The preparation of Mathematics Teachers in Australia - ACDS

Chapter 6: Mathematics teachers – demographic characteristics
and employment histories
The preceding three chapters describe the pattern of mathematics teaching in schools (Chapter 3),
the views of heads regarding tertiary preparation of mathematics teachers (Chapter 4) and teachers’
tertiary qualifications as provided by teachers themselves (Chapter 5). This chapter looks in more
detail at who is teaching mathematics – the age and gender characteristics of mathematics teachers,
and their pathways to teaching as a career. Their career plans are discussed further in Chapter 7.
Chapter 6 has the following structure:
Section 6.1 - state/territory, sector and ARIA representation in the dataset of teacher responses.
While some of this information also appears in Chapter 2, the emphasis here is on teacher rather than
school representation.
Section 6.2 - the age and gender characteristics of the 2924 teachers surveyed. State/territory and
sector-based differences are also discussed. A comparison is made with national statistics for the age
of teachers generally (i.e. all disciplines), as reported elsewhere.
Section 6.3 – the employment histories of mathematics teachers, including years of teaching
experience and details of previous employment.
Section 6.4 – characteristics of teachers grouped according to teaching responsibilities.
In summary:
- The average age of mathematics teachers was 44.0 years, with a median of 46 years.
- Thirty-eight per cent of teachers were over 49 years of age, and fifteen per cent over the age
of 54 years of age.
- Nearly equivalent numbers of responses were received from male and female teachers
nationally.
- Male teachers represented 58 per cent of responses from South Australia.
- One in three teachers had less than ten years teaching experience, and 17 per cent had been
teaching for fewer than five years.
- Male teachers were older (median age 49 years) and more experienced than female
teachers.
- Teaching was the first profession for three out of four mathematics teachers.
- Teachers of junior school mathematics were, on average, younger and less experienced than
their colleagues.
- Teachers of advanced senior mathematics are most likely to be male, highly experienced and
among the least likely to teach non-mathematics subjects.
6.1 Location and sector representation in mathematics teachers survey
Response to the survey of teachers was received from all eight states and territories, each of the
three school sectors (Catholic, Government and Independent), and all ARIA categories.
Twenty-eight per cent of the nation’s secondary schools were represented, with representation
ranging from 20 per cent (NT) to 36 per cent (SA) (Table 6.1). The large number of responses from
Victoria and New South Wales simply reflects the size of these school systems. The number of
schools represented is consistent with other states, as is the number of teachers responding per
school 16 (Table 6.1).
16
The high number of teacher responses per school from Victoria and low number from NSW accords with the size of
mathematics departments (see Section 3.1.2)
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