Anonymous #386

Submitter information

Name

Anonymous #386

Where are you located?

Australian Capital Territory

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?

Teacher

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?

Targeted national campaign to raise the status of teachers:
- A PR campaign is frankly a waste of taxpayer dollars. Raise the status of teachers by raising our salaries - it will follow that it will attract a larger number of university entrants, which will push the minimum ATAR of teaching degrees up, which will result in higher-performing applicants wishing to enter teaching, which will raise the status of the profession in the broader community.
Teacher of the Year Award:
- what does it get us? Just a shiny badge or framed certificate? What meaningful rewards will that teacher receive? How does their recognition improve their working conditions?
Medals of the Order of Australia:
- As above. So a handful of politicians will suggest nominating teachers for this honour. So? How does it benefit the thousands of other ‘unsung hero’ teachers at the chalkface every day?
Targets for HALT teachers:
- Many teachers don’t both applying for HALT because the process is laborious and expensive. If you wish to raise the number of teachers seeking this certification, fund schools to provide a certain number of off-class time (with relief teachers provided) for teachers to complete this process in their work hours; and pay for the process.

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 agree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

More teaching places at universities:
Sensible. I would go a step further and offer full scholarships to students who agree to being placed in remote or regional schools for their first 3 years.
5,000 bursaries:
Sensible.

High Achieving Teachers program:
Unclear what this program entails from the proposal document.
Trial new ways of attracting and keeping teachers in the schools that need them most:
Given the failure of the Teach For Australia program to retain many of its graduates this proposal needs careful evaluation. South Australia’s university scholarships is similar to my suggestion under ‘More teaching places at universities’ above. One key problem with any program aiming at attracting teachers from other industries is that our salaries are not competitive with similarly training professionals in other fields - many candidates are expecting a pay cut if they make the move into teaching, so why would they come? We need to be paid a competitive salary that makes our profession just as attractive as law, medicine etc.
Prioritise visa processing for qualified teachers:
OK. No estimates in proposal as to how many teachers might be attracted through migration though.

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?

1. Review of teacher education:
Yes, a review is necessary both due to the low completion rate and the disconnection between teacher education and developing quality practice in the classroom.
2. Recognise previous study, work experience and skills:
Surely most universities are doing this as part of “recognised prior learning”?
There is a risk of putting teachers into the classroom based on inflated expectations of their prior work experience - teaching is unlike many other jobs and does require specialist training. Don’t rush people into the classroom who are not adequately prepared, or they will leave quickly.
3. Attract & retain more First Nations teachers:
Not enough detail in the proposal to comment.
4. Assessing literacy & numeracy of teaching students:
Insulting insinuation that teachers are getting into the classroom without being sufficiently literate or numerate. If they could get into university, they are adequately literate and numerate. It’s simply not necessary - to attain an ATAR and enrol at university they have demonstrated they could successfully complete a Tertiary package in senior secondary school, which necessitates high levels of numeracy and literacy. The exception may be for speakers of other languages - perhaps an English competency test could be required for people who have lived in Australia for less than a set number of years.

Maximising the time to teach

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

Somewhat agree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

Pilot reductions in teacher workload:
Absolutely no detail here at all. Suggests authors have absolutely no idea what teachers are doing all day.
Build on work already underway to maximise teachers’ time to teach….”
A few viable options noted. Caution against reducing maximum face-to-face teaching time as we’re already at the point where we only teach for approximately 50% of our rostered hours. What would be a more powerful change than reduced lesson time, would be reduced maximum class sizes. Every individual student represents a certain amount of off-class time, in administration, marking, parent contact etc - so reducing maximum class sizes reduces teacher workload.
Examine implementation of national curriculum:
Too often, these system initiatives generate MORE work for teachers while the policy wonks think it’s saving us time. I agree with reducing the frequency of the curriculum review cycle - every curriculum update creates substantial workload.
Teacher Workload Impact Assessments for reforms:
Good idea - make sure it’s working teachers who actually inform the assessment, not consultants!
Most effective use of para-teaching staff
Yes - more (quality) support staff are a more affordable way of completing many administration tasks. Non-teaching staff in schools should be given more training and support to build their capacity to take on tasks that eat up teachers’ days - eg. playground duties, excursion planning & administration, parent contact for certain issues, shared supervision of students in non-learning activities (eg supervision during assemblies, bus lines, canteen lines etc)

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?

Projections:
So obvious. Why is this not already happening??
Graduate supply data:
As above. Why is this not already the norm?
National Quality Framework:
Code for more work for teachers. The current apparatus, for example TQI, is onerous, time consuming and does not ensure ‘Quality’. The majority of ‘Accredited” Professional Learning that we are expected to complete for the purpose of jumping through these hoops, is less than useless. Twenty hours a year of PL (not reduced pro rata for part timers either!) which is followed by a length online questionnaire and reflection session for every single program - adds up to a lot of time for very little improvement in ‘quality’.
More efficient conditional & provisional registration:
How many teachers are being held up through slow registration processes? No data provided.
Data on why teachers leave, what careers they move into:
Sensible & necessary.

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?

Career pathways:
Ideas are vague & read largely like code for more registration hoops to jump through. Doesn’t identify what kinds of roles would be created to entice teachers to jump through the hoops; or what the pay structures would look like.