IEU welcomes placement payment plan to help student teachers
The IEU has welcomed the federal government’s announcement of a “Commonwealth Prac Payment” to support selected groups of students, including teachers, doing mandatory work placements.
Those who are studying to be a teacher, nurse, midwife or social worker will be eligible to receive A$319.50 per week while on placement, benchmarked to Austudy payments.
The payment will be means-tested and available from 1 July 2025 and will not affect other support payments a student receives.
IEU Victoria Tasmania General Secretary Dave Brear says it is “a great initiative” that the IEU had been seeking for a long time.
“It removes a key barrier to entry into our profession for those who cannot afford to undertake lengthy unpaid work placements. It will help address the alarming rate of student drop out from teacher training courses.
“More measures addressing workloads and educator safety are needed to make teaching an attractive career for more young people, and to retain them once they start in schools, so this is a vital first step.”
IEUA Federal Secretary Brad Hayes agrees that the plan to provide placement payments are a “critical step towards improving teacher graduation rates”.
“Student drop-out rates for teachers in training are among the highest of all professions.
“No one expects to work for free. Our union has long called for paid teacher placements and the government is to be commended for listening to our concerns and taking action.”
Brad says “widespread reforms” are required to improve teacher recruitment and retention rates.
“The next challenge is to better support graduate teachers struggling with the major workload pressures that await them the moment they enter their new profession.
“School employers must also play their part by ensuring paid time for new teachers to participate in professional mentoring, along with the provision of reduced teaching loads to ease the spiralling work demands being imposed on teachers the minute they land in their first teaching job.”
The ACTU says the payment will ease cost-of-living pressures for around 68,000 eligible higher education students and over 5,000 VET students each year.
ACTU Assistant Secretary Liam O’Brien said, “the Commonwealth Prac Payment will ensure that Australians aren’t held back from completing their studies because of financial insecurity”.
“The high costs associated with mandatory placements have been a barrier to many students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
"The Commonwealth Prac Payment is a vital step towards ensuring that students have equal access to educational opportunities, regardless of their financial backgrounds."
Professor Theo Farrell, Vice-Chancellor La Trobe University said, “providing financial support for students on mandatory placements is an important step towards ensuring these students can afford to continue their studies and go on to successful careers in areas of key workforce demand”.
Writing for The Conversation, Deanna Grant-Smith Professor of Management, University of the Sunshine Coast and Paula McDonald, Professor of Work and Organisation, Queensland University of Technology, stated, “payment for placements and other meaningful financial support is a good place to start”.
“But safeguarding the financial and general wellbeing of students is not just the responsibility of governments. Universities, vocational education and training providers (such as TAFEs) and employers also need to make sure the benefits of unpaid work placements are not outweighed by the costs.”
The academics called for new regulations limit how long an unpaid placement can last, and offer alternatives to unpaid placements, such as “supervised service learning”, where qualified professionals supervise students acting in their field.
“Employers also need to ensure they properly train, induct and pay graduates and students undertaking work that benefits their business.”
LINK: https://ieu.news/zqz