Why are WA's one-year teaching diplomas being trashed?

The Age

07-07-2025

Western Australia's peak teachers' union has backed criticism of the state's one-year teaching diplomas, which have drawn the ire of east coast education bodies for offering underqualified teachers a loophole to avoid completing the national standard two-year course.
The New South Wales and Victorian governments are investigating ways to close the loophole that allows graduates of Curtin and Edith Cowan universities' one-year graduate teaching diplomas from working in those states despite not having met the minimum two-year full-time study requirement.
That requirement was set in a national agreement in 2014, but last year WA's Teacher Registration Board reintroduced the one-year registration as the state aimed to combat its teacher shortage.
The national agreement includes mutual recognition of studies, meaning those who have completed their course in WA are eligible to teach anywhere in the country.
The State School Teachers' Union WA has long railed against any changes that lessen training requirements and senior vice president Natalie Blewitt reiterated those concerns following news of the east coast backlash.
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'The SSTUWA has warned for many years that putting underqualified teachers in classrooms is not a long-term solution to the teacher shortage,' she said.
'This not only includes shortening the post-grad courses but also includes putting those who are completing their undergraduate degree in front of students in our classrooms and expecting them to teach without the necessary skills and training to do so.'
'What we need are policies that address the real issues – workload and a lack of respect for the teaching profession.'