Dear Julie Bishop . . .

[melwil]

Shut up!

Our esteemed education minister believes that performance pay will attract better teachers into the education business. Because the teachers we have now just aren't up to the job of teaching children effectively in falling apart classrooms with no support or resources. Personally, at the school I'm at, all I see is great teachers doing amazing things with children who have behaviour issues, children who have disabilities and children who are on the enrichment (or gifted and talented program) (in my case, that was all in the same class *g*). So to say that more money will attract better teachers is just insulting to the teachers who are struggling at the moment.

The problem is not attracting good teachers to the business. Good teachers want to be teachers, they're not there for the money (just ask any supply/substitute teacher). Keeping good teachers is the problem - especially after a while when they realise that they're expected to teach rules, success, anti-bullying, good dental care, good nutrition, instead of, you know, english and maths.

I can think of a dozen different ways to attract more good teachers. Performance pay doesn't come near it. Under Julie Bishops 'do-it-or-we'll-hold-back-your-funding' performance pay plan, my pay would be decided by:

-an 'independent outsider' coming to my class and watching me teach
-I'd have to take a test (who knows what would be tested - and when you consider the educational backgrounds of different teachers of different ages . . . )
-I'd need to be interviewed (again. I still remember the abuse I copped at the last interview)
-We'd need to prove that we've done adequate professional development etc.
-My principal would have to like me
-My students and their parents would be asked to fill in a questionnaire about my performance. MY STUDENTS. If we have to point out the flaws in this one . . .

(This would probably cost a lot of money to set all this up. Damn, there goes the fixing of the window in my old classroom. Spose we better get used to having a big piece of timber nailed over it. Oh, and what about stopping that strange dust from falling on the teacher's desk?)

Pay as You Learn - this article from The Age, discusses the whole thing in more depth.

Personally, I'm ok with the pay. I'd like more resources, support and time. And I'd like some of that support to come from the top. (Oh, that's funny) Even the principal of my school was telling me that he's tired of being the punching bag for the politicians and the media. Give us a break and let us teach.

Comments

[fernwithy.livejournal.com]

There seem to be a lot of people out there who think that money is the only reason people do jobs. One of the main arguments people make against national health care here is that salaries might go down for doctors, and then "the best people" wouldn't choose to become doctors! The same theory says that teaching would attract "better people" if it paid more.

Not that I'm against teachers getting paid more, but honestly, I wouldn't trust someone who said, "Wow, I'm going to go into teaching because I can make a killing!"

I think there are some serious issues in a lot of public education (often not caused by money issues--I don't know about Australia, but we run into a big problem with poor curriculum planning and refusal to deal with anything like national standards, and the occasional political proselytizer), but it seems to me that nearly every "solution" proposed has been potentially disastrous. What I could get behind is saying, "The kids need to learn X--this is not negotiable--but you know what? You there, in the classroom, have a much better feel for how to impart that knowledge to the kids you deal with than someone sitting hundreds of miles away talking about theory." Classrooms are living things. You have to have the freedom to respond to them.

And they also need to realize that some of the problems they're so concerned about DON'T COME FROM THE SCHOOLS. Schools are not the only thing in society. Just because you can't actually control bad parenting doesn't mean that the factor disappears when you evaluate student performance.

(That said, giving a reward for excellent results might be fun, just because competition always keeps things interesting. Not "Lose your funding if you don't..." but "If you get the best results, you win..." And something that the students can enjoy, as well. Maybe the winning school in each division gets some improvement that they want and have been competing for funding on.)

[calanthe-b.livejournal.com]

Give us a break and let us teach.

Oh, yes. Politicians should stay far, far away from education, because they only make fools of themselves and enemies of anyone who knows anything about what teaching actually entails any time they open their mouths. And they, and parents, need to remember that parents actually have some responsibility for their children's behaviour and learning as well.

I swear, one of these days we're going to open the morning paper and read that teachers are suddenly expected to teach toilet-training along with everything else...

[fernwithy.livejournal.com]

I swear, one of these days we're going to open the morning paper and read that teachers are suddenly expected to teach toilet-training along with everything else...

I sometimes fear that the day isn't that far off, honestly. It's not that big a step from where they are, and I suspect the only reason it's not already on the curriculum is that most kids are toilet-trained before kindergarten.

And then, of course, people wonder why schools have such a hard time getting to subjects that are, say, school-related, like poetry or history or the scientific method or basic reading comprehension.

[melwil.livejournal.com]

There was actually one child in my class last term who needs a refresher on toilet training, or at least on asking to go. In year 4 . . .

[fernwithy.livejournal.com]

And let me guess--no real mechanism to send him/her home to the parents with a note saying, "Toilet train your child, please."

:headdesk:

[melwil.livejournal.com]

Of course not. You should see the new rules when children have headlice - we're not even allowed to mention it to the child, or to move them from other children . . .

[fernwithy.livejournal.com]

Good Lord... that's insane. Lice can spread some nasty stuff... how... but...

I'm speechless.

[whycaro.livejournal.com]

I agree with you 100%

It sounds like such an unjust way to assess teacher performance (just like ed. qld's initial interview process).