Australian National Summit on Teaching Out-of-field Synthesis and Recommendations for Policy, Practice and Research: Part A Report

Despite many years of reports and recommendations, teaching out-of-field, that is, assigning teachers to teach subjects they are not qualified to teach, remains an increasingly critical issue in Australian schools. While teaching out-of-field is used by school administrators as a solution to the teacher shortage crisis, it is not an adequate solution. While Australian teachers are highly qualified, knowing the subject and how to teach it is a standard held high in our preparation of teachers, yet this standard is challenged when teachers are assigned or employed to teach out-of-field. This report summarises the outcomes of a National Summit on Teaching Out-of-field held on October 21-23, 2022. The Summit was initiated by a consortium of researchers, teacher educators and organisations interested in raising the profile and attending to this issue plaguing our schools.