The report proposes the largest overhaul to the tertiary sector in the last 25 years, making 47 recommendations to the Federal Government in areas also including changes to working conditions, HECS/HELP simplification, government-funded research, regional university support, and scrapping the job-ready graduates scheme.

NSW Teachers Federation deputy president Amber Flohm said unpaid practicum hours deters many from completing or even undertaking a teaching degree, particularly impacting on mid-career professionals as students.

She said the reform was long overdue.

“This is a key reform needed to assist in addressing the teacher shortage,” Flohm said in a statement.

“Nobody should endure poverty and financial hardship to qualify for a profession like teaching, which has such profound social purpose.

She said the Federation had long argued for paid practicums both because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it makes so much sense.

“If we want to continue to address the challenges of attracting people to the profession, we need to minimise the financial barriers to entry,” she said.

Independent Education Union – Queensland and Northern Territory (IEU-QNT) also endorsed the recommendation, saying the review backs long-running calls from unions and academics for students to be compensated for compulsory placements that currently lead to high dropout rates and financial stress.

Branch Secretary Terry Burke agreed the change was belated.

“In a sector currently facing an attrition crisis, many potential teachers are deterred from the profession due to the reality of undertaking months of unpaid work,” Burke said.

“Providing financial support for student teachers is crucial to ensure the future of the teaching profession, particularly during a cost-of-living crisis.

Burke said practicums consist of many hours of commitment and take students away from the part-time jobs required to support themselves.

“No one should have to fall into poverty because of mandatory university requirements,” he said.

Burke explained that it’s vital student teachers have hands-on experience in a classroom to ensure they are prepared when they graduate.

“Placement poverty results in poor early experiences in the workplace and negative perceptions of teaching – the opposite of what is needed in a sector with a longstanding skills shortage,” he said.

“The government must acknowledge this and provide adequate funding to ensure we have a new generation of enthusiastic and well-prepared teachers.

“Unpaid practicums are also an equity issue that excludes lower-income students from the profession,” he said.

Jeffrey Brooks, Head of School and Professor of Educational Leadership in the School of Education at Curtin University, said more broadly, the Accord Final Report represents a rethinking of the ways that the government funds and supports research.

“I welcome the focus on equity, which is long overdue in the Australian tertiary sector,” Brooks told MCERA.

“It is also encouraging to see additional support for First Nations students, students from poor backgrounds, students with a disability and students coming from regional, rural or remote areas.”

Brooks was pleased to see a call for paid compulsory internships.

“... we have long wanted to see this shift in education, and I believe it will make teaching degrees more manageable and attractive.

“Our pre-service teachers deserve this affordance,” he said.

Associate Professor Jess Harris, from the University of Newcastle, said the Report had identified a number of important, long-overdue changes to support increased equity, safety and support for students in higher education settings.”

“In particular, I applaud recommendations to provide undergraduate and postgraduate students with greater economic security by tackling ‘placement poverty’ and providing tax-free part-time stipends for PhD candidates,” Harris, who has worked in research on leadership and change across three education systems in Australia, said.

“These initiatives are essential in fields, like education, where the financial burden of studying at undergraduate or postgraduate levels can impede students’ progress and limit their ability to complete their degrees on time.”

Deakin University’s Professor Jill Blackmore told MCERA that increased financial help, including accommodation support, part-time work opportunities, and indexing HELP are essential.

“Funding nursing and teaching placements (and axing Job-ready Graduates) could enable students to pursue these critical fields with fewer financial barriers,” the Alfred Deakin Professor and Professor of Education in the Faculty of Arts and Education at Deakin, offered.

“With completion rates in public schools declining, to increase participation in higher education requires addressing unequal school sector funding.

“Additional support for public school students (and teachers) is necessary, such as fee-free preparatory and career advice.”

Yesterday morning while being interviewed by for the ABC’s Triple J Hack program, Clare again expressed his support for financial support for compulsory work placements.

“I’ve spoken to lots of teaching students, lots of nursing students about what is effectively placement poverty, a big part of your degree for a teaching student, it’s 600 hours; for a nursing student it’s 800 hours; for a social work student it’s even more – it’s about a thousand hours,” Clare said.

“It can mean that you have to move to do the prac. It can mean that you have to quit the paid part-time job to do the unpaid prac and it can lead to people sometimes not finishing the degree.”

Clare said stats show that only 54 per cent of students who start a teaching degree finish it.

“If we can boost that number – and part of it is making sure that the course is better aligned with what students need once they get into the classroom, but part of it could be this in terms of supporting students while they do their prac – then that can go a long way not just helping students with the cost-of-living but also helping to tackle that teacher shortage crisis that we’ve got.”