Anonymous #116

Submitter information

Name

Anonymous #116

Where are you located?

Western Australia

What type of area do you live in?

Regional or rural

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 think the role of the media is going to be exceptionally important - in particular, the role of social media.
There's a lot of 'myths' around teaching.

I've been teaching for 19 years, next year being my 20th year, and always in public regional schools. Until this year, my parents had never visited me during a school term. They stayed with me for 5 weeks across Term 3 and it was the first time they'd seen the demands of my job and how hard I work to do the best for the students and teachers in our school. They saw me up late at night getting marking done for my year 12s, they saw my phone constantly going off with messages/calls from staff members requiring support, or letting me know they were ill and wouldn't be in the following day. They saw the emotional toll of teaching a large population of students with backgrounds of trauma has, and the lack of support you get from parents when trying to change poor behaviours.
They conversations they have with me since then have been very different - they are asking me whether I've had a chance to rest from work on holidays or weekends. They're getting angry on my behalf of media representations of teachers rather than supporting what they hear as gospel. This is the change I want to see in broader society.

I just want the myths dispelled that teaching is an easy job and that we're only in it because we're slack or to make students lives hard on our power trips.
I want to be respected for the 16 hour days I put in each day during the term and for going to university to become and expert in my field.
Media has a huge role to play with this - changing the language around teaching as a respected profession is going to be hard but needs to be a focus. And a focus on the 'real' work of teaching, not the glamourous youtubers and instagrammers - Those who turn up each day to do the best for the students that need it the most.

If it was so easy, we wouldn't have a teacher shortage.

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.

Somewhat disagree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

Until respect for the profession is addressed, teaching supply is never going to improve. Why would you want to be a teacher otherwise?

Until teacher workload is addressed, teaching supply isn't going to improve either.

Teach for Australia type programs undermine the profession in a huge way. I became an expert in my field which is teaching and educating teenagers. Reducing time spent in teacher training programs limits capacity to teach, no matter how expert you are in your subject. This isn't going to keep teachers in the profession when you're sending them into a classroom with limited skills to actually educate the students in front of them.

Prepare teachers to do their jobs by giving them the training to learn the skills - This will keep teachings in the profession.

Internship type training would be one option.

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?

As I indicated before - teachers need to come into the profession prepared for the realities of teaching.
Recognition of prior work experience in fields other than teaching isn't going to work. Just because you're intelligent and all across a subject/field doesn't make you a great teacher. The most brilliant footy players aren't always the best coaches - teaching isn't any different. The skill we need people to have is teaching NOT content knowledge. That certainly helps but isn't the be all of being a great teacher.

Its a strange profession in that people in their 1st year are expected to do the exact same job as those in their 10th.
How do we better prepare people new to the profession?

Attracting First Nations Teachers is going to be exceptionally important - Challenge is that the educational system isn't necessarily set up for Indigenous people. Flexibility is going to be key here.
I live in far north WA and experience this each and every day - I'm trying to education a predominantly indigenous community in a language that isn't their first and in a way that doesn't suit the value systems of Indigenous cultures. Education outcomes for Indigenous students won't change until we change the ways things are done.
I am proud to be an ally at a school that is seeking and working towards this change.

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 actions seem kind of vague - give me specifics.
The parts of my job that take up so much time are parent contact, data collection and analysis for improvement, marking & providing feedback and hunting appropriate resourcing.
Not to mention the endless hours recording and following up on behaviour concerns, consequences etc.

Planning and preparing excursions is so time consuming people are shifting away from doing this also.

And then throw in reporting.

I do struggle to see what can go though, but think that reducing face to face teaching time would give teachers time to do their job well.

WA have developed materials to help with curriculum delivery and planning but there is no local context to these at all, making them redundant - we also really haven't had a chance to spend time looking through these.

The best gift given to us was the weeks when covid first kicked off, where students were sent home but teachers had to be onsite.

Stop changing the curriculum on us too - You just feel you've got it settled and it changes again.

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?

Slightly effective

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

Working out why teachers leave the profession needs to be the top priority here.
If you don't know why they're leaving or considering leaving, then you can't solve the problems.

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?

I like the idea of Queenslands program to encourage and prepare high performing teachers for leadership roles in remote/regional schools.
I've always hated that the least experienced teachers end up in our hardest schools where the need for experience is the greatest.
This should be expanded across the country.

This is probably the priority that i like the actions the most on. Keep great teachers in the classroom, but find ways for them to share their greatness.