Anonymous #006

Submitter information

Name

Anonymous #006

Where are you located?

Victoria

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?

Primary

What is your occupation?

Teacher

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?

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.

Somewhat agree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

The pre-service teachers we are hosting have declined in quality over the past decade. I understand we are aiming to fill a shortage but this cannot be at the expense of quality. I have worked with teachers and pre-service teachers that, despite passing a LANTITE, do not have a solid understanding of the content they are supposed to teach.

The aim should be for a high, competitive uptake of teaching positions, that attracts high-achieving students who don't need to focus so much upon learning the content, but upon the actual skills and pedagogy of how to teach it.

To make teaching places highly sought-after by high-achieving school leavers and other mid-career professionals, there must be:

- A positive public perception of the profession
- Attractive salary rates for new and experienced teachers that do not plateau after a certain experience level is achieved.
- Respect for professional teacher expertise and autonomy by administrations and policy makers who are not 'on the ground', including the delegation of administrative tasks which detract from teachers' planning and preparation time.
- Time in Lieu provisions for additional hours work that is backed by adequate funding to allow its implementation.

Maximising the time to teach

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

Somewhat agree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

Teachers are not data-collectors and students are not pieces of data. Maximising time to teach should incorporate not only the ability to pass administrative tasks to others but to remove unnecessary testing and assessment where possible. My students don't have as much time to learn when explicit teaching time is replaced by increasing testing windows.

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.

Somewhat agree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

As a teacher with over a decade of experience, I have reached the top of the pay scale without applying for a Leading teacher/learning specialist or principal class position.

Most career pathways available to me now take me further from the classroom. Leading teachers/Learning specialists at my school are constantly removed from their classrooms to attend or run professional development, attend meetings and sit on panels and reviews. The students in these classes suffer from having a constant revolving door of casual relief teachers or being split between other classes. Their teacher effectively has less time to spend on the students in and their learning when they are selected for a 'Leading Teacher' role. Students do not benefit from having a classroom teacher in one of these roles.

Experienced teachers should have the option for progression that does not take them away from their students.
For example, I am regularly selected to have visitors to my classroom when observers from other schools come to see our school models and classroom practice.
This could become a more formalised role, as could other roles such as graduate/pre-service teacher mentors and other roles that do not remove experienced teachers from the classroom where they are needed.