The Albanese Government’s decision to exclude independent and catholic schools from a teacher training scholarship program represents an unacceptable ideological attack on non-government schools and parental choice.
Under the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan, the government announced 5,000 scholarships from 2024, comprising $40,000 for undergraduate student teachers and $20,000 for postgraduate students.
“Jason Clare’s decision to give scholarships to only teachers in government schools is a direct attack on one third of Australian schools which are independent or catholic. It also discriminates against Australian parents who choose to send their child to a non-government school.”
“There are critical teacher shortages across every school sector, particularly in rural, regional and remote Australia. Jason Clare has shown he has no interest in addressing the workforce pressures so many non-government schools are facing.”
“Mr Clare is clearly not tough enough to stand up to the vested interests of state Labor governments and the Australian Education Union.”
“I call on Mr Clare to reverse this blatant discrimination against non-government schools which undermines parental and teacher choice, and the government’s obligation to fix teacher shortages in all schools.”
“Teachers are leaving the profession in droves and it is time the Albanese Government acted urgently to fix teacher workforce shortages. Labor needs to do a lot better than glossy TV ads and discriminatory scholarships.”