Australia says it needs teachers. Schools across the country continue to report staffing shortages, rising workloads and difficulties filling vacancies, especially in regional areas and hard-to-staff subjects.

At the same time, many qualified migrant teachers living in Australia remain unable to enter the profession quickly, or in some cases, at all.

A survey by the Australian Multicultural Women’s Alliance found that only 41% of migrant women were working in roles aligned with their qualifications, while they earned 31% less than Australian-born women with similar qualifications.

The same report found highly skilled migrant women, including teachers, are being side-lined not because they lack capability, but because qualification recognition systems are slow, costly, difficult to navigate and insufficiently responsive to women’s experiences.

My recent article highlighted that more than 20,000 qualified migrant teachers are either not working in schools or are underemployed. But another part of the story receives far less attention: Australia has no single pathway for recognising overseas-trained teachers.

Instead, migrant teachers must navigate a state-by-state system in which rules, evidence requirements and processing times vary depending on where they apply. In Victoria, for example, applicants who completed their teaching qualifications overseas must first undergo a pre-assessment before applying for registration. Western Australia lists an indicative processing timeframe of around 10 weeks, compared with 4 to 6 weeks in Victoria and Queensland.

If teacher shortages is a national problem, why isn’t teacher registration?

Eight jurisdictions, multiple pathways

Teacher registration in Australia is managed separately by state and territory authorities, such as the Victorian Institute of Teaching and the NSW Education Standards Authority.

This means a teacher trained overseas may face different processes depending on whether they apply in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland or elsewhere.

While there are common national professional standards, the route into the profession is still fragmented. Research on overseas-trained teachers’ recognition in Australia shows that the lack of uniformity and clarity across different states creates significant hurdles. The criteria used in formal qualification assessments by registration authorities are not always clear, and this also limits applicants’ ability to evaluate their own eligibility. 

For applicants, this can create uncertainty even though Australia says it wants more teachers.

What makes the process hard?

Many migrant teachers describe the challenge as more than simply filling out forms.

Applicants may need to provide academic transcripts, course outlines, teaching practicum evidence, identity documents and employment histories. Some of these records may be years old or difficult to retrieve from institutions overseas.

English language requirements remain a consistent theme, as applicants must either qualify for a waiver based on having studied in one of the five countries in which the Australian government considers English the main official language, or meet strict test thresholds. This assumes that studying in English-speaking countries equates to proficiency, an assumption that does not always hold in practice. Multiple English language test attempts no doubt add to extra cost and waiting time.

Even small differences in requirements matter. A document accepted in one jurisdiction may need further verification in another. Some applicants pay for translations, notarisation or additional testing before knowing whether they will succeed.

For teachers already supporting families and trying to establish themselves in a new country, these costs and delays can be significant.

Skills waiting on the side-lines

This matters because delays do not happen in a vacuum. Every month a qualified mathematics, science or language teacher spends outside the profession is expertise not reaching students. Some migrant teachers move into tutoring, childcare, retail or unrelated work while waiting for outcomes. Others give up on teaching entirely.

Australia then loses twice - schools miss out on staff, and skilled professionals experience downward mobility despite years of training and experience.

Diversity is part of the solution

Migrant teachers bring more than numbers. They often contribute multilingual skills, intercultural knowledge, community connections and international teaching experience. In increasingly diverse classrooms, these capabilities can be especially valuable.

Students benefit when the teaching workforce better reflects the communities schools serve.

What could change?

Australia does not need to lower standards to improve access. But it could make the system clearer, faster and more consistent.

This could include:

• clearer national guidance on recognising overseas qualifications
• more transparent decision-making timeframes
• streamlined evidence and documentation checks across jurisdictions
• supervised provisional registration pathways while final assessments are completed
• stronger recognition of prior teaching experience.

A teacher shortage should prompt us to ask not only how many teachers we need, but how many we are unnecessarily keeping out.

Australia already has qualified teachers ready to contribute. The real question is whether our systems are ready to recognise them.