Clare will be meeting with his state and territory counterparts on Friday, where they will discuss how to fix the crisis, including labour shortages, workloads, retention issues and incentives for people wanting to make a mid-career change to teaching.

“Stop bagging teachers and start giving teachers a rap,” he told ABC radio on Friday.

“They’re the ones that helped open doors that would otherwise stay closed.

“They’re so important to us, and if I can do one thing in this job, to help to build the respect and the reputation of teachers in this country, I’ll have done a good thing.”

Clare said the number of teachers leaving the profession was one of the biggest challenges for education, with solutions for attracting and retaining professionals high on the agenda.

“I’m not doing this to have a talkfest, I’m doing this to come up with real solutions that will make a difference,” he said.

“There aren’t many jobs in the country more important than being a teacher and we just don’t have enough of them at the moment.”

Clare indicated he would not make the cost of teaching degrees cheaper, saying there was little evidence to support the measure helped attract students.

The minister also flagged the need to take the admin load off teachers, to allow them more time to educate their students.

When asked about merit-based pay rises for the best teachers, Clare said the “pay teachers get when they start is pretty competitive”.

He said the gap had to be bridged for professionals wanting to make a career change to teaching, as they couldn’t afford to stop working to study a degree.

Clare said teachers were burnt out and as a result are leaving education in droves.

He said about 70 per cent of people who start a teaching degree finish it, but only 50 per cent of young people who start will complete it.

“If we could get that (number) to 60 per cent, then already you would go a long way to addressing part of the supply shortage of teachers,” Clare said.

The minister will work with his state and territory counterparts on a national approach to education workforce shortages.

Incentives to encourage more people to become teachers, programs to improve their education and solutions to address early exits from the career will be discussed, he said.

Clare also wants community changes to build more respect and recognition of the work teachers do and to encourage more people to enter the profession.

He welcomed input from teachers, universities and education experts to share their ideas for reform.