Anonymous #077

Submitter information

Name

Anonymous #077

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?

Primary,Secondary

What is your occupation?

School leader

Elevating the profession

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

Strongly agree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

What actions are being considered? How do other international communities successfully elevate the teaching profession.
Have you considered thinking about other professions in Australia which are elevated in the eyes of most ? How might this help this action?

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.

Neither agree nor disagree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

I am not sure what the actions proposed are.
However, from a leader perspective at a Portfolio level, I regularly witness and work with teachers. They are extremely hard working, many working 7 days a week plus evening work to plan, deliver and assess student learning.
Most are committed to addressing the change required and identified in their site improvement plans.
Often they feel like whatever they do is not enough and we as leaders keep asking of them.
Leaders are the same. They work long hours and constantly work at refining their craft as instructional leaders and change managers.
How do we help leaders and teachers work in a manner that is smart, provides quality but has realistic workload and time considerations?

Strengthening Initial Teacher Education (ITE)

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

Neither agree nor disagree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

I am unsure of the proposed actions. It would have been better if they were accessible inside this survey.
However, what I hear leaders and teachers say it they pre service teachers are not prepared and do not appear to learn effective classroom management practices, curriculum planning, high impact pedagogical knowledge or formative assessment practices. The leaders wonder what they are taught at university and if there is any communication or collaboration with the university leaders of these courses and the Education Department??

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?

Again I am not sure what the recommendations are.
However, research from Grattan Institute is dined up well in this space.
The challenge is the implementation.
For example, in Primary schools in SA teachers have a right to 2.5hour job contact time each week, as a full time teacher.
School decide on specialist teachers to take the classes so teachers can be provide with this valuable NIT. However, not all schools appear to be able to choose specialist learning areas that marry with the recommended minimum time and therefore classroom teachers share the load of that learning area with the specialist teacher. If this problem could be overcome then teachers would have less learning area to cover in their contact time and thus maximise the teaching and learning time.

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?

Again I am not aware if the proposed actions.
However, I wonder how many teachers have gone through this accreditation process successfully. It is very rigorous which is important yet put a high workload on teachers who are often very contentious.
I feel the graduate the Proficient is an important stepping stone to keep and the early career teacher funding and pd is useful. When working with a large group of ECTs portfolio wide the one workshop that always books out each year is classroom management strategies with Bill Hansbury. Why? Well he’s a great presenter but most importantly it’s because they haven’t yet developed these important skills that allow rigor of teaching and learning to develop and maximise learning time for high impact.