Anonymous #349

Submitter information

Name

Anonymous #349

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?

Early childhood education and care

What is your occupation?

Early Learning Centre Director

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?

Working in an early learning centre is not valued by a lot of parents who tend to use us as a baby sitting service with the attitude that as we charge for a full session then they are entitled to drop their child off and collect them whenever it suits them, however in our setting we have to abide by strict educator:child ratios, this makes rostering hard and educators feel undervalued. I think some of the actions would help, but in our service, ECT's already get a much larger wage than other educators for doing a similar role and they almost receive the same wage as a Director with less responsibility.

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 have had a leadership position open for 12 months now, as well as casual positions and Diploma qualified positions for almost as long. The only people applying for the lesser positions are people who are studying their Bachelors or have completed their Bachelors; they are using Early learning Centres as a way to become fully registered and then they are leaving our sector. Due to our staffing shortages, I now have 3 full time ECT's and 2 part time. One of the part timers was full time but found this "too tiring" and wanted to drop days! I also hired another ECT late last year and she was absolutely shocking; no skills, no stamina and no desire to work with children so we didn't get past her probation period. I find that the educators coming through who have done their Masters are just not suited to working with children under the age of 5. Due to all of this, the only explanation that I have for being a shortage of Teachers is that they are lazy, they don't actually want to work, they are fussy where they work and some of them are just not suitable. We also need to stop allocating so many places to overseas students, as they have other motives for studying.
I don't think that offering some of the incentives will attract the right people, those people already working with children don't necessarily do this for the money, but it would help if our wage was increased and this includes all educators not just ECT's. There is a severe shortage in the early learning industry at the moment, something needs to be done.

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?

Recognising previous skills/experience, this would depend on what previous skills they have, I have not had much luck with overseas students who were Teachers in their own country, then they came to Australia and completed their Masters, it has been disastrous. I would suggest better scrutiny for these people and looking at what the Masters of Educator is missing as I have found that these educators do not fit into a setting for under 5's, in fact I would be concerned if they were in a school and in a room on their own; they don't seem to understand how to control a room, how to initiate behaviour and guidance or use their initiative.

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?

If this is for the early learning sector, then we need more Diploma qualfied educators to replace the ECT's as we have strict ratios.

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?

I think there needs to be better consultation with different services to hear how they are coping with staffing shortages and how some areas like mine are saturated with ECT's and other areas such as Seaford can't retain their ECT's. I think that this is a start, but maybe better questions or invite all ECT's to have their say.

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 think it is a great priority, however streamlining sounds a little like "rushing" through their qualifications which may not result in better training. This is the current problem we have in the early learning sector, RTO's ticking off and giving out Diploma's to people who do not have a clue once they manage to get a position, there is a serious lack of training and support for people coming into the early learning sector which then means we have to train them and some people are not very open to being trained or willing to change. Providing better professional support - absolutely, but this will depend on how it is done, not rushed and who is going to provide this support.