By Nasik Swami Many country schools are facing huge challenges in attracting and retaining specialist teachers, says South Australian shadow minister for education John Gardner. Mr Gardner said the specialist subjects included math, design and technologies, and certain language subjects. “As we came out of the COVID pandemic, the former Liberal government introduced a Country Education Strategy, which included a range of funded measures particularly designed to increase the flow of graduate teachers successfully settling into country communities, to help them stay longer and hopefully make their homes in new towns,” he said. “It remains to be seen whether the new government’s policy mix will prioritise this area successfully.”  To help retain students in country public schools, Mr Gardner has called on the Education Department to ensure that schools provide young people with every opportunity to engage with local businesses and training providers to pursue traineeships and apprenticeships as they […]