop educational programs and staffing profiles that best suit the needs of the school communities. This includes decisions related to how much of their funds they spend on teaching languages other than English and the number of teachers they employ. Since the SCFM was implemented in 2015, schools are no longer allocated FTE.
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