[Design and Technology] destech Digest, Vol 189, Issue 4

[Laura Murphy]

Hi Maryann, absolutely. It's one of the many issues we are seeing from the critical shortage of Technologies teachers. At the end of 2019 we published our Teacher Shortage Report<https://www.datta.vic.edu.au/sites/default/files/Draft%20DATTA%20Vic%20Tech%20Teacher%20Shortage%20Report%202019%20vic.pdf>, and we have lobbied the Ministers for Education & Higher Education, The DET's School Education Reform and Workforce Strategy units and the STEM Education Ambassador. We're also hoping to get a time to talk to VIT - watch this space!  You can read our letters here: - https://www.datta.vic.edu.au/content/technologies-teacher-shortage-crisis.

We were successful in getting press coverage about the OH&S issues caused by the teacher shortage in the Age <https://www.theage.com.au/education/technology-meltdown-acute-teacher-shortage-puts-tech-subjects-at-risk-20191016-p531d4.html> and Education HQ<https://educationhq.com/news/national-education-crisis-threatens-safety-of-students-65733/>.  We are also part of the campaign to protest the loss of the Bachelor of Technology Education course at La Trobe, which was raised last week in Parliament. We have been lobbying Universities to include a Design & Technologies method on their Masters of Secondary Education (which thankfully Swinburne and ACU now have). We successfully raised some funds to set up a Design Education Sprint for Engineering, Fashion and Industrial Design Undergrads later in 2021, and we hope this will encourage them to consider a career in teaching.

As you've noted, there are a lot of teachers from other learning areas get pulled in to deliver the D&T curriculum. (Almost 90% of schools surveyed have been forced to do this as they failed to recruit a D&T teacher for the role). This is why we have established our Teaching Design Masterclasses as a way to help teachers deliver D&T in an engaging and relevant way, without the need to use tools and equipment. (And we have managed to attract funding to allow us to run it free for 10 people for 3 years.) It's a short-term solution - our priority is to get more properly qualified or trained D&T teachers coming through, but we hope this can support enough teachers to keep our learning area alive until we see proper intervention to address the issue.

As always, I'm happy to chat through any of these programs, so let me know if you have questions or comments. We know all of our members are doing incredible work in really challenging circumstances, and everyone at DATTA Vic is committed to doing whatever we can to help.

Laura


[cid:image002.png at 01D5FD4A.05B876C0]

Laura Murphy

Executive Education Officer

DATTA Vic

Abbotsford Convent

Room C1.22

Convent Building

1 St Heliers Street

Abbotsford VIC 3067

Phone: 03 9349 5809

Email: pl at datta.vic.edu.au<mailto:pl at datta.vic.edu.au>

Web: www.datta.vic.edu.au<https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.datta.vic.edu.au%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cbrooks.christopher.c%40edumail.vic.gov.au%7Ca8f192e2f5fa4e68c03708d7b5bfd154%7Cd96cb3371a8744cfb69b3cec334a4c1f%7C0%7C0%7C637177707795027466&sdata=%2FSHY558TquTnHX0X6b%2BBwSec4dXA8jD0RVRyc35GJOQ%3D&reserved=0>



Note I am working from home Monday - Thursday.

I acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi Wurung people of the Kulin Nation, the traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work.  I pay my respect to their Elders, both past and present.

DATTA Vic works with schools throughout the state, and we also pay respect to  Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the wider Victorian community and beyond. Indigenous sovereignty has never been ceded.

________________________________
From: destech <destech-bounces at edulists.com.au> on behalf of Maryann AUGUSTINUS <MAUGUSTINUS at unihigh.vic.edu.au>
Sent: Tuesday, 23 February 2021 8:29 AM
To: destech at edulists.com.au <destech at edulists.com.au>
Subject: Re: [Design and Technology] destech Digest, Vol 189, Issue 4





   2. Update to Safe Use of Machinery Course requirements from
      DATTA Vic (Laura Murphy)


For more information on OH&S, visit the DET's Safety Guidelines<http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/management/Pages/technology.aspx> website.

Thanks, Laura

The link also says that only qualified Technology teachers can undertake the course which from my experience is a test to prove to the department that you can use the machines safely.
Schools are sending unqualified teachers to the course and seem to be allowed to? I had to give them a copy of my qualifications before I undertook the course. The department does not seem to be policing this at the moment, or the providers dont seem to be policing it. I am worried for those who are unqualified and who are in the unfortunate situation of a student having an accident.
Has DATTA approached the department about this?

Regards Maryann Augustinus UHS
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