Catholic education welcomes the draft National Teacher Workforce Action Plan released today by the Federal Minister for Education Jason Clare.
"Catholic educ ation has been involved in the consultation and development of the draft plan to attract.
train and retrain teachers," National Catholic education acting executive director Sally Egan said.
"This is an important issue and an opportunity to respond to tea cher workforce challenges and to recognise the vital role teachers play within our schools, educating and supporting more than 785,000 students in Catholic schools across Australia.
"It is critical that we grow and strengthen the teaching profession to im prove student learning outcomes." Ms Egan said Catholic education was optimistic the draft action plan will create a greater alignment between the academic program in universities and successful practicum experience that will lead to better quality Initia l Teacher Education.
"It is a positive step towards addressing the teacher shortage and ensuring there is a qualified teacher in front of every student every day," Ms Egan said.
"We are looking forward to ongoing cooperation and participating in workfor ce action plan pilots in due course." NCEC is the peak body for Catholic Education in Australia and is responsible for the national coordination and representation of Catholic schools and education authorities.
There are 1,755 Catholic schools educating over 785,000 or one in five Australian students and employing over 102,000 staff.
