Anonymous #018

Submitter information

Name

Anonymous #018

Where are you located?

South Australia

What type of area do you live in?

Metropolitan

Are you an education professional?
(e.g. teacher, school leader, learning support assistant, teacher’s aide)

No

Elevating the profession

The actions proposed recognise the value teachers bring to students, communities and the economy.

Neither agree nor disagree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

The proposed actions are symbolic and superficial in that they focus on marketing campaigns, teacher awards, and increased numbers of HALTs. If the problem Education Ministers' are seeking to solve is one of recognition, then these measures are probably adequate. However, our teacher shortage is not occurring because of a lack of recognition: it is occurring because of the treatment teachers receive through the 'teacher quality discourse' (see Mockler, 2020) where teachers (and 'failing schools') are blamed for lower than 'expected' standardised test results (e.g., NAPLaN and PISA) expressed through the simplified analysis of data in league tables. It is an insult to the profession that this practice is allowed to continue.

Educators are not looking for a "no accountability" system. But who would want to enter a career where your work is projected into this 'teacher quality discourse' where the only aspects of your work being scrutinised is that which is narrowly measured? It is the third decade of the 21st C and yet we are still obsessed by these narrow measures which now occupy more time in schools (and on the front page of newspapers) than they rightfully should. The purposes of schooling are much more expansive than developing our young people's literacy, numeracy and scientific methods. Understanding that the Ministers want an accountability system, why don't we design one that measures how well each school is doing in its obligation to fulfil the full range of purposes for education (see Biesta, 2002 and Reid, 2018). The Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Declaration goes some way towards establishing an understanding of the full range of purposes for schooling yet its ambitions are only ever publicly accounted for by NAPLaN and PISA results.

In summary, you cannot fix a teacher shortage problem without deeply understanding the root causes of why school graduates (and mature entry students) do not want to become teachers. One of these is the impact of 'teacher quality' discourse on choosing a career. Who wants their broad, holistic and transformative role in young people's lives reduced to an ill-informed discussion of standardised test scores?

Improving teacher supply

The actions proposed will be effective in increasing the number of students entering ITE, number of students completing ITE and the number of teachers staying in and/or returning to the profession.

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

Strengthening Initial Teacher Education (ITE)

The actions proposed will ensure initial teacher education supports teacher supply and quality.

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

Maximising the time to teach

The actions proposed will improve retention and free up teachers to focus on teaching and collaboration.

Neither agree nor disagree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

The strategies outlined in the plan do not address the root cause of the 'time to teach' problem; that is, the % settings for instruction time and non-instruction time. Teaching is a relational profession and increasingly there is a need to personalise the learning experience of young people within a class grouping. In Finland the instruction time and non-instruction time is a 50:50 ratio (see Sahlberg, 2017). In most Australian jurisdictions it is either 80:20 or 85:15. Until the non-instruction time for teachers is increased and instruction time decreased, the Education Ministers are really only playing in the margins of what is, together with the raising the status of the profession, the most important condition for making teaching in the third decade of the 21st C a more viable proposition.

Better understanding future teacher workforce needs

How effective are the proposed actions in better understanding future teacher workforce needs, including the number of teachers required?

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

Better career pathways to support and retain teachers in the profession

The proposed actions will improve career pathways, including through streamlining the process for Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher (HALT) accreditation, and providing better professional support for teachers to retain them in the profession.

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?