Unqualified teachers put student education at risk in Queensland secondary schools STUDENTS are being taught by teachers not qualified in the subject they are teaching, threatening the quality of their education in some state schools. Queensland's Auditor-General warned the State Government could not provide high quality education at all of its secondary schools because of unreliable data on teacher qualifications. In a report tabled in State Parliament yesterday, Auditor-General Andrew Greaves warned students were being disadvantaged in some state high schools because they did not have access to experienced specialist teachers. The report found a large number of maths and science teachers had no subject qualifications but at other schools there were qualified teachers in these subjects who were not required to teach them. "In our 2013 survey, 107 of the 170 principals who responded stated that there were mathematics classes at their school being taught by out-of-field teachers and 83 stated that they had science classes being taught out of field," the report found. But 28 per cent of teachers who did have a maths qualification did not teach maths, while 41 per cent of teachers with a science qualification did not teach science. The report revealed one-third found a large number of state high school maths and science teachers surveyed in 2010 by the Department of Education, Training and Employment said they had no qualifications in the subject. The report also found that an imbalance between the demand for and supply of specialist subject teachers meant schools had to reduce the range of subjects they offered. Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek said he would seriously consider the issues raised by the report but that balancing the needs of schools with the supply of teachers had been a focus since coming into government. Ensuring that we have teachers with experience and expertise in our classrooms is crucial in achieving the best student outcomes. Queensland Teachers Union president Kevin Bates warned that, with Year 7 set to join high school in 2015, there was "insufficient time" to overcome the shortage, particularly in maths and science.