Anonymous #359

Submitter information

Name

Anonymous #359

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's aide, learning support assistant

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?

Teachers need to be taught at University how to recognise a student who shows signs of having dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia. The school I work at now gives PD to staff on this and has introduced a synthetic phonics learning approach. All school and home readers are decodable. We now have INIALIT for all classes in prep, one and two. MINILIT and MAQULIT for struggling students and the teachers meet regularly to flag concerns about any students who not meeting year-level goals. My daughter went to the same school before all this was implemented. No flags were raised and I was told by every teacher that she was doing well. She wasn't. In grade 7 in high school, she was diagnosed with the three Ds. Her dyslexia put her at the grade 4 level. I've spent thousands of dollars on private tuition to help her. This could have been avoided if her teachers were trained to recognize her learning disability. Her high school maths teacher didn't even know what dyscalcula was. The system must change to help the many students who cannot advocate for themselves. There is too much squeezed into the curriculum for any real learning of reading, writing, and maths to take place. In term 4 in my year one class, there were 13 assessments. Most of them had to be scribed by me, a teacher aide. Due to little funding for aides I spend only 1.5 hours in a year one classroom in the morning, I spent most of this term helping with assessment and not taking INIALIT reading groups. Most of the class wasn't reaching grade level. I wonder why? Teachers and aides are bogged down with assessments and paperwork that little teaching of reading and writing is taking place. Something has to change.

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.

Strongly agree

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.

Strongly agree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

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?

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?

Extremely effective

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.

Somewhat agree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?