The traditional role of the primary school teacher as a jack-of-all trades should be scrapped because too many teachers have deficient mathematics and science skills, one education body says.
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Primary school students would be taught by three or four subject specialists rather than a generalist covering the entire curriculum, under a proposal to the federal government's review into teacher education by the Australian College of Educators (ACE).
The country's oldest professional teaching association also argues a minimum university entrance score of 70 should be introduced to boost the status of teaching.
Education Minister Christopher Pyne announced a review into teacher education in February that identified encouraging more teachers to specialise in maths, science and languages as a key aim.
In its submission, the ACE says ''specialised primary teacher training in mathematics and science needs to be introduced'' to improve teaching standards.
''Students then are taught by a group of three or four teachers, each with complementary discipline skills, so that between them they cover the whole curriculum,'' the ACE says.
''A lot of people say the early years of high school should be more like primary school - I say the opposite is the case,'' said ACE president Stephen Dinham, chair of teacher education at the University of Melbourne. ''If we're going to address poor maths and science results in high schools, we need to start in primary schools.
''Many primary teachers lack competence and confidence teaching maths and science.''
Professor Dinham suggested universities emulate the University of Melbourne model where teaching students spend 25 per cent of their time specialising in maths and science.
The number of teaching places should also be capped to avoid the current glut in primary teachers and shortage of secondary maths teachers, he said.
The NSW Board of Studies criticises the ''undoubted oversupply'' of teachers in its submission to the review. More than 40,000 NSW teachers are on a waiting list for permanent jobs.
Australian Primary Principals Association president Norm Hart said specialisation had merit but would be difficult to implement. ''Using specialists would make it difficult to get high quality staff in all disciplines all of the time,'' he said. The personal relationship between teachers and pupils in their early years should also be maintained.
In its submission, ACE says: ''Low academic entry standards into teacher education jeopardise the quality of teaching and learning in Australian schools.'' As well as scoring an ATAR of 70 and minimum grades in year 12 maths and English, teaching applicants should be profiled for communications skills and resilience using interviews and personal statements.
Review head Australian Catholic University vice-chancellor Greg Craven has argued against minimum entrance scores, saying they are ''as easy to rig as a bush picnic race meeting'' and discriminate against disadvantaged students.
