The preparation of Mathematics Teachers in Australia - ACDS

Table 7.3a Profile of the group of 1298 teachers who intended to continue mathematics teaching until at
least 2010 (age, years of secondary school teaching, teaching responsibilities and gender)
AGE
TEACHING
EXPERIENCE
MATHEMATICS
TEACHING
GENDER
Less than 30
years
30 – 39
years
40 – 49
years
50 years
or older
10.3% 24.6% 39.5% 25.6%
Less than 5
years
5 – 9 years 10 – 19 years 20 years or more
15.9% 14.2% 27.6% 42.3%
Senior
Junior school Middle school Senior school intermediate /
advanced
62.5% 75.5% 77.0% 50.2%
Female
Male
49.2% 50.8%
Table 7.3b Profile of the group of 452 teachers who intended to leave the teaching profession before 2010
(age, years of secondary school teaching, teaching responsibilities and gender)
AGE
TEACHING
EXPERIENCE
MATHEMATICS
TEACHING
GENDER
Less than 30
years
30 – 39
years
40 – 49
years
50 years
or older
8.5% 6.7% 10.3% 74.6%
Less than 5
years
5 – 9 years 10 – 19 years 20 years or more
10.3% 7.6% 9.4% 72.6%
Senior
Junior school Middle school Senior school intermediate /
advanced
59.5% 73.0% 70.8% 42.7%
Female
Male
41.7% 58.3%
Table 7.3c Profile of the group of 1133 teachers who were undecided 1 about their career paths (age, years
of secondary school teaching, teaching responsibilities and gender)
AGE
TEACHING
EXPERIENCE
MATHEMATICS
TEACHING
Less than 30
years
30 – 39
years
40 – 49
years
50 years
or older
17.7% 21.0% 24.3% 37.0%
Less than 5
years
5 – 9 years 10 – 19 years 20 years or more
20.0% 16.9% 22.4% 40.7%
Senior
Junior school Middle school Senior school intermediate /
advanced
62.3% 72.3% 68.5% 37.4%
GENDER
Female
Male
52.1% 47.9%
1
Includes ‘probably’ and ‘unsure’ responses to the question: Do you think that you will be teaching
secondary school mathematics in 5 years time?
The most common explanation from this group referred to the rewarding nature of teaching
(n=250/407 written responses), while one in ten responses referred to a lack of other professional
options (n=42/407) (Table 7.4).
(Yes) – Enjoy the job and would expect to still be doing it for a long time yet [male; age 29yrs; teaching
experience 7yrs]
(Yes) - I love what I do. Teaching is more than a job for me. I cannot imagine doing anything else [female;
age 41yrs; teaching experience 20yrs]
49