Anonymous #082

Submitter information

Name

Anonymous #082

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)

Yes

Which sector do you work in?

Secondary

What is your occupation?

School leader

Elevating the profession

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

Somewhat agree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

I believe they do, but in a short-lived, quick burst, 'small picture' way.

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.

Strongly disagree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

Being an academic is NOT the best measure of likelihood of success as a teacher or any sort of indicator of staff retention. If we genuinely want better teachers, bring back actual education degrees in Uni. Bring in undergraduates who are fantastic with people, are flexible, dynamic and team players. They also need to be willing to study hard and commit to LOTS of teaching placements. Then teach them!
We have a poor process of getting teachers into the profession. We start with people who's biggest attribute is a high ATAR and then put them through a uni degree where they learn nothing about teaching and finally give them one year of experience in the teaching field with minimal placements. No wonder they're dropping out of the profession - they never tried it and everything up until that point had been easy because it didn't require working with large and comlex groups of adults and kids!
This is not necessarily about money, but it is certainly about having the right people entering the tertiary education programs.

Strengthening Initial Teacher Education (ITE)

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

Somewhat disagree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

I agree with the literacy and numeracy standards and trying to improve placement standards. However, I still don't think there is enough emphasis on screening entrants into education courses. This includes looking at recognising previous skills and experiences. These people hardly ever last in the profession. In my experience (over 20 years) these people largely get into teaching because they all think it's easy and has heaps of holidays! The only people we should slightly be considering for this are those who are coming from successful careers in people related industries. I would never employ a chef who thinks they can be a great Food & Hospitality teacher again or an IT guru who thinks they can teach digital technology!

Maximising the time to teach

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

Strongly disagree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

$25 million to look into new initiatives? Are you kidding? I'll do it for $24 million and come up with about the same answer! If the government wants to have an effect of this, don't pay teacher 20% more, put on 20% more teachers and drop face-to-face teaching time by 20%, but quarantine it from admin. Have teachers working in teams to plan and deliver, give them time for marking and preparing resources. The result of this is going to be magnified across a range of positive outcomes for teaching, learning, retention and work-place well being.

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.

Neither agree nor disagree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

Some of these things are potentially effective.
In SA we have retention leave, I think that is good.
Other industries and even other sectors of education have sabbaticals - I think they would be awesome for retaining teachers and improving professional practice. It would have to be some sort of AST benefit though.
Also, other education sectors allow for part time scenarios such as work full time for 4 years at 80% pay and then have the 5th year off at that 80% pay (often used to upskill in technical passions). This would keep a lot of people in the profession and then allow opportunities for new teachers to backfill.