Background

To understand the main purpose of Design & Technologies Education click the link below:

Design & Technologies - The Heart of STEM

Following extensive research with schools from all over Australia in 2019, we created a report on the national teacher shortage, and then in 2020, we released the Victorian report. This details the impact of the crisis on our teachers and students.

View Technologies Teacher Shortage Crisis Report post

In July 2025, along with colleagues from the Mathematical Association of Victoria (MAV), Victorian Association for the Teaching of English (VATE) and Social Education Victoria (SEV), DATTA Vic met with KPMG to discuss the review of AERO, and their push to embed cognitive load theory and explicit teaching in Victorian schools. This was a great opportunity to ensure that teachers' voices are heard, and particularly important for an area like ours which is inquiry driven and based on critical and creative thinking.

As part of the review process, DATTA Vic also submitted a written response to the AERO performance review which explains why we are concerned about the impact of mandated explicit teaching on the Design & Technologies learning area.  Some of the issues include;

• our curriculum emphasises a range of pedagogical approaches, including inquiry-based learning, design-based learning, and differentiated instruction
• it is the role of teachers, using their professional judgement and expertise, to determine the most effective approach for their students, subjects, and learning contexts
• AERO’s push for explicit instruction can appear to some as a workaround for the teacher shortage, enabling scripted, standardised lessons to be delivered by any teacher, regardless of specialist expertise
• if explicit instruction is positioned as the sole or mandated model across all subjects and student groups, we fear Australia’s current ability to develop the creative, critical thinkers of the future will be damaged, potentially beyond repair

Click on the image to read the full letter.

DATTA Vic has also been part of a working party with the Design Institute of Australia seeking to address the critical shortage of qualified Design & Technologies teachers. We will update our members on progress, but we're delighted that the DIA share our belief in the threat posed to quality design education by mandated explicit teaching, and they also made a submission to the AERO review.

You can read the DIA response HERE. 

In September 2023, DATTA Vic EO Laura Murphy and HTAV EO Deb Hull met with Education Minister the Honourable Natalie Hutchins to discuss the critical shortage of teachers in Victorian Schools. We discussed Inititial Teacher Education, but the key focus was on the problem of teacher retention.  We painted a very clear picture of the incredible challenges out of field educators face in particular. We put several proposals, including increasing support staff in schools, cutting teaching time to offer more lesson planning, establishing mentoring programs and ensure all out of field teachers have additional time and support. We thank Minister Hutchins for taking the time to meet with us and listen to our stories and proposals, and we'll keep you posted on what happens next! 

In 2022, the national government published their DRAFT NATIONAL TEACHER WORKFORCE ACTION PLAN for stakeholder feedback. This plan aims to address the critical shortage of teachers in Australia.  On behalf of our members, DATTA Vic submitted feedback which urged specific action on the Design & Technologies educator shortage.

View the DATTA Vic Submission