Anonymous #324

Submitter information

Name

Anonymous #324

Where are you located?

Queensland

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.

Strongly disagree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

Action 1:That money could be better spent supporting existing teachers in their work. Unless you have current employees who are supported and valued, they will undo all the positive messages this type of advertising might bring.
Action 2: Recognition is nice, but I think you’ll find teachers would appreciate acknowledgement in their own contexts in their every day working life more than this. Why not provide bonuses for staff based on attendance. We have a lot of absenteeism in our staff, this might help incentivise turning up to work each day.
Action 3: I don’t mean to be rude, but that’s really not going to make a difference to teachers in their every day work life or with their work load. Did you actually speak to teachers when you consulted?
Action 4: This action plan seems to revolve on recognition and payload. I think teachers on all levels want to have their day to day workload addressed, not to have praise and rewards…we are beyond that at this point.

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?

Action 5: Great, can they be provided free or at less cost for high achieving school graduates?
Action 6: Teacher education is at University level, I’m not sure how this benefits the Primary/Secondary teaching crisis????
Re. TAFE and ECE: Great, but what about looking at more tax breaks and salary sacrificing for current teachers who usually pay at least $3000 of their own money each year towards resourcing their classrooms to the level needed for quality, hands on learning?
Action 7: Great. Might work well for secondary teaching, but Primary teaching is an entirely different skill set. Candidates would need to be carefully selected.
Action 8: Schools most in need should have more teachers and a lower staff student ratio. These schools have more complex children, families and socio-economic circumstances so they should not have to adhere to the current ‘one size fits all’ model of teacher allocation. Teachers wouldn’t want to leave if their classroom load was reduced. They are simply burning out due to the energy required to manage large classes with high need children. Schools should also be fully funded for a full time Guidance Officer, OT and SLP to support class teachers. It should not be an ‘add on’ if the school can afford it.
Action 9: This will be excellent for schools with a high number of migrant students as they can support these children better, esp if language and culture are matched.

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?

Action 10: The best way to retain new teachers is to ensure working conditions for existing teachers are conducive to remaining in the profession!
Action 11: Again, eligibility for this should be carefully scrutinised…just because we all went to school doesn’t mean we can all teach. If you ‘dumb down the requirements’ you dumb down the quality of teaching.
Action 12: No comment
Action 13: Great…if the targeted support is actually provided and they then retest and pass prior to completion of their first year.

Maximising the time to teach

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

Strongly agree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

Action 14: More details are needed on what these pilot initiatives might be?
Action 15: Teachers need to have use of Pupil free days FOR PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY. Pupil free days are filled up with Admin selected items that rarely reduce workload, and more often puts additional expectations on staff.
Staff meetings should also be used for collaborative discussions about planning, assessment or support for students with additional needs. There should only be one ‘administrative’ meeting per month, the other three should enable the staff to devolve into their year level cohorts and discuss/plan/collaborate on issues that directly impact or benefit their particular class needs.
Staff Non-Contact time should be allocated to a year level so that where possible, staff of the same year level can spend this time collaboratively. If the times do not coincide, it does not allow for the option for cooperative work across the year level.
Action 16: Curriculum for P-3 should have a key focus on Literacy and Numeracy and Science. PE (including music and movement) and Art should not be assessable, they should just be based on participation rate. Health and HASS are not necessary at this level as children have very little control over their own health at this age – this is their parent’ responsibility, and HASS knowledge and skills can be better developed as research skills in the upper years. STREAMLINE THE CURRICULUM TO ENSURE ENGLISH AND MATHS are WELL ESTABLISHED as the FOUNDATION for future learning.
Staff workload is increased sifting through the sheer volume of curriculum documents and materials. A universal one stop shop tool should be provided for access to all resources recommended for classroom use. This resource may have many levels, but at the easiest level, teachers just need to be able to quickly access a weekly lesson and any supporting resources. Refer to Qld’s Paramatta State School Curriculum tool, which they developed to provide quick and easy access to Qlds C2C materials.
Action 17: See above re. assessable subjects. DOES EACH SUBJECT REALLY REQUIRE ASSESMENT? DOES EACH ASSESSMENT NEED TO BE SUMMATIVE? Morecommentsinpriority5 on this!

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?

Moderately effective

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

THESE COMMENTS ARE A CONTINUATION OF PRIORITY 4
Action 17 cont: How has NAPLAN been used to better support schools in need? I don’t think this seems obvious to most teachers at a classroom level.
Action 18: JUST GIVE US MORE OF THEM. Over the past three years, education support staff have been reduced to less than half what we used to have, yet the needs of our school cohort have remained the same, if not increased. TEACHERS should be allocated one full time full time staff member based on class sizes. If you don’t reduce class sizes, at least provide one TA per teacher. Teachers are also better suited to the timetabling of what and when TA staff are utilised in their classroom. When admin allocate times for staff support, it is not always allocated at a time that is best utilised e.g. 45mins in the last session on a Friday is not that valuable if you only get support once or twice a week.


Action 19: If demand is based on current staff to pupil ratios, then this will not help to reduce some of the workforce and workload issues. Class groupings are very complex in some schools and demand higher staff ratios than currently offered.
Action 20: no comment
Action 21: This should aid with teacher’s ability to move from state to state, but will it solve the overall problem?
Action 22: Good! It seems to have become quite burdensome on new teachers who are already working hard to consolidate skills and knowledge from Uni.
Action 23: Where, how and from whom is this data going to be collected? Can existing teachers also be asked what would help them to be retained? It’s not all about the $$$ for many teachers. There isn't even enough space in this feedback submission for us to adequately provide feedback on maximising time to teach!

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?

Action 24: It would be useful to consider programs that enable classroom teachers to step sideways into roles that are support or ‘off-class’ for a period of up to one or two years so that teachers who want to remain in the classroom, but don’t want to move into leadership can have the opportunity to work off class for short periods, and thus remove some of the additional workload burdens of being ‘on class’ e.g. reporting, assessment and marking, planning for a full class etc.
Action 25: No comment
Action 26: You will need to reduce the content of each curriculum area in order to prioritise this in the teaching space. Most teachers are willing to support teaching cultural competency, however we are hard pushed to get through curriculum basics as it is. It is already embedded in QLD C2C content, however it is difficult to fit everything in a teaching day as it is.
Action 27: Usually this process is an extra burden on the existing workload of experienced teachers. I believe streamlining the process for this, and for provisional registration of new teachers will be a win for all.
Action 28: As a teacher, I have found it difficult as a teacher to access PD that doesn’t cost in excess of $500 per day. We are also less able to attend PD in work time, especially if it doesn’t align with current school-based priorities.