There is a teacher shortage in Australia with at least 11,000 new teachers needed in NSW in the next 10 years. Global projections are calling for the selection and training of nearly 70 million teachers by 2030. Yet the profession in Australia is at risk if the benchmarks for entry into initial teacher education (ITE) continue to decline – along with ITE completion rates. While professional standards require ITE providers to apply both academic and non-academic criteria for entry, academic expectations have been reduced, and non-academic assessments of personal suitability at (or after) entry often amount to atheoretical approaches that lack rigour, validity, and reliability. Moreover, Human Resources of educational authorities typically lack an evidence-informed framework and often enact teacher recruitment and selection practices with resource intensive methods in an unsystematic and ad hoc way. New research-tested methods can address the problems of recruitment, selection, and development by helping evaluate how prospective teachers’ non-academic competencies (e.g., empathy, adaptability, motivation) align with the academic competencies deemed necessary for a teacher. By applying principles of educational and organisational psychology, recruitment and selection practices can influence ITE completion rates, likelihood of conversion to employment, and direct tailored support for teacher development and retention.

At the conclusion of this presentation, attendees will be able to:

- understand the importance of rigorous recruitment and selection practices for education systems.
Measurement will be achieved through personal reflection.
Attendee performance expectations include engagement during presentation.

- apply educational and organisational psychology principles to teacher recruitment and selection needs in Australia and worldwide.
Measurement will be achieved through personal responses.
Attendee performance expectations include agentic engagement during interactive opportunities. For example, answering questions posed during the presentation.

- evaluate related research methods, findings, conclusions, and implications.
Measurement will be achieved through personal responses.
Attendee performance expectations include agentic engagement during interactive opportunities. For example, asking questions during the presentation.

- create scenario-based examples and contextual connections for practice that target non-academic competencies.
Measurement will be achieved through suggested examples.
Attendee performance expectations include peer/small group discussions.

Durksen, Tracy L; Klassen, Robert M