Skills shortage help: microcredentials offer new pathways for out-of-field teachers

Charles Sturt University is offering two free microcredentials for out-of-field mathematics and science teachers, to be delivered online from March to October 2025.

With Australia’s growing STEM qualified teacher shortage projected to affect up to 70,000 students annually by 2030 and out-of-field teaching rates for maths reaching as high as 32 per cent, the free microcredentials offer a much-needed solution.

Funded through the Australian Government’s Microcredentials Pilot in Higher Education, the qualifications are designed for out-of-field teachers of maths and science, or teachers looking to add an additional teaching area.

With little available reliable data, it’s difficult to ascertain exactly how many educators are teaching outside of their specialisation, but there’s no doubt it’s a scarily high number, hence the importance of microcredentials.

A report released in July warned that teachers nationwide are struggling to equip school children with the digital skills they need for the future.

The report argues that as emerging technology continually shifts how we connect and do business, all Australians – not just technology professionals – need digital skills for full participation in society and the economy.

Titled Tech skills for the next generation, and produced by the Australian National University Tech Policy Design Centre and the Australian Computer Society (ACS), it draws on a 2023 national survey of teachers in primary and secondary schools, and input from experts across the education sector. 

The research found that more than two thirds of teachers are struggling to implement the existing Digital Technologies Curriculum.

The report flags that this is largely due to its relatively recent introduction, and rapidly evolving, sometimes highly technical content, but also is “compounded by the additional pressures on teachers from broader issues like the national teacher shortage, which leads to more teaching out-of-field and difficulties in accessing and attending essential professional development and training”.

Dr Janelle Hill is a lecturer in Mathematics Education in the Charles Sturt School of Education and says supporting teachers to become fully qualified in STEM subjects is one of the most impactful ways to contribute to student success and long-term career outcomes in science and technology.

“We know that subject matter expertise directly influences the quality of education and the aspirations students have in STEM fields,” Hill says.

“These microcredentials are about equipping teachers with the confidence, skills and pathways to positively shape our future generations.”

Dr Janelle Hill says scholarships are available for each microcredential, and given they're based on a first-come, first served basis, interested teachers are encouraged to apply early.

Evidenced-based and developed by experts, microcredential courses are purposely short, compact and outcome-based certifications of assessed learning or competency and designed to be responsive to industry needs.

Hill, who started her career as a scientist, then moved into child protection and later into teaching and onto research and academia, says there are two main areas of impact for out-of-field teachers teaching STEM.

“There’s the impact on the teachers themselves being in a role where they have not had sometimes sufficient training and experience that can cause stress for them, early attrition and just problems for the school,” she tells EducationHQ.

“Obviously, there are issues in regard to students, their engagement, their participation and their achievement in these units.

“The more experienced and qualified their teachers are, the more likely the students are to be successful, which is what we need for our future in this country.”

Charles Sturt University’s Project Lead of Partnerships and Microcredentials, Georgie Stuart, says it’s also important that the critical gaps in the teaching workforce as experienced teachers move into retirement, are addressed.

“These microcredentials will diversify the skills of participating teachers, empowering them with the subject matter expertise to teach across multiple key learning areas,” she says.

“A teacher with a multidisciplinary skillset is particularly valuable in regional, rural and remote schools where teacher numbers are typically lower and a specialised teacher for specific key learning areas is not always viable.

"By supporting teachers to become fully qualified in key subject areas, we are also working to break the vicious cycle of out-of-field teaching, which affects student participation, engagement and achievement, teacher attrition and stress on schools.”

Delivered entirely online with live lectures and interactive tutorials, participants will earn credit toward Charles Sturt’s Bachelor of Educational Studies, with the option to specialise in mathematics, physics, chemistry or biology.

Hill says the science microcredential is especially valuable in smaller schools where subject-specific expertise may be limited and incorporates lesson planning for Years 7 to 10.

It’s aimed at anyone who’s currently teaching science and would like to increase their understanding, or teachers who would like to become fully-qualified science teachers in the future.

“So it’s looking at how teachers can craft engaging, inclusive activities, pedagogies and theories behind what’s needed to enhance teaching, learning and assessment in diverse classrooms.

“It’s also looking at Stage 6 Science and how we can come up with sequences that foster understanding through hands on working scientifically skills, and also again how we can differentiate teaching and learning in those year levels as well.”

The maths microcredential is very similar and looks at how maths, numeracy and literacy interconnect within the classroom from the curriculum documents.

The pathway enhances subject knowledge, boosts teacher wellbeing and confidence, and fosters better student performance in mathematics.

“Again, [they’re about] designing inclusive and engaging activities for students in Years 7 to 10 that will build on their conceptual understanding of mathematics and then looking at how we can teach and assess Stage 6 Maths.

“It’s looking at differentiating the curriculum and also bringing in ICT tools that will enable students to really get a grasp of what it is that they’re learning."

Microcredentials are part of the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan and build on the Federal Government’s Engaged Classrooms initiative.

Earlier this year in July, another free micro-credential course was launched by the University of Adelaide on classroom management, for any teacher keen to upskill in ‘preventive and proactive’ strategies to improve student behaviour and engagement.

“... as teachers, it’s part of their professional identity, and so what these micro-credentials allow, being all online, is the flexibility that they can dip in and out when time pressures allow,” head of the University of Adelaide’s School of Education, Professor Susan James Relly, told EducationHQ at the time.

For more information on enrolling in these microcredentials, click here.