Anonymous #317

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Submission received

Submitter information

Name

Anonymous #317

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)

No

Elevating the profession

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

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?

It depends on what the Panel recommends.

It is essential that trainee teachers are taught to teach reading and literacy according to evidence-based methods. This involves using the Science of Reading - which recommends explicit teaching using systematic synthetic phonics. For far too long universities have been teaching reading and literacy using a balanced literacy philosophy which has been scientifically discredited.

The ITE Review Report - Next Steps - recommended that the teacher education standards be amended to:

"ensure ITE graduates are taught sufficient evidence-based practices to meet the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers and empower them with the tools to lead a classroom, with particular attention to:
• teaching reading, including phonemic awareness and phonics as an essential element of the teaching of reading in the early years".

In addition, in order for trainee teachers to learn to teach students with diverse needs, they need have a basic understanding of these diverse needs, especially specific learning disorders (SLDs), which directly impact on a child's learning. In the present system, this education is mainly left to a postgraduate teaching qualification. Whilst teachers cannot diagnose any condition, they need to be able to spot red flags and raise their concerns with the parents. My daughter has dyslexia and dysgraphia, both SLDs, but was not diagnosed until Year 5 because no one at her school raised the possibility of dyslexia with me. Had this, and the possibility of testing, been raised, I would have immediately had her tested. It is well known that the sooner appropriate tuition commences the better the outcomes for dyslexics.

Maximising the time to teach

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

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

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?