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Has Gillard (finally) struck on a winning policy?

Dean Jaensch

by Dean Jaensch

06 Jan 05:45am

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Filed under: Education, Julia Gillard, Labor Party, Parliament, Schools

100 comments

Prime Minister Julia Gillard faces a number of unresolved problems in 2011. These include the continuing backwash of the school buildings and ceiling insulation, more opposition over the mining tax, and the carbon price.

Cartoon: Bill Leak

Hanging over her head is the Green takeover of the balance of power in the Senate in July.

None of these would engender a mood of a happy new year. What she needs is a win – a policy which will have widespread public support. She may have found one: removing the cold hand of central bureaucratic domination from State public schools.

Her proposal is that schools will become autonomous bodies, with authority for principals, teachers and communities to manage the processes, policies and personnel of public schools.

One of the most important components is that schools will have the right to choose their own teaching staff. Currently, they are told by the central bureaucracy to take whoever is offered.
Principals will have the power to select the staff they need and want, choosing the best persons and the best fits. Gone forever will be a perception that a teaching position, once attained, is a guarantee for life, regardless of ability.

Gone will be the power of a central education department to shuffle the less solid teaching performers around from school to school.

Gone will be the parlous position of new graduate teachers of quality, who have to depend on the largesse of central bureaucracies to win often short-term, temporary appointments. They can put their credentials and their abilities out into the school market place, and convince principals that they are worth appointing.

A school’s wider community will be pleased, as they will have a greater potential for their children to receive the best quality education from the best quality teachers, and they will have a much greater potential to relate with the school. Sounds very much like winners all round.

But there will be strong opposition to the proposal. The state governments, who have the power under the Constitution to run the public schools in their states, will not give up their authority willingly.

The devolution to individual schools of significant components of not only staffing, but of budgetary and financial matters, will mean far fewer public servants will be required in head office. The public service union will not be pleased.

Above all, the Australian Education Union will fight this proposal with everything it can. 

The AEU has lost some important battles recently, especially over national testing and the My School website. But the main reason for its opposition is that autonomy for schools and increased authority for principals will weaken the strong control the union has in the education system at the moment.

But the union may find that this is a battle where the overwhelming majority of the public will be arrayed against it. There are very few parents indeed who do not want a better quality education for their children.  When they realise that more autonomy for schools will have the potential to improve the quality of the education their children receive, their support will be guaranteed.

With control of their own budgets, principals can offer top salaries for top teachers. This will not please the education union, but it will bring the profession into the modern world.

It should lift the status of the profession, and reverse the tendency for some young people with excellent abilities to discard a teaching career as it does not offer sufficient recognition of quality.

Julia Gillard needs a policy that is a winner. This one seems to fit the bill very nicely indeed. 

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100 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • Against the Man says:

      05:54am | 06/01/11

      Watch as this becomes another policy failure. Gillard is as useful as pair of broken sunglasses. Since she has had no policy success (surprise, surprise) why not make this all or nothing. If this policy doesn’t get through soon, then she quits and goes home. Enough of wasting our time, why are we paying you fluff around?

      Reply

    • Against the Grain says:

      12:35pm | 06/01/11

      a pair of broken sunglasses is also pretty useless for a blind man such as yourself.
      why waste our time with your partisan politics?

    • Against the Man says:

      03:04pm | 06/01/11

      It isn’t partisan if the party you don’t support isn’t supported because of incompetence. Look, after years as deputy PM and more than 6 months as PM we have a dodo PM who hasn’t had any policy success. Now is that my fault or the fault of Gillard’s poor brain?

    • Against the Man says:

      03:04pm | 06/01/11

      It isn’t partisan if the party you don’t support isn’t supported because of incompetence. Look, after years as deputy PM and more than 6 months as PM we have a dodo PM who hasn’t had any policy success. Now is that my fault or the fault of Gillard’s poor brain?

    • Rod says:

      03:30pm | 06/01/11

      And the alternative is?
      Abbott and his bunch of idiots… what a joke

    • nick says:

      04:25pm | 06/01/11

      the main problem with Labor is that they are crap at getting things done. I don’t always agree with what the Coalition does (in fact I probably only agree with them slightly over 50% of the time). But they know how to get things done and how to aim for realistic goals. Some of Labor’s goals are great but they never think about whether or not it’s actually possible to accomplish, that plus the fact that a whole lot of them are corrupt will always prevent them from doing anything good.

      It’s like they’re saying “We will spend 50 billion to cure cancer” but when asked what the 50 billion will be spent on, they can’t answer. Or they say something stupid like “We will give cancer 50 billion if it agrees to go away”

    • Against the Grain says:

      08:28pm | 06/01/11

      Yes nick,
      I love how the liberals get things done
      like all that infrastructure that was built during the howard years
      that u beaut GST
      the privatisation of telstra that fostered competition and made communication cheaper in addition to helping Australians build up their superannuation nest eggs
      Helping out our exporters by paying bribes to Saddam.
      and fixing the healthcare system through private healthcare and ripping billions out of the healthcare budget to squander on middle and upper class welfare.
      yup, nothing like the liberals to get things done.

    • Maree says:

      11:08pm | 06/01/11

      Against the grain: Well said, allbeit some of your points lack fact. The Liberals did actually complete the points you mentioned. Unlike the current labor government who can not even get good policies to work. eg PC’s for every school student.

    • acotrel says:

      05:58am | 06/01/11

      There are some teachers who desperately want to maintain a monopoly with no competition from qualified people from outside their profession!  I used to perfoirm sessional lecturing in a few tertiary institutes.  Since I’ve moved to Benalla, I’ve found recruitment into the local TAFEs is controlled by about two women.  One of them wanted to teach in two places at once through big screens with a land line connection.  So they certainly didn’t want me around!  In country towns, getting work is often ‘not about what you know, but who you know’ - But this is ridiculous!

      Reply

    • TimB says:

      08:15am | 06/01/11

      Let’s see if I understand you correctly. Teaching is being done in 2 locations at once via “big screens and a landline connection”. I’m going to assume this is some form of video conferencing. You know the video conferencing which we can apparently only get via the NBN according to you. Also apparently the source of an upcoming educational revolution.

      This same technology is making your services uneccessary and now you’re complaining. This is hilarious.

    • TimB says:

      10:08am | 06/01/11

      Badger, suggest you resolve your multiple personality disorder before you try your hand at humour.

    • The Badger says:

      10:35am | 06/01/11

      timmie
      just returning the complement after you posted a link for me to a global warming denialist site that was Monkton advised, Exxon supported, Rush Limbaugh applauded.

    • TimB says:

      01:13pm | 06/01/11

      I see Badger. So your lack of ability to engage in critical thought & understand basic statistics results in you spouting conspiracy theories and posting irrellevant nonsense.

      Actually, you probably would have done that no matter what anyone had posted.

      Carry on.

    • stevie p says:

      06:25am | 06/01/11

      The AEU is weak as a body. If they couldn’t organise resistance to something as crucial as national testing and the My School website - how on earth is it going to crunch this little number. You are dreaming. Now if the AEU recommended to the many hundreds of thousands of teachers how to vote - then there just might be a different attitude. Just wait and see what the PSA in SA is going to do to Rann and Foley.

      Reply

    • Mick says:

      02:02am | 07/01/11

      Lol they already do my sister is in the aeu and they are 100% labor. The trash magazines they send out are ridiculous, it’s all labor and green propaganda.

    • Gillard the empty space says:

      06:41am | 06/01/11

      Gillard’s “interest” in education is an unforgivable component of her incompetence as Education Minister and Deputy PM.  Augill’s table of BER unresolved complaints as yet unannounced from a woman who self-indulgently describes herself “as your Prime Minister”, is all too fond of making “announcements”. 
      Too many of the Augill inquiry’s partial 2010 pre-election release of BER BER complaints were conveniently referred to further committee.  Millions $$$$ wasted on school additions purposefully kept the voting public under-informed. 
      Gillard is damaged goods. Her incompetent record dictates she should keep her fingers right out of education.  So she doesn’t even know about the disregarded numbers of children bullied as a result of her My School website?  Why wouldn’t she support a “My Politician” website?  Couldn’t handle the same level of bullying that kids get?
      Four Australian lives lost due to pink batt programme incompetence. Where was this Deputy PM Gillard woman after the first electrocution, when her government was clearly forewarned that more tragedies were likely, and still three more young Aussies died?  And hasn’t she been warned about the dangers of excessive boat arrivals and Australia’s over-stretched coping capabilities? Where’s the East Timor agreement?  And now it’s the carbon tax and higher consumer costs - the one that Gillard pledged would never happen under a government led by her? Does she think that yesterday’s words are disappearing ink, according to the desires of her Green comrades of convenience? 
      $500 million Gillard dollars to build Indonesian Schools - $1M pledged to “kick off” the Australian flood appeal.
      No. The woman is occupying blank space.  The best year of decision and delivery for my country would be for all of us to decide to deliver her and her incompetent hacks to the backyard of political history.

      Reply

    • dinkidi says:

      01:47pm | 06/01/11

      When Gillard announces a new policy, everyone should run for the hills. She can only stuff up the schools as she has stuffed up everything she has touched with those endlessly waving hands. God help us.

    • Bruce says:

      10:02am | 07/01/11

      Well said “Gillard the Empty”.....thats a great new regal title !!

    • KH says:

      07:14am | 06/01/11

      I find it unbelievable that a great teacher gets paid as much as the lazy teacher who hasn’t shifted their curriculum or attitude since 1975.  Of course you should get paid more than others if you are better than them - that is logical, and it is a way of spurring people on to do better - to keep improving and learning themselves - if there is a reward for doing so, they will be more inclined to try.  The idea that you can just slide into a job and never be moved from it no matter how badly you perform should be consigned to the scrapheap where it belongs. 

      Sounds to me like the government has got this one right - surely even the opposition couldn’t argue against this.  It will be interesting to see if they can push it through.

      Reply

    • Gregg says:

      08:58am | 06/01/11

      You would need to look state by state and also at the differences between primary and secondary schools but you may find there is already something like experienced and senior gradings for teachers in place within some education department structuring.
      A Vice Principal or Principal only gets their position by applying and not a slide.
      Some do get there at a younger age than others through performance.

    • Michael N says:

      11:05am | 06/01/11

      I take it you’re not a union member KH?! I agree completely with your comments by the way.

    • thatmosis says:

      07:24am | 06/01/11

      Oh whoopy dooo. Now all the clowns have got to get right is the ciriculum where the kids are actually taught something. Not this airy fairy political correct nonsense but things that will help them in later life like reading writing and arithmetic. Bring back some discipline as well and make parents responsible for their children, their behaviour and their attendance at school. Simple things that have been lost along the way because political correctness and expediency had priority.

      Reply

    • OxyTorch says:

      01:25pm | 06/01/11

      So I suppose you support beating the dyslexia out of children, like they did in “your day”?

    • The Badger says:

      04:38pm | 06/01/11

      oxytorch
      thamosis is just advocating a ciriculum that enables kids to write more better than he was learned.

      If kids want discipline, send them to a Christian brothers school, or a sisters of no mercy school.

    • Slim says:

      07:25am | 06/01/11

      State schools in Victoria have been largely autonomous for many years. In theory principals can offer top salaries for top teachers, but this is not the reality. Teaching salaries and conditions are determined by a negotiated industry agreement every four years. Additionally, while juggling the many demands of an autonomous budget, graduate teachers at a base salary are increasingly preferred appointments, even to senior positions, because they are cheaper and on short-term contracts, not because they best meet the educational needs of students.

      Governments’ increasing reliance on standardised testing and a National Curriculum mean that the autonomy of schools is merely budgetary and bureaucratic. Truly autonomous state schools should be able to manage their own curriculum policies as well as management processes.

      Reply

    • Gregg says:

      09:01am | 06/01/11

      I thought it had been something like that for a long time Slim and I think School head maam Gillard needs to go back to school and learn a few things herself.

    • Ducks says:

      11:41am | 06/01/11

      As far as I know this has been trialled in WA over the past few years as well- just not in all the schools as yet. I think the trial was deemed a success and it is planned to be rolled out into a greater number of scholls in the comign year.

      All she will be doing is accelerating the roll-out to more schools. I believe it is a good policy, just not one she came up with herself. Nor is it one that will have a great effect (at least in WA anyway) as it is already on the State Government’s agenda.

    • Martyn says:

      10:26pm | 06/01/11

      You’re correct, Ducks. “Independent Public Schools”, as they’re termed; and the govt. does intend to broaden this to all schools eventually. Labor will probably reverse the process though, especially if the Libs dare to roll back any of the horribly failed Shared Services model.

      The trial has probably not really been long enough as yet to reveal all of the shortcomings of the approach. Schools are not necessarily good or experienced business managers and if they’re given enough control, problems will certainly arise here and there - in some cases, spectacular ones.  There is a lot of scepticism within the Department.

      Time will tell.

    • nosthow says:

      07:57am | 06/01/11

      Thank god for the Labor Party Dean- the only party in Australia with sound policies and a vision for Australias future ! Unlike Abbott and his rabble with no policies and no vision for Australia. Tones said late last year “2011 will be a year of Policy development” - an amazing admission that he and his so called party are bereft of actual policies - other than the two that all Liberal leaders carry in their kitbags - they being SLASH and TAX ! Well done once again Ms Gillard for steering Australia on a sound course - dont worry about Abbott and Co - they have nothing to offer the voters of Australia and if they ever got in would send Australia back 50 years or more ! Huzzah for Ms gillard - I am sure you will ALL join me today in that cheer !

      Reply

    • Peter says:

      08:30am | 06/01/11

      Nosthow ..Its obvious that your blind faith and delusion is getting the better of you ..You really are now starting to sound like a real Dill! Gillard is gone and you know it..No amounts of Hurrays will bring her back.
      She is a dead duck! a Gonner! and so is this hopeless Labor government .With its core voters reduced to a woeful 35% and falling its Bye Bye’s and good riddance next time round.

    • scaper... says:

      08:37am | 06/01/11

      Don’t feed the troll!

    • Gregg says:

      09:11am | 06/01/11

      No Lostie, you’ve lost the plot again or well lets say in already being lost now you’ve failed to find any new ground.
      Putting it very plainly and simply for you, Tony Abbott in saying something like ” 2011 will be a year of Policy Development ” does not mean there is no Policy but that the party will continue as always to review and develop.

      I am sure you would hope that gillard and troops could do likewise in the right direction for even with Moving Forward in a Circle as Senior Teacher Swann would have it, that can not only be dizzying but will cause some crunching and clashing if all those cogs aren’t synchronous.

      My commisserations for you may feel a tad lonely with your Huzzahs but see if there are any Hari Krishnas arriving by boat.
      As for Slash and Tax, after so much debt accrual and it continuing, some one has to do the hard yards so the country gets back on track and it’ll surely not be Gillard.

    • Black ops says:

      09:23am | 06/01/11

      Huzzah for Ms gillard (you need some lessons in writing Nosthow).  So Ms Gillard received a nice shiny new toy (policy) over Christmas, lets sit back and watch her and her playmates now break it.  Don’t you think for the moment it is better that Mr Abbott and his playmates work on policies rather than just announce anything that pops into their collective heads.  I’d rather that than just make announcements and statements then let them fall by the wayside once it all gets too complicated.

    • The Badger says:

      09:29am | 06/01/11

      nosthow
      It’s not fair to say the liberals have no policy, they do. They have one policy they have been developing since Abbott took over the reins of the right wing express.The policy of NO.

      Having more than a policy of NO would be a good thing for the liberals to have. Properly costed ones would be even better.

      Let’s see what Abbott can pull out of his hat.

    • nosthow says:

      09:34am | 06/01/11

      @scaper…  spoken like a true Liberal scaper - absolutely nothing to say - nothing to contribute ! hahahahhah

    • Black ops says:

      10:23am | 06/01/11

      Agree with you about scaper Nosthow, we may not agree on all things, but if you are going to contribute, at least make it something with a comment related to the post, not a snide remark.

    • Steve Putnam says:

      10:27am | 06/01/11

      All these Liberal staffers masquerading as members of the general public on this site have this thing in common, namely the slash and tax line you refer to. To this can be added a sheer uncompromising negativity. We never hear any details about their broadband alternative for instance, only that the NBN costs so much, or that private industry should be doing it etc. In this they mirror the personality of their leader. He hasn’t changed from his days as one of the trumps in the Democrat Club (read DLP) at Sydney University whose raison d’etre was opposition to all things liberal and democratic. Essentially the only difference is that the ‘reds under the bed’ line has been replaced by xenophobia about refugees. Sadly, it must be said, the ALP’s line on this issue is no better.

    • Ben81 says:

      10:48am | 06/01/11

      Yeah we get it nosthow, any political article = an excuse to post a completely unrelated and puerile rant about Tony Abbott.  Really, why are you bothering?

    • Michael N says:

      11:13am | 06/01/11

      @ Black Ops (cool name… what are like 12?) - Scaper was making a humorous observation along the lines that nosthow’s comment does not in fact relate to the post but is simply, as Ben81 observed, an opportunity to rehash an old rant. Nonetheless, thanks for breaking Radio Silence to contribute here today…

    • Ducks says:

      11:44am | 06/01/11

      Nosthow, this policy was introduced in WA by the State (Liberal) government about 3 years ago as a trial. The trial was deemed successful and it is currently planned to be implemented in more schools.

      Not that I agree with all of the Liberal’s policies, but I think you’re blind faith in Labour’s policy making abilities may need to be reviewed.

    • Black ops says:

      01:58pm | 06/01/11

      Thanks for pointing me in the right direction Michael N (boring name by the way, whats you IQ?  Same as your age, I’ll swap insults all day mate).  I put the post up as it does become immature reading posts such as scaper’s, don’t seem to add anything, other than a kind of nah nah nah school yard response.  Oh and I am well aware of Nosthow’s continuous rants about Mr Abbott and the Liberals in general and how they usually have nothing to do with thread.  Sorry to disappoint you but i’m a little bit older than 12, just add 35 yrs), so more than likely I’m older and as it seems wiser than you.  Over and out.

    • scaper... says:

      04:26pm | 06/01/11

      Oh dear, I’ll try again to post if I can, will this get through? For the ones here that are ignorant to the term or who are reasonably new to posting on blogs.

      “In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into a desired emotional response[1] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.”

      Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_(Internet)

      Why put a point across or even attempt a reasonable discussion here? Shame as there seems to be quite a few decent posters…oh well.
      By all means, take the bait but it isn’t a good look for the readers out there.

    • Bilbo says:

      08:31pm | 06/01/11

      Scaper
      you might want to try blogging on the Liberal party website.
      They are very good a filtering out trolls.

    • Daniel says:

      08:11am | 06/01/11

      She should start talking to Greens now before they start their new term. She should have staffers that are paid a fortune telling her this already??

      Reply

    • Billie says:

      10:26am | 06/01/11

      Staffers are not paid a fortune.

    • Tony of Poorakistan says:

      01:04pm | 06/01/11

      @ Billie ... *cough*bullshit*cough*

    • Daniel says:

      07:54pm | 06/01/11

      Tony I agree with you there. All the staffers I ever met were paid well and had it cushy.

    • Muzz says:

      08:18am | 06/01/11

      Another idea that sounds good but doomed to failure. They should follow the rule that: those who hold the purse strings are those that should call the shots.  In short, the state govt bureaucracies should get of their arses and do the job that they should have been doing all along.  That is they should do the jobs that gooliard proposes devolving to schools and local school boards.

      Reply

    • David says:

      08:36am | 06/01/11

      Teaching is undervalued.
      We should pay them more and expect more of them!  The good teachers are already delivering more.
      We need to ensure that the poor teachers are sifted out of the system, not the good teachers.

      Reply

    • The Badger says:

      04:40pm | 06/01/11

      But how do we know who the good teachers are David?

      how do we know where these good teachers teach?

    • Empire says:

      10:04am | 07/01/11

      I would love to weed out the bad teachers too, the problem is, who is going to decide who the good and bad teachers are?
      The principals? The deputies?
      They already look after their friends, who as far as I’m concerned aren’t the good teachers.
      I am not trying to be rude, but 80% of Australians are underpaid and they don’t get school holidays, they are lucky to get two to four weeks holiday a year.
      Most of the teachers at my kids school go on O.S. holidays twice a year how is that underpaid, they don’t have to worry about getting the sack if they need or feel like having a sick day.
      My sister who gave up teaching to look after her kids, only needs to go back for six months, then sign a piece of paper saying she will never teach again and the education department will give her $50 000.
      Teachers have it pretty good, compared to many others.
      By the way my whole family are teachers, I know they work hard, I just don’t think they have it that bad.

    • jg says:

      08:47am | 06/01/11

      But there will be strong opposition to the proposal. The state governments, who have the power under the Constitution to run the public schools in their states, will not give up their authority willingly.

      And thus it will fail. Unless, of course, she just throws billions and billions of dollars at the states and then, maybe then, they’ll sign some watered down bilateral agreement that means nothing.

      Reply

    • dinkidi says:

      01:53pm | 06/01/11

      Another day, another thought bubble. That is the Gillard government of Australia.

    • The Badger says:

      09:00am | 06/01/11

      Abbott is getting ready for battle and this will be one of his targets.

      He is currently going through the process of who will be fitted up as the wrecking ball to demolish this.
      Turnbull is out, as he splattered on impact with the poison chalice NBN wrecking job in accordance with Abbott’s plan to weaken his internal opponents.
      Looks like this one will require a real heavyweight wrecking ball if it is to make a dent.
      My money is on Hockey getting fitted up.

      Reply

    • Mark says:

      09:19am | 06/01/11

      The Badger…..I just hope it’s not Whiney Piney :-D ......... I couldn’t stand listening to him squealing interminably on an on….......

    • scaper... says:

      09:33am | 06/01/11

      Gee, another Labor loving fool that speculates about something he has no clue about!

      Did it ever occur to you that the shadow minister for education (Pyne) would be the one to take this silly policy (theft of state responsibility) on???

      The wrecking ball as you odiously call it will be the states, obviously you are a Mydaus javanensis in disguise!

    • nosthow says:

      09:40am | 06/01/11

      @The Badger - well said Badge - the last guy to be fitted up for a wrecking ball was Turnbull and Labor voters extend to him a great big thank you for the poor job he did trying to wreck the now full steam ahead NBN. Of course Abbott once again picked a loser in Turnbull as it turned out Turnbull hadA $10 million stake in a company all set to reap huge rewards with the NBN ! Breathtaking ! No wonder he hasnt put his heart in to his Abbott assigned task Badge of wrecking the NBN ! Next !

    • Wilson says:

      09:51am | 06/01/11

      The budget reply fiasco was deflected to Hockey.
      The election policy costing con was owned by Hockey and Robb.
      Turnbull is being damaged by his role demolishing the popular NBN rollout.
      And Abbott is still mister nice guy.

      Machiavellian bastardy!

    • Scarneck says:

      10:22am | 06/01/11

      ...wrecking balls deserve more respect Badger. The crane operator would be well advised to keep an eye on his base support, removing supporting blocks like Turnbull and Hockey could easily de-stabilise the crane…I’m guessing 2011 will see it topple.

    • The Badger says:

      10:49am | 06/01/11

      Mark
      Whiny Piney already has a job
      isn’t he the minister for being chucked out of parliament?

    • Bruce The Goose says:

      09:09am | 06/01/11

      None of these would engender a mood of a happy new year. What she needs is a win – a policy which will have widespread public support. She may have found one: removing the cold hand of central bureaucratic domination from State public schools.

      the sad thing is, no one really expects anything from these guys now, (julia/labour seems to have a anti midas touch, or even the Clark Gable touch, every thing they touch they f#&k)  so if they fluke one in hooray for them!

      Reply

    • Mark says:

      09:29am | 06/01/11

      You really are a goose, aren’t you Bruce????
      Take a look at ALL the other countries affected by the GFC and compare them with Australia + how much infrastructure did Howard and his cronies build during their 11 yrs in office (SFA!!) + enormous amounts of funding ripped out of Education and Health by Howard and his cronies + Workchoices + demonisation of AS + the scandal of AWB paying millions in bribes to Saddam Hussein + “Children overboard” + encouraging mums and dads to buy Telstra shares + encouraging mums and dads to put as much money as they could raise in superannuation just before the stock market crash + getting us involved in an illegal war on the basis of a huge lie…....etc, etc,etc…....I could go on all day….....

    • Gregg says:

      09:26am | 06/01/11

      Gillard and Swann at a whiteboard theorising!, who would have reckoned, the survivors of the old gang of four with all the theories!
      Sad thing is that it is not just theory that makes for good governence as we are all too often seeing with this current government, poor implementation or inaction not help either.

      Perhaps rather than another Revolution, Gillard needs one overall resolution and that is not to meddle in what she knows nought about.
      Like you would have to ask whether she has ever taught in a school or did her National Curriculum and My School come about from sheer ideology of centralisation.
      And does a national curriculum account for varying state/regional needs as are often held up in other policies?
      Ironically this proposal would be to decentralise whereas there is already a massive ammount of decentralised autonomy in many schools, probably more so in better run schools that have considerable community input.
      And then the author suggests:
      ”  With control of their own budgets, principals can offer top salaries for top teachers. This will not please the education union, but it will bring the profession into the modern world. “
      So where will the additional money come from and would this not fly in the face of one of the My School principles of recognising the needs of a poorly performing school and doing something about it!

      Julia, Julia, what a Toolia, take the Tool Swann to Schoolies.

      Reply

    • Shivo says:

      09:33am | 06/01/11

      Wow. With Principals in charge they will be able to pay the better teachers what they deserve to be paid….....OK, how about the other half of required teachers in the school…..pro bono ??????
      Some Principals will do extremely well as CEO of their school, but the other 95% will run their school into massive financial difficulties.
      The concept proferred is simplistic and naiive. It is worthy however of food for thought. But with Joolya pushing it, it is destined to fail in epic fashion.

      Reply

    • John the Teacher says:

      09:42am | 06/01/11

      Firstly Gillard won’t get this policy through, I feel a cock up is just around the corner.

      Secondly, Gillard has not had policy success because she has no idea what she is doing as a politican. Policy requires planning, brain storming, fine tuning and a plan of implementation. A politician who can’t get policy right is like a teacher that doesn’t turn up to class - no one gets anything out of it!

      Reply

    • Gregg says:

      10:42am | 06/01/11

      Don’t go backing up around that corner Johno!
      But then you know! Julia dashing about blindly is looking for a win.

    • Syl says:

      09:46am | 06/01/11

      As much as I can’t stand Gillard (or Abbot for that matter) I have to admit she has the right idea with this one.  I just can’t see it ever being implemented, especially with a couple of braindead independents and the Greens essentially running the show.

      Reply

    • Peter says:

      09:55am | 06/01/11

      This is not a goddam Federal issue.  It is a State issue.  More ‘smog’ from Gillard to hide the visionlessness and hopeloessness of her handling of Federal matters.

      Reply

    • Pumpkin Eater says:

      12:26pm | 06/01/11

      Peter
      The real issue is that state governments are redundant and they should be abolished.
      FFS, states like California and New York have more people in them than Australia. The amount of money you could save in bureaucrats and redundant “systems” would pay off the National debt and build several NBN’s per year.

    • NicoleG says:

      10:26am | 06/01/11

      Gillards got her grubby hands all over it. It’s bound to fail. Everything she touches turns to sh!t.

      Reply

    • Shane From Melbourne says:

      10:32am | 06/01/11

      Gillard wants to kickstart public education? Stop subsidizing the private school system. Anything else is a bandaid….

      Reply

    • Interested says:

      11:35am | 06/01/11

      So the subsidizing stops, the private sector pulls out, the Government then has to run it alone, the Government can’t do it because it can’t afford it - then what?  This is an old failed chest-nut - leave it out of this discussion.

    • Shane From Melbourne says:

      12:12pm | 06/01/11

      @Interested- What BS. The private school system is going to be there as long as people are paying for the product. Don’t try push the myth that if the government stops subsidizing it the private system will collapse and the government will have to cope all on its own. It won’t wash. Also there is the myth that the government couldn’t afford it even if it did have to cope on its own….

    • Chestnut conker says:

      12:40pm | 06/01/11

      @ Interested
      The rich conservative snobs will always support private schools.
      Wouldn’t want their sprogs to mix with the unwashed.

    • Interested says:

      12:42pm | 06/01/11

      I won’t resort to your language - but, you are wrong.  Of course the private system will be there as long as people are paying for it and they will continue to do so.  But woe to the Government that discriminates against them by halting their subsidy - they will be out at the next election.  It costs the Government (State and Federal together) far less per student in private education than it does in the public sector.  You obviously have no idea of the extent of the private school system and the level of private capital input that has made it possible.  Your taxes will have to go up massively if it is to carry out the education that the private sector is now doing.

    • monkeytypist says:

      10:44am | 06/01/11

      “There are very few parents who do not want a better education for their children”.  What a laughable straw man.  If you, Professor Jaensch, can demonstrate to me how teacher quality will magically improve by having principals hiring and firing staff (as if state education departments had no stake in the quality of teaching), then this panacea to all of the perceived problems that parents have with their child’s education (many of which are derived from their not being trained specialists in education, something that never seems to worry parents when it comes to doctors, for example) might have some merit.  But I would have thought a qualified political analyst would recognise the difference between “retail politics” (i.e. solutions that are marketable rather than effective) and actual improvement of teaching quality.  Because Lord knows, the casualisation and introduction of temporary contracts into academia has really improved the quality of humanities education over the past two decades, hasn’t it?

      Show me the data ahead of the posturing and your argument might carry more weight.

      Reply

    • Rick says:

      10:45am | 06/01/11

      The concept of all teachers being paid the same irrespective of whether they are a good or a bad teacher displays no understanding of teaching.  What constitutes a good teacher?  Is it the one who gets the highest results in standardised tests or the teacher in whose class the children want to be because that teacher provides a stimulating environment that encourages children to want to learn?  The two need not be mutually exclusive but they can be.  The ‘A’ class can in some ways be easier to teach since the students have been chosen because of their ability.  The ‘C’ class may not have the brightest students but a good teacher will have them motivated, willing to learn and perhaps make greater progress over the year than the ‘A’ students even though their standardised results may well be much higher.  Who will make the judgement as to who is the best teacher?  Is it the teacher who is very competent, but not outstanding, in the classroom but whose contribution to the school as a whole is greater because of the effort they make, and the time they give, in extra curricular activities such as sport or debating?  As a former Principal I wanted the best staff and could be frustrated with those dealt to me by the centralised system.  However, i also know that what constitutes a good, ‘the best teacher’, is not cut and dried.  A school is a holisitc organism - it is not just who gets ‘A’  and who gets ‘C’.  We are losing sight of the need for a well rounded education for our children by concentrating only on the results of testing.

      Reply

    • michael says:

      10:52am | 06/01/11

      Could a principal really run a business? After all that is what these schools would become. With schools located in the ‘richer’ suburbs receiving for funding from the public thus resulting in the principal now being able to offer a deal to the best teachers to teach at their school. This will only result in the richer subjects getting better educations resulting in a greater divide between the rich and the poor as time passes.

      A principal put simply is normally a teacher that may have excelled at teaching and has clearly been in the education system for a while. Can we trust these people to be our schools an accounts manager, our schools HR manager as well do their current role?

      Would all of this be asking to much?

      Reply

    • Kate says:

      11:47am | 06/01/11

      Ms Gillard. Wow! This policy.  How unsocialist of you…. 

      Incidentally the State LIBERAL Government of Western Australia have been trialing a similar policy last year in selected schools, and expanded further this year.  Ms Gillard took some credit for this State Liberal initiative when addressing parliament last year…???  Hmmm.

      I suppose it is still a little bit socialist to nationalise and centralise education.

      lol.

      Reply

    • Colin J Ely says:

      11:53am | 06/01/11

      From the roof of work I can look down on the mandarins at 2 Treasury Place, you know, the people who supposedly get paid to administer the State School system. So who will do the job in our new independently run schools? The hardworking members of the parents committee, in between all the other voluntary jobs that they have to do? Just as we have different grades of student, we have different grades of parent. Are we going to further entrench inequality in our State School system?

      Reply

    • Beverly Baker says:

      11:55am | 06/01/11

      Has Gillard (finally) struck on a winning policy?

      With everything I have in me I sincerely hope not!
      This approach to public education, so loved by the economic far right, entrenched rank and privilege in England,  has kept America at the bottom end of the academic table and saw members of school boards in New Zealand threatened with legal action.
      The public school system is the only school system that has an obligation to offer free, secular education to every child, irrespective of their religion, ethinic background, academic ability, location, socio economic status, or the attitude towards education of their parents. 
      It does this extremely effectively, even though starved of funds.  It does this by having a central policy framework married to local delivery.  A system so efficient that the largest provider of education outside the public school system, the Catholic Education System uses the same model.
      This model ensures that in the public system all schools are guaranteed minimum staffing levels, all teaching staff must hold a recognised teaching qualification,  possible pedophiles are removed immediately an accusation is made and state or federally determined curricula are implemented.
      What market ideologist are well aware of, but hope that the general population won’t notice, is that Ms Gillard’s model entrenches inequity and offers nothing to alleviate it. Hard to staff schools become harder to staff,  schools in attractive areas can offer incentives to keep the best teachers or even employ more teachers, whilst those who need the best teachers,  the most educational disadvantaged and isolated, struggle to attract any. This market model does not free communities from bureaucratic interference to ensure they get what they need. It reduces communities into crude competitors with winners and losers. The public/private divide has already achieved this market competition, to the detriment of the only truly inclusive system, now Ms Gillard wants to impose this model to further divide the public school system and reduce its effectiveness.
      Modern Labor is power-hungry and poll-driven and cares nothing for the future of our children, our overall educational attainment, or the proven economic and social benefits of an inclusive community. Its proposal is destructive of everything that matters, and if past performance is anything to go by, will not even achieve its sole purpose—the desperately desired swinging vote.
      They are trading birthright of our children on an incompetent grab for temporary political advantage.
      If this is how democracy works, we need to rethink it.

      Reply

    • TheRealDave says:

      12:35pm | 06/01/11

      I’m concerned fellow Punchers.

      We have an article about Joolya and its after lunchtime and Nic still hasn’t popped her head in to scream about unwed atheists bringing down Gods wrath upon our heads.

      Can someone pop around to check on her. I’m quite concerned.

      Reply

    • The Badger says:

      01:09pm | 06/01/11

      Dave,
      I think you meant Rosie
      Nic just babbles about Jooolya (notice the three o’s) and talks about grubby hands, ear lobes, hair colour and her head hitting the desk when she doesn’t understand something.

    • Ryan says:

      01:33pm | 06/01/11

      @TheRealDave: she probably has, but this board is being heavily moderated in favour of Labor pollies spreading propaganda.

    • NicoleG says:

      01:49pm | 06/01/11

      I presume you’re looking for me Dave. I’ve said many times I couldn’t care less if she’s married, shacked up with two chicks or whatever. She’s just freakin useless. And you’re wrong on two counts Badger. I’ve never gone on about her earlobes and the only reason I headbutt my desk on a regular basis, is because half the time I don’t understand what you’re babbling on about. And I officially thank you for your concern.

    • TheRealDave says:

      07:15pm | 06/01/11

      Typo Nicole, I meant Rosie….see…my concerns were affecting my typing…..

      wink

    • vicki says:

      12:41pm | 06/01/11

      I am a newish-out-of-uni teacher, with a year and a half of casual jobs behind me. I do not have my own class for 2011 and am dissapointed as I have had regular work in 1 particular school last year. 2 people straight out of uni have been given their own class (as a 1 year temp) over me and I cannot see why. Teachers recommend me so I must be doing something right but as Temp and Casual teachers are managed by the Principal, the executives pick who they like, and who is cheaper (the more years experience you have, the more expensive you are).
      Each school picks casual and temp teachers differently. One school calls teachers from an alphabetical list, and sadly as a V I am down the bottom. Others get whoever happens to be around that day to get extra work, or call who they know. I, along with most non-permanent teachers, are frustrated by the lack of policies and procedures regarding acquiring work. Will this be achieved by this new idea, or will permenent work (and some employment security) be harder to come by? I am unable to purchase a house as I have not got a permanent job and the harder I try, the further away it is.

      Reply

    • Mary says:

      01:09pm | 06/01/11

      I thing comes to my mind. A person said this to me “If a child wants to learn doesnt matter what it is and how poor they are they will find a way to learn especially in this country.  Doesnt matter if the schools arent pretty or resources arent there (in that school) .. u can always go to the library in other towns or internet nowadays to obtain information. Compared to other parts of the world australia’s education is one of the highest in the world hence canberra university is in the top 8 of universities in the world recommend for high level of education. All we need to do is have stricter rules for students that doesnt make the teacher feel oh no i will be kicked out for this just because i spoke firmly with the student .  If you think about it our parents day, they had the cane and u ask them any question they know there information correctly and most of the time they still remember. In other countries they still have the cane and u watch they appreciate education. Ms Gillard is doing a good job , if u look at other parts of the world again.. are we in recession? I dont think so like how america is or european countries are. Give her a break.. You help run a country and then talk about this topic honestly..

      Reply

    • KH says:

      01:42pm | 06/01/11

      Its ‘you’ not ‘u’ - u is a vowel…............maybe better teachers would have helped with that….....

      sorry, I just couldn’t help it - but the story is about education…..............

    • CraigS says:

      01:13pm | 06/01/11

      Wow real reform as opposed to reform by name only or tax increases called reform.

      Now let me hear the reason why the government doesn’t apply these same policies to the health sector?

      Given that even knows a bloated unwieldy bureaucracy is what’s killing that, especially in Queensland.

      Reply

    • Labor Ruined NSW says:

      04:34pm | 06/01/11

      Quite simply, I don’t think this policy will ever be implemented. What I do think is that a staged battle with the teacher’s unions and state governments (which will undoubtedly occur) will help take other controversial policy blunders such as green loans, NBN, health,mining tax and a carbon price off the front page and out of the news cycle.

      Spin, spin, spin, smoke and mirrors, smoke and mirrors, smoke and mirrors….................!

      I am living in NSW and now I am a black belt in seeing through the Labor fog of policy and deception. I am working my way up to become a ninja because it turns out they are now using the cloak of darkness to do such things as sell off our electricty retailers. For anybody interested, this happened at the stroke of midnight. Labor = Disgrace, Labor voter = low IQ

      Reply

    • Against the Man says:

      05:16pm | 06/01/11

      Th ALP zombies can’t seem to find the evidence to back up Gillard as a reasonable PM. Gillard is a walking, talking disgrace to this country.

    • guy lee hanlon says:

      07:22pm | 06/01/11

      Of course, Julia Gillard has the winning formula.
      Julia Gillard is perfection with excellence in mind,beauty,politics, talents and personality.
      thats why Labor will be in federal government until the next decade when 2020 vision will be needed.
      Every Liberal voter loves Labor Governments as nobody then observes or looks for liberal Party flaws.
      No Liberal voter likes Liberal Governments as they don’t have the Gillard winning formula.
      As maxwell smart may well say
      “sorry about that,  chief but what exactly is Gillard ‘s( Labor’s ) winning formula?”

      Reply

    • Guy Lee Hanlon says:

      07:26pm | 06/01/11

      In Australian politics, Labor Is Control AND Liberal National is Kaos.

      What exactly is Gillard’s winning formula, chief?

      Reply

    • john says:

      07:44pm | 06/01/11

      @guy lee hanlon for you to like her this much you must be on Viagra.

      Reply

    • Harquebus says:

      01:32pm | 07/01/11

      A big win for Joolia Dillard would be, to drop compulsory internet censorship.

      Reply

    • Stuart says:

      10:01am | 08/01/11

      This sounds great, particularly for people with kids at low stress Eastern suburbs/ Northern Shore schools that are attractive places to work, but what about kids who attend isolated or remote schools? How are the principals on the Aboriginal lands meant to compete with Unley or Brighton in the competition for the best teachers? This proposal assumes that there is an even playing field in the competition for talented teachers, but there isn’t. Every piece of research shows that teacher quality has the greatest impact on student learning, and this condemns large groups of kids to the leftovers. Centralised systems aren’t perfect, but because they recognise that kids from Ceduna and Oodnadatta need teachers (as well as Brighton and Norwood) they need to find ways of attracting good teachers to both those places.

      Reply

    • Binny says:

      08:32am | 09/01/11

      I agree; and not only that, but often it is the experience of teaching in some of these places, that makes an average teacher into a great teacher. The cross-cultural experience is often an advantage both teachers and students. Something that wouldn’t occur, if the teachers weren’t pushed out of their comfort zone by compulsory postings.

    • Owen Brown says:

      09:51am | 09/01/11

      I am a Science teacher and I am sbolutely confident that I am a high quality teacher. In this heavily unionised industry one must force upon themseles a sense of modesty, whilst teachers far below your own charisma, skill and energy get secure jobs simply because they were there first and screamed loudly on the picket. I embrace this new system and I hope it becomes implemented, if there is an industry where we need a lot of competition and ONLY the best surviving, it’s teaching.

      Reply
 
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