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Why should teachers remain unaccountable?

Chris Gardiner

by Chris Gardiner

28 Jan 05:40am

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Filed under: Education, Julia Gillard, Myschool, Politics, Teaching

82 comments

The release of My School data as part of the Rudd Government’s ‘Education Revolution’ begs the question about a key issue in improving classroom performance – teacher standards and school-based professional culture.

Eric Lobbecke in The Daily Telegraph.

We should pay teachers more and be seeking to attract more of our best young people into teaching. But we also need to address what is usually un-discussable industrially: poorly performing and unprofessional teachers in some schools.

When the Education Minister, Julia Gillard, reviews the data on classroom performance, more funding should not be the only response to target underperforming schools. Helping Principals shape high performance professional school culture will be just as important.

Lawyers, doctors, health professionals and nurses operate under standards with professional tribunals and panels linked to licensing sanctions for failures against those standards. A real revolution in education would establish such a professional framework for teachers.

Being able to have a panel of peer and community representatives hear a complaint about the professional conduct or performance of a teacher would do three things. First, it would honour the performance of the majority of teachers who give their best to their students, by holding accountable those who do not. It is disheartening for good teachers to see that nothing happens to colleagues who don’t care or who act unprofessionally.

Second it would give Principals and parents an alternative to complicated disciplinary processes that get bogged down by unions, who can turn a professional conduct issue into an industrial issue. Many principals baulk at initiating a lengthy disciplinary and performance monitoring process for an underperforming or incompetent teacher. They don’t have the resources to provide direct and strong corrective in class supervision of such a teacher. The usual ‘three strikes’ approach for termination, and union resistance, can drag disciplinary processes over not just months, but years. Usually the underperformance is tolerated for the sake of a stable staff room and in the hope that any damage done in one year by one teacher is corrected by a better teacher in the next.

Thirdly, given the potential suspension or loss of license to teach because of any decision to uphold a complaint, it would make professional standards a part of school operating culture. It would reinforce the identity of teachers as professionals – individuals given autonomous power by the community over vulnerable community members, and who are expected to be held accountable to standards by their peers in the use of that power.

A Professional Standards Panel ruling would include the options of terminating a teacher’s license to teach, or of suspending the license. In the case of suspension, the Panel should be able to rule that direct, supervision and coaching be provided over and above existing school resources to either get the teacher back on course or to provide a recommendation on termination.

I have worked in hospitals and aged care. I am a Government appointed lay person for such panels for nurses and health professionals in NSW. I know that nurses, for example, always have in the back of their mind that their performance is subject to potential action against defined professional standards. It makes a difference. Let’s put that kind of professional standards accountability into teaching.

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82 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • JJJ says:

      06:17am | 28/01/10

      Teachers should DEFINATELY be accountable and be employed based on their performance (as a new mature-aged graduate I would LOVE it if this was the case in NSW!).

      Regardless, the NAPLAN (National Testing) is NOT the way in which teachers should be ranked or valued. The test is not all-encompassing and focuses only on limited areas of Literacy & Numeracy. I am led to believe that many existing teachers have spent months in preparing their students for ‘narrative’ texts each year - this is only one of the many aspects of Literacy and the only focus of the test. This is ridiculous - teaching for tests is exactly what teachers should NOT be doing but instead focusing on a wider range of relevant skills (i.e actual ‘Quality Teaching’).

      If we had a national curriculum, there may be some way all student results across Australia could be complied and compared to make the results more relevant, but as it stands, the NAPLAN and its results are largely a waste of time and certainly NO way of determining the value and impact of a teacher on their students.

      Reply

    • Anna Louise says:

      08:34am | 28/01/10

      I suggest you should learn how to spell “definitely”.

    • James Andrew` says:

      09:59am | 29/01/10

      Can you read, write and do simple arithmetic?
      No… but I got plenty of “Actual Quality Teaching”
      Hired?

    • Disgruntled says:

      07:52am | 28/01/10

      Teachers should be held accountable. For years parents have been fobbed off with comments such as “XX is progressing along well, XX is keeping up with their friends in, XX is a popular member of the class” Yet we see time and again declining standards, under achieving students and increased burden on parents to seek and fund private tutoring when it is proven that all the parents ahve been given is false information.  However…one also needs to examine the quality of our curriculum and how it is overcrowded and run by self interest groups. Teachers can longer teach the child for the future but are rather “forced” to teach things for today for which the system has not properly catered or are not really necessary. Perhaps before the media runs a knife through under performing schools they need to examine the curriculum, the self interest groups and the succession of state and federal governments from under funding our futures.

      Reply

    • AdamC says:

      07:53am | 28/01/10

      I agree with your sentiments, Chris, but note that Victoria has at least got the ball rolling on professionalism already (despite some opposition from teachers). So, outside of sclerotic NSW, maybe there is quite broad agreement on that matter.

      While I agree with the MySchool website idea, and naturally reject arguments which assert that people shouldn’t have access to information on the basis they are too stupid to use it, I don’t believe standardised test results should be the basis of teacher performance appraisal or monitoring. Rather, school leaders should be empowered to recruit and reward their own staff. Everyone at a school knows who the top teachers are – you don’t need a NAPLAN to work it out.

      (Interestingly, in my experience, teachers have been even more opposed to this approach than the ‘league tables’ one.)

      Reply

    • thatmosis says:

      07:54am | 28/01/10

      Most teachers I have spoken too would like to teach the children correctly but Government decisions on what should and should not be taught preclude this. Its time the Education department was sacked and a new body, not using the old people, who really know what they are talking about put in charge and pollies told to butt out. back to the bascis first and when that has been learnt then move on.

      Reply

    • Rose says:

      10:41am | 28/01/10

      Yes but how many teachers ‘really’ want to teach correctly but find it convenient to push blame onto the government so they don’t have to. Good teachers work around a full curriculum by integrating several different curriculum areas into one project or topic. That’s how it is done in my daughter’s school where they got flying colours on the website. My son’s school gets lower marks than I would have imagined according to the website, and I have already asked key staff why. The high number of refugee students does skew the figures, but looking further into the information available on the website I discovered an attendance rate of 96% and a 90% success rate in Year 12 (it is an R-12 school), so overall a good picture for the school. There is also a section which tells of the number of kids getting school- based apprenticeships, so really, the NAPLAN scores are only one part of the available information, and the government is right to trust parents with the information. If anything,  teaching parents how to read the website
      and just a few more pieces of data and the website will be a great tool for everyone concerned with education.

    • Faten says:

      01:10pm | 28/01/10

      It took me a couple of goes to understand the figures, but got their.
      Looking at the results at the school my daughter is going to attend, I was disappointed by the results, but then I Have to consider that a lot of children attending her school come from non-english speaking background and a lot of time must be spent teaching the kids to speak English and properly.
      The marks did improve from K to the year 3 point, but then again parents spending time with their children outside of school is just as important, and a lot of non english speaking parents do not do this.

    • Jolaneda says:

      07:59am | 28/01/10

      Certainly the bully and bad teachers are not going to be happy.  They have been used to doing whatever they like without question or challenge and, if a child is not performing just blaming the parents and the student and ignoring complaints.  Sure in some instances parents are dead beats and some children certainly have issues but children go to school 5 days a week for 6 hours a day and regardless of what is happening in their home or what their problems are the school environment should be ensuring that they get a solid education instead of making excuses.

      Of course there is legidimate concern that parents who bring up issues on behalf of their children will have to deal with their children being targeted and victimised.  I know this for a fact as it happened to my family and for many years we have tried to have the allegations addressed, allegations that include manipulation of state records, bullying, bias and misconduct,  by adult education staff against children - to no avail.

      The process of complaint handling is corrupted.  In our case the Minster for Education ordered a formal investigation into our families allegations.  This was confirmed in emails produced under FOI where the Audit Directorate stated that the Minister promised a formal investigation but that it has never taken place.  Policy and Procedure required that allegations of the nature that my family made be subject to a formal investigation.  But despite all that the matter has not been investigated and instead correspondence from us gets sent to the persons about whom we complain who have just spread lies about us (educators can easily discredit parents and by manipulating with children’s scores they can easily discredit students) and closed the complaint.  Even fresh allegations of further instances of victimisation were filed away on the basis that they referred to similar allegatsions as previous and the matter was closed! .  For over 7 years my children and family were bullied, neglected and targeted whilst everybody looked on. 

      I welcome a shakeup in education as our children deserve to be treated fairly and with respect as children learn by example.  Good teachers will not be concerned as they know that the majority of parents are not dead beats and we have our children’s best interest at heart.

      Education- Keeping them Honest
      http://jolandachallita.typepad.com/

      Reply

    • Fi says:

      10:00am | 28/01/10

      I have received the same treatment as Jolaneda. However, I was a teacher raising concerns about the behaviour of another teacher. The aim of the Victorian Dept of Education is to ensure that no negative information about a school is raised in any official or semi-official manner. The more you try to have something done about the problem behaviour, the more the Dept will try to crush you. To stop anything being done about the problem being complained of, the Dept starts disciplinary procedures against the complaining teacher (an easy thing to do - it can be about any minor thing) at which point that teacher is not allowed to discuss the matter or anything relating to it with anyone. Speaking with the media is a breach of employment conditions.

      A form of ‘Professional Standards Panel’ already exists in Victoria, but it operates like a Kangaroo Court - the outcome is predetermined by the Dept of Education and the Panel is loaded with supporters of the Dept. I have even witnessed the Dept of Education lie blatantly to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and despite evidence being presented to the AIRC that the Dept had lied, the AIRC accepted what the Dept had said as being the truth.

      This article’s author is seriously misinformed as far as Victoria is concerned. Teachers in Victoria have to go through two disciplinary procedures if they are employed by a Government School - one by the Dept of Education and the other by the Victorian Institute of Teachers - both are a repeat of each other and both are made up of employees of the Dept of Education and the outcome is determined by the Dept of Education. The approach taken by the Dept is to crush the complaining teacher to the point that they are emotionally and financially no-longer able to fight back.

      I have worked with really bad teachers who should not be teaching. But, the author’s suggestions would do nothing to prevent these types of teachers working in schools especially when you have a Dept that will do anything (and I really do mean anything) to protect the reputation of its schools. There is a reason that the only misbehaving teachers you read about in the media are the ones that have committed criminal offenses - the Dept can’t do anything to prevent it.

      The Dept uses disciplinary and registration procedures to get rid of good teachers who have identified poor performing or misbehaving teachers. It is better for a school’s reputation to deny and/or cover up a poor/misbehaving teacher than to officially recognise the problem and do something about it - and the better the reputation a school has the more extreme the measures the Dept is willing to take to ensure that reputation is not damaged.

      Disciplinary and registration procedures are not the answer to poor performing and misbehaving teachers. It is a fundamental change at the Department (Federal and State) level that is needed. A school’s reputation should not be put before all else.

      The reputation of a school is far more important to the Victorian Dept of Education than the quality of education provided at its schools.

    • Jolanda says:

      12:33pm | 28/01/10

      Hi Fi

      I am sorry to hear of your experiences.  Certainly you are right,  the ‘treatment’ that we received isn’t limited to parents bringing up issues and/or making complaints.  I have spoken to teachers, some from different states, who have all experienced the same treatment for bringing up issues and complaints. They are bullied to the point where it destroys their health, career and life. 

      I came across teachers were upset about what was being done to my children but they were too scared to speak out.  They had good reason to be scared.

      It would be a terrible situation for a teacher to be in to watch children being bullied and victimised by those in power, who should be there to protect the children, and not be able to do anything for fear of not achieving a thing expect being victimised yourself.  I know that parents were scared to be seen with us and they thought that the DET might think that they supported us and that their children would also be targeted. 

      Parents and teachers need to be mindful when they complain that they and/or their children will not be protected from payback, bullying or victimisation.  In education bullies and those who fail in their duty of care rule.

      Education - Keeping them Honest
      http://jolandachallita.typepad.com/

    • Liz says:

      08:02am | 28/01/10

      Teachers need to be accountable, always. Unfortunate choice of cartoon figure when many in the profession are male,young or non-white!! It really helps the cause.

      Reply

    • Gavin says:

      05:54pm | 29/01/10

      And where the hell did you pull that lil pearler from, Liz? You either aren’t a teacher and made that up, or you are a female teacher who is still bitter from what, to you, seems like an easy ride for young men entering a profession in which they are sorely lacking and highly sought after.

    • Brando says:

      08:09am | 28/01/10

      Teachers want the best of both worlds. They want to be paid like professionals yet they act like wharfies.

      Reply

    • Courtney says:

      09:28am | 28/01/10

      Brando, I am a teacher and I do not act like a wharfie at any stage.  I am extremely professional and work at one of the best schools in my state - and believe me, I am not paid nearly as much as a lawyer or doctor, engineer or book publisher.  Perhaps you should put aside your personal view of teachers and think about the pressure that we come under from all areas before you judge us collectively and without thought for those who are doing their best.

    • Seano says:

      08:20am | 28/01/10

      How are teachers to be held accountable when parents aren’t? It’s ridiculous to blame a teacher for the poor performance of children who are given no boundaries, not dressed or fed properly or even made to attend school regularly. I agree the majority of parents are no dead beats but there are a large and increasing number who are, so how does this move help those kids?

      Reply

    • Jolanda says:

      08:59am | 28/01/10

      Seano maybe it is time that our school system started placing students in classes in the different subjects on the basis of their ability and need not their age.  How can students possibly enjoy being at school, and want to go,  if they come for disadvantaged backgrounds and are years behind in their academic progress but are required to be exposed to curriculum that they do not understand and perform at the same level and pace as their more advantaged peers who come from optimal learning environments.

      Children should be progressing through education at a level and pace that is suitable for them, not at a level and pace that suits administrators.  All children are different, even if they are a similar age.

    • Seano says:

      12:59pm | 28/01/10

      How is an illiterate child just starting puberty supposed to relate supposed to relate to 6 and 7 year olds? How is that going to help their self esteem and their desire to go to school? In my opinion more should be done educate parents on what good parenting is and the split of public funding should be more equitably distributed between public and private schools.

    • Jolanda says:

      02:29pm | 28/01/10

      Seana an illerate kid who is at K/1 level at the age of starting puberty is obviously a ‘special case’  and should be on a individual education plan.
      Children come in all shapes and sizes and there is no way of telling a child’s age just by looking at them or determining their level of maturity. 

      Kids do not need to socialise in the classroom.  Of course consideration should be given to obvious huge mismatches and how they will impact the student but at the end of the day they need to learn and if there is a range of ages in the classroom of students with similar ability then there isn’t such a problem because they will always be somebody reasonably close in age. 

      Classrooms are for learning.  There are other places that they can socialise like in the playground and through non academic subjects and sport.

    • Seano says:

      07:03pm | 28/01/10

      How many class rooms in disadvantaged areas have you been in recently Jolanda? I’m guessing not many because such children are sadly not special cases. You also demonstrate an astounding lack of understanding when it comes to the current thinking on educational psychology.

    • Merry says:

      05:10am | 29/01/10

      I agree with Jolanda. My mother is a teacher, and every two years or so, she will come across one child that is not up to the learning standard of his classmates. She can’t “fail” him in the class, because that will lower the kid’s self-esteem, nor can she recommend him to be kept down so that it is ensured his learning reaches the level he needs to be at. Instead, he gets a “d” grade, and sent up to the higher levels with all his mates. He doesn’t understand the information being taught, and therefore will act the larrikan, distracting all his mates from learning too.
      The focus has been too much on whether the kid’s feelings will be hurt currently and not about his future opportunities.
      There were kids that were kept down in my time going through school (which wasn’t that long ago), and kids that skipped a grade. Neither of the two lots had any difficulty adjusting to their new classmates, and both lots benefitted from being at a level in which they could learn.

      If that system could be re-instated, we wouldn’t have the case of a 13-yr-old hanging out with a bunch of 7 year olds.

    • Jolanda says:

      06:44am | 29/01/10

      Seano if we have ‘so many kids’ who at puberty age that are so illererate that they need to be at K/1 level then we really have to look at what schools are doing because no matter what is happening at home school is a place of learning and it is the schools responsiblity to educate a student. 

      Of course mabe these kids have just arrived in the country and if that is the case and if there are ‘so many of them’ then it isn’t a problem.  Put them in a class together seeing that they are at the same stage/level.  Local schools should communicate and work together to provide what is best in the community.

    • Jolanda says:

      11:57am | 29/01/10

      Wow thats twice I spelt Illiterate incorrectly.  Goodness I had better pay more attention.

      @Merry my daughters are accelerated students.  The younger one started high school at age 10.  People might think ‘oh thats terrible’ but it wasn’t.  If you looked at her you would never know her age as the range of height and development is so diverse in young people.  From when she started kindergarten she demanded I tell her the purpose of school - given that she had been reading fluently since she was 2 and all her other skills were equally advanced including socially and mature wise she became very unhappy and didn’t want to get up in the morning and didn’t want to go to school.  She found the environment draining.  Her complaint was that she did nothing all day and that they didn’t teach her anything that she didn’t already know and it was a long day.  See she had an expectation that at school she would learn.  She enjoyed learning for her it was fun.  For both my girls accelerating has been the best thing.  My other accelerated daughter just finished her first year at Uni.  Out of 8 subjects 5 were High Distinctions.  What benefit would it have been for her to sit in a classroom with you age group year after year waiting for things to get interesting?  She would either have played up or become depressed. 

      I am sure that children who are struggling feel the same way, like they have wasted their days.

      We need to start treating children as individuals and not marks attached to an age.

    • andy says:

      08:28am | 28/01/10

      They are accountable but mainly to game playing headmasters. They are restricted doing their jobs by red tape and ‘new teaching methods brought down on them by dictator principals and education boards.

      They get paid poorly for the long hours they do and have winging parents complaining at any form of discipline they give out. Currently the parents are so poor that most of their time is wasted teaching kids basic etiquette to teach with limited ability to discipline.

      When you comment would you actually want to teach a bunch of uninterested teenagers who have an all about me attitude. On your side is a meddling unsupportive headmaster who listens to the whim of every parent.  With reports you are not actually allowed to say anything thanks to the politically correct world we have made. Anyone who knows a teacher understands the pressure they are under to perform every day in the classroom while attending parent nights, sports weekends and come up with .

      Reply

    • Jezza says:

      08:44am | 28/01/10

      It’s not about teachers being accountable….it’s about parents being made accountable for their kids obnoxious behaviour which causes constant disruptions in class. I shared a flat with a ateacher once & he lasted only two years in the job before he burnt out. The constant bad behaviour of the kids who weren’t afraid of getting a detention because all their mates were getting it too, broke his heart. Teaching was all he’d ever wanted to do. He told me that most other teachers have given up on todays kids because of the behaviour, & It’s the disruptions in class that are leading to decent kids having to do hour & hours of homework to be able tp pass their exams. And furthermore this government website will only show where the most obnoxious kids live & most of us already know this. Then there’s the problem with kids coming in from overseas who have very lttle English being shoved into the low-economic schools…..these kids will also drag down the success percentages of those schools. It’s a bad program which is passing the blame of the behaviour of todays youth onto the teachers when it’s the parents who need to be made accountable.

      Reply

    • Brett says:

      09:42am | 28/01/10

      Jezza, I agree with your comments todays kids are obnoxious self obsessed SOB’s. I would rather clean sewage tanks then face those DH kids each day. But I think this site will help and bring attention to certain areas of society. There will show a pattern to the public, about migration, about poverty and single parents. Then we need to take positive action to bring these schools up with social assistance from Government. We cannot just let the pattern continue.

    • Rose says:

      10:50am | 28/01/10

      I’m not surprised you have an issue with today’s youth Brett. Any adult who refers to kids as SOBs and DHs is unlikely to get given much respect from them. Before you argue that you don’t say that to their faces, you don’t have to, your attitude to them would stand out a mile even if everything you said was 100% politically correct. Why should you expect good behaviour from them when your own is questionable?

    • Tommo says:

      08:48am | 28/01/10

      Teachers should be held accountable to the wage they are being paid!! They want to be treated like professionals yet they act like Union thugs.. Time is up teachers! Big brother is watching you!!!

      Reply

    • Seano says:

      01:19pm | 28/01/10

      The result of that sort of thinking as demonstrated in the US is that teachers will focus not on the needs of their students but on keeping their jobs. So the kids who need extra time and effort will be ignored in favour of the kids who can help skew the results positively with a little effort.

    • John S says:

      08:50am | 28/01/10

      I congratulate the government on the introduction of a transparent measure. However, this is just a small step in the right direction.  Measurement is relatively easy, actually improving the education system is much more challenging…and don’t put all the responsibility on the teachers, the parents and students themselves need to shoulder some of the effort in ensuring their education is full and broad, not just academic.

      Reply

    • Bob says:

      09:03am | 28/01/10

      I have a few problems with the Rudd Government’s ‘Education Revolution’ website.
      For starters if Rudd believes this is the way to go then take full control of the education system.
      Take it out of the hands of the states fix the teachers and the buildings as underfunding plays a large part in performance as it affects morale.
      Also stop racism by listing the Aboriginal separate all children should be listed as students only we don’t see other race of people listed.
      Another good web site to start would be accountability for performance and poorly performing and unprofessional politicians.
      Or is just another of Rudd’s don’t do as I do, do as I say.

      Reply

    • Bruce says:

      09:15am | 28/01/10

      I agree teachers should be held accountable. Whilst I have not seen the data released, I would like to think that their supporting information backing up the statistical outcome for each school. The socio-economic and behavioural issues impacting on a school needs to be taken into account. I have some school teacher friends who work in “difficult areas” have told me of some horrific stories regarding uncontrolable students and “bullying” parents who really do not care or understand what happens in a school. How do you then blame these issues on the school or the teachers?  How about a league ladder for bad parents impacting on a school?

      Reply

    • Jason S says:

      09:16am | 28/01/10

      So where’s the website ranking parents on their performance in being parents.  We seriously need to stop putting all the responsibility on teachers. I’m not a teacher, I am married to one and I wouldn’t have her job for double what she is currently paid. The respect kids show teachers is decreasing year after year yet when a parent sees a poor result at school the blame is instantly directed at the teacher. I dare any “teacher bashers” out there to spend 1 day in a class of 30 teenage students.

      Reply

    • Jimmy says:

      09:32am | 28/01/10

      I think teachers should be paid less! They are very overpaid. I am all for increasing funding to education but the perfect way to do it would be to reduce teacher salaries and redirect the savings. Glorified photocopiers and babysitters is what they really are. I think I could handle handing out worksheets, marking them and then going on 12 weeks holiday a year. Kids who want to learn invariably learn, kids who don’t want to learn leave school and get apprenticeships (good on them!) or unfortunately are happy being bogans on the dole (like their parents probably were before them). This is life.

      Reply

    • halberstram says:

      09:46am | 28/01/10

      All teachers should have to complete 2 years in a non-teaching role in private enterprise ( not the public service) to see how the real world works before they commence teaching.

      Too many spend their entire life ensconced in the comfy confines of school-to-university-to-school.

      Some time working where deadlines and deliverables are measurable and the holidays not so lavish would get their mind in the right place : and weed out the lazy, timeservers.

    • Jeff says:

      10:20am | 28/01/10

      How old are you junior?  12? 15?  How about when you grow up, spend a few years at Uni and then offer your services at a school.  You would soon learn that effective teaching is a very challenging, demanding job.  I taught for over 20 years and enjoyed it but trying to motivate, stimulate and control 25 teenagers, all with their own needs, desires, demands etc can be very hard work.  Why do people who have no real idea what a job entails feel free to ‘enlighten’ the rest of us.  Maybe I’ll start posting about being a lawyer or doctor…

    • Peter Darben says:

      11:05am | 28/01/10

      Would it be churlish of me to point out that teachers do have standards by which they have to perform and are held accountable for ? That there are processes by which teachers showing unsatisfactory performance are given the opportunity to improve and if they fail to take this opportunity they are booted out ? Would it be shocking of me to point out that the unions actually support this process and have been involved in every stage of its development ? In Queensland, the Queensland College of Teachers has developed in consultation with teachers a set of professional standards which guide their work. We are expected to log 30 hours of professional development and map this to the standards. In the state system at least, teachers who aren’t pulling their weight are put under “Managing Unsatisfactory Performance” reviews which can and do lead to their removal from the classroom. How much simpler it is to just lie about the conditions under which teachers work, because let’s face it - the person who knows most about the work we do is someone outside the classroom and outside the system.

      Reply

    • Greg S says:

      02:11pm | 28/01/10

      How about we slash your wage by 20%?
      Don’t bother replying with such a stupid comment.  And no I’m not a teacher. My wife is and I see her work tiresly to help her students.

    • Brett says:

      09:34am | 28/01/10

      Last year my sons year 11 class, 17 of the 23 students failed the final exam. The reason my son gave was that he could barely understand a word the Indian teacher spoke.
      He came home with a recording, and I could not understand a single word being said. Surely if we are going to employ migrant teachers there must be a Language Proficiency Test.
      Do our kids now also have to pay the price of being politically correct?
      As for teachers and this new website, its well overdue that teachers face up to their responsibilities. It easy to be a popular teacher by try being one that actually teaches.
      Go and earn your money like the rest of us!

      Reply

    • couldnt learn me nuffink says:

      10:09am | 28/01/10

      i feel for your son, headmasters need to be able to hire and fire teachers. my daughter had to suffer an interminably boring sloth as a teacher all through year 7. a teacher who my daughter had to often correct as he was teaching kids the wrong way to work out maths problems.  shed often come home in tears because she learnt absolutely nothing for that whole year.

      my daughters in year 9 this year, loves it.. even though your son failed the final exam, it seems likely he could still pursue a career as a teacher.

    • Sam says:

      09:47am | 28/01/10

      I don’t agree with more money being spent on the under-performing schools. Idiots should be punished for being idiots, and the stars of the classroom are the only ones worthy of any extra funding. As long as we keep our focus on propping up the weakest link, we’ll just be throwing money down the drain. I’m in favour of a competitive learning environment where your marks determine the quality of the environment you’ll enjoy next year. Nothing like being poor to make the poor man hate himself and drag his sorry arse out of that pit (and once he’s an adult, the whole world will tell him that he’s got nobody to blame but himself, so we delude them as children). Get tougher and let natural selection do the rest. I like the idea of students being promoted or relegated like a football league. Don’t waste money on idiots. Centrelink has cost many people any chance of achieving their potential. Send them to “Siberia” until they hate who they’ve become, then bring them back and they’ll be grateful and they’ll never want to go back. Enough with the softly softly nonsense.

      Reply

    • Jeff C says:

      09:57am | 28/01/10

      It’s ironical that teachers, a class of professionals who suppose to understand the importance of assessment, resist assessment of themselves. No one ever question whether a single mark awarded by a teacher for an assignment or exam is a “fair” evaluation of a student’s ability. But the same group of people who adopt such a one size fit all marking scheme is bleating about a bunch of marks ascribed to their school. The union representing teachers are disingenuous and full of hypocrisy and trying to hide under- achieving teachers, or worse still, those who are rorting the system or bludging off the good work of their colleagues.

      Reply

    • Jeff says:

      10:44am | 28/01/10

      Yeah well that would be me who is “disingenuous” and “full of hypocrisy” seeing as how I work for the AEU.  We are there to ensure that processes around misconduct and underperfomance are fair and transparent.  There are teachers who need to leave the system.  We don’t dispute that.  But ending someone’s career at a whim is grossly unfair.  Principals aren’t gods; kids lie etc.  Teachers are accountable.  All teachers (at least in Victoria) go through a perfomance development review cycle.  This can be onerous and challenging.  If you bother to do any research into the issue of the NAPLAN data you will learn that high-stakes testing is a bloody disaster.  The U.K spends many millions on this and there is no evidence it leads to improvement in schools.  I could go on but you probably don’t care about ‘evidence’ or ‘facts’ eh mate?

      Reply

    • Rose says:

      10:57am | 28/01/10

      I don’t know, my son’s school didn’t do terribly well in last years NAPLAN tests and so has just appointed another literacy specialist teacher. Seems like they can be useful after all.

    • Jolanda says:

      11:46am | 28/01/10

      Jeff we once questions the results of the writing section in the Naplan test.  We had experienced issues with test marks, external and internal, following some formal complaints we made about the neglect of the education of our identified intellectually gifted children.

      Under FOI we received a copy of the test and sure enough there were obvious errors in marking in the writing component.  My daughter, who was a gifted writer, had achieved a 60% mark in her writing component test.  She said that it couldn’t be right.  She was right; there were numerous issues but one very clear error in marking that she was awarded a zero for punctuation.  The marking criteria clearly stated to award a zero only if there is little or no punctuation.  The entire piece of writing was properly punctuated the only mention of ‘missing punctuation’ was apparently the dot at the bottom of an exclamation mark.  Of course it was obvious that it was an exclamation mark as they identified it as such.  The marking criteria also stated that if it was obvious that the writer had an excellent grasp of punctuation and there was only a minor error to award full marks.  One would image that pressing down hard enough for the ink to make a big enough mark at the bottom of what is obviously an exclamation mark would be a ‘minor issue” and even if they did take a mark, certainly not award a zero.

      We asked for a re-mark but you see apparently when they remark they don’t actually remark the test, they just recount the marks that were originally awarded.  So the original incorrect mark was confirmed in the remark.

      We made a formal complaint – we were told that since we couldn’t prove that there was any bias as we didn’t know who marked the test that they wouldn’t investigate.  We asked for the name of the marker of the test we were told that markers are allocated the papers and that after they have finished marking the test the names etc of the markers are destroyed so it is not possible to determine who marked a test.

      Our complaints were ignored despite the fact that under FOI we had documents that showed the persons who undertook the remark had been in communication with the persons that we alleged were targeting our children and manipulating with their marks and results.

      The whole system is open to corruption and corruption is entrenched.  Until they do something about the complaint handling processes - nothing will change.  I feel sorry for the good teachers.  I would hate to work in that environment -  I know my children hated being in that environment and it actually made them suffer physical, emotional and psychological distress.

      Education - Keeping them Honest
      http://jolandachallita.typepad.com/

    • gfsfdb says:

      10:45am | 28/01/10

      Say you live in suburb A. Your suburb is covered by 3 local public schools. When it is time to send your child there you look up the marks of these schools. out of the three one comes first and one comes last. does this mean that the school that came last is the worst in Australia? No. It is possible that its the third best in Australia but it will be severely screwed over by this system.

      Some reward Ms. Gillard.

      Reply

    • N says:

      12:52pm | 28/01/10

      The ranking would be nation wide. If schools A, B & C were 10th, 12th and 23rd respectively then it’s hardly an issue. However if school C where last in a list of the few thousand schools nation wide, as a parent you have a good gauge on the type of education your child is liable to receive at such an institution.

      I don’t normally like labour policies, but this one has merit as it makes the education system accountable, rather than just a steady flow of funds being injected annually with no tangible way of the public seeing the results. As a tax payer, if teachers want a pay rise now, we can pull the results from the schools and see if they actually earned it. If I (or anyone else) wants a pay rise, its almost always results driven.
      Accountability in the public sector is a good thing, the free ride is over. Teachers, welcome to the real world.

    • Amanda Vella says:

      11:05am | 28/01/10

      Jimmy’s comment is so blindly ignorant it hardly warrants acknowledgement. I’ve been a public school teacher in one of Australia’s most culturally diverse communities for five years. I have a degree in Journalism but after having a child I thought I would give teaching a go because it would be ‘easy’. How wrong I was.

      Like most of my colleagues, I am not concerned about the My Shoool website and what it might say about my skills. Of course there are some underperforming teachers out there and I support the effort to keep standards high but that’s not what this website is about and everyone knows it. 

      I’ve had a look at the site and it has not told me anything I don’t know about my worlplace or my daughter’s school. My colleagues and I work damn hard to get our kids speaking English, reading, writing and counting. Some of them are refugees settling here after years of exposure to inconceivable atrocities. Some are underfed or neglected and the hours they spend at school are the best of their day.
      As a parent, my main concern is with my daughter’s individual abilities and progress; not how her school ranks collectively against similar schools. I hardly need a report twice a year, a national test or a website to tell me her strengths and weaknesses and if this is what some parents are relying on to make decsions about their child’s education I suggest they spend a bit more time interacting with them.

      As for being a glorifed babysitter and photocopier: how much will you pay me to babysit 28 kids, 6 hours a day, 5 days a week? We’‘ll take the 12 weeks holidays thanks. Because we deserve them.

      Reply

    • Kim says:

      02:16pm | 28/01/10

      What the site fails to state is that some of the state schools accept special children even though they’re not listed as a special school.  The schools accept these children so that they receive additional dollars from the government.  These special children are also included in the NAPLAN tests and definitely bring the IQ level of the whole school down.

      Reply

    • Peter Darben says:

      11:12am | 28/01/10

      What the teachers are campaigning against is not that they shouldn’t held accountable, its that they will be held accountable using inappropriate standards. The NAPLAN tests are not designed to be a measure of school performance (let alone teacher performance), but individual student performance. You mention other professionals who operate according to set professional standards (giving the false impression that teachers don’t), however how many hospitals or dental surgeries have public websites releasing cure, death or cavity rates ? Doctors aren’t held up to public scrutiny because of the survival rate of their patients, so why should teachers have the same done for the pass or fail rate of their students ? Given that NAPLAN isn’t intended to be a measure of school performance, holding schools accountable for their how their NAPLAN results compare to other schools is like holding hospitals accountable for the rate of tooth decay in their patients.

      Still, what would I know - I’m only a teacher, the least qualified person in Australia to talk about education.

      Reply

    • Alberto says:

      11:30am | 28/01/10

      I was skeptical about this website, so I decided to look up my old (allegedly elite) high school and see how it performs. Despite it being above the national average (which wasn’t a surprise), it was considered to be near average when compared to statistically similar schools. So, I decided to see which ‘statistically similar’ schools outperform it by using the comparison tool provided. WELL, this provided me with a list of about 30 schools, however, only two of them were in the same state! And of these two, one was an all girls school. So, bearing in mind I was wondering where I would send my hypothetical son, this site provided me with ONE other school in the entire state to compare my old school to—which I might add was not even remotely close (geographically) to my old school. How is this useful?

      Reply

    • Woz says:

      12:02pm | 28/01/10

      Having worked within a major high school in Qld,albeit in a non-educational role,I am totally stunned,that, with the massive amount of useless bureaucratic nonsense and meaningless political correctness that goes on every hour,every day of a school year,that schools even manage to function nevermind teach anything.Teachers don’t have time to teach.They are too busy protecting themselves from “The System”.

      Reply

    • oldefellah says:

      04:32pm | 28/01/10

      The only decent comment amongst all this misinformed drivel. Well done Woz. Stop blaming teachers and start holding the respective departments to account. They’re the ones dishing out all the accountability crap and substandard curricula that makes a teachers life hell.

    • raquel says:

      12:23pm | 28/01/10

      i’m sorry - comparing this myschool stuff with measuring nurses and other professions? hardly the same thing.  kids ability to read and write etc not just wholly the teacher’s responsibility…the amount of instruments left in a patient or sterilisation procedures is easier to measure.  for example..my husband’s stepkid was having a hard time all year with her reading, which her teacher told he and his ex about it - was honest, open etc.  then all of a sudden, noone was doing anything different - it just clicked for her. all i mean is there’s so many other things going on, a teacher can’t be measured on how many widgets he/she pushes out.  i’m sorry, in a school it’s not hard to know who the crap and the good teachers are and the principals and the parents all know it too. it’s yet again giving another opportunity to take away responsbility from parents to be more involved in their school community.  it’s got nothing to do with these stats either - a teacher might be good at getting their kids to do NAPLAN well, but can they do harder maths problems (this is a problem in Year 6’ers going into year 7) or non narrative text reading, and things like symbolism etc) are they never there for the kids, do they know how to teach them other things like creativity, problem solving, analysis. do they inspire?  being a public servant preparing briefs etc…i’m not just assessed on whether i meet deadlines (it’s one factor yes)- i’m assessed on a whole host of other things - so why should these public servants who get a hard enough time as it is?  i can see why they’re angry - not because they’re being held accountable - most want this coz they see crap colleagues - but because this is a waste of time and also is so narrowly focused.

      Reply

    • N Trigg says:

      12:40pm | 28/01/10

      For starters, I wonder how many uninformed people out there actually know that basically teachers [despite 6 years extra education at great expense] get paid less than most Wharfies & Train Drivers etc?

      How does a public school teacher perform well when often they may have twice as many students than a private school teacher?

      How does a PS teacher perform well when her students often only have 1 PC per class, while at most private schools all students have a computer - thanks to the extra funding they get at the expense of public schools?

      How does a PS teacher perform well when often public school students come to school on an empty stomach & without a nutritional lunch?  That’s if they come to school at all because their parents are too drugged out to care?

      Not a Teacher
      Noel Trigg

      Reply

    • Davido says:

      01:12pm | 28/01/10

      They should be held accountable.

      But you have to recognise that the coach is only as good as the team.

      Reply

    • Pete says:

      01:12pm | 28/01/10

      It’s a pity the web site won’t also provide a measure for the level of indoctrination that the kids are exposed to ! I guess that wouldn’t be in the Labor Party’s interest though…..........

      Reply

    • Jeff says:

      01:48pm | 28/01/10

      What indoctrination?  Give us some hard facts.  Or are you just another right-winger who goes around alleging bias when it suits them?  If you want to talk indoctrination, how about a class-riven society which is geared toward producing more little consumers as its prime focus.  Where to question capitalism in ANY way is to be labelled a socialist etc etc.  Our school system has long been co-opted into this sort of indoctrination.  But I guess your ideological blindness means that you only really want to talk about alleged left-wing political bias eh?

    • Pete says:

      08:08pm | 28/01/10

      What indoctrination ? Primary school kids being taught to boo John Howard and being “educated” on workers rights and introduced to the evils of Work Choices might count. I could probably give you plenty more examples but I get bored quickly talking to socialists !

    • Gavin says:

      06:02pm | 29/01/10

      What about the Howard Govt’s compulsory Australian History component - the whiteman’s point of view?

    • Mark says:

      01:37pm | 28/01/10

      There are good teachers and very ordinary teachers who ‘work’ like public servants, whinge all the time, blame parents, kids, the government, society about their conditions and what they have to put up with. I get the impression from 3 women teachers I know, all in NSW state schools, that they long for each school term and to draw on their fabulous superannuation scheme. None of them sound like any of the treachers I had back in the sixties, but then when you have never worked out of school, you tend not to know what the real world is and it’s pressures i.e. normal 4 weeks annual leave if you can take it all at once. I welcome accountability in schools finally to put the ‘balance’ in the system and reward those who do their best.

      Reply

    • Simon says:

      02:26pm | 28/01/10

      All these ideas about 12 weeks holidays. If you add up all the national public holidays, teachers get 10 more days. Do the maths unless of course you went to a public school.

    • Jimmy says:

      02:15pm | 28/01/10

      I’d pay you about $40,000 to teach/babysit 28 kids, 6 hours a day, 5 days a week.

      It’s not that you deserve the holidays its just that the photocopier needs a rest! Bahahaha

      Reply

    • JJJ says:

      03:55pm | 28/01/10

      Most babysitters (15 year olds) get paid $10 an hour to babysit (I would say that is on the ‘cheap’ side too). That means, in a class of 28 (which is also a modest number for NSW schools), teachers should be paid $1680 per day (not including any preparation, lunch-duties, or marking). This would work out to be a salary of $337 680 per year if only working days were paid (in NSW). Go figure.

    • cybacaT says:

      02:40pm | 28/01/10

      This is the first positive, concrete action the Rudd govt has taken in it’s time in Govt.  Good on them for getting something right!
      This data should assist the recognition of good teachers for reward and poor teachers can have their under-performance addressed just like any other employees do.
      It’s the information parents have been crying out for.  Well done.

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      04:28pm | 28/01/10

      I’ve tutored at schools, though not a qualified teacher.
      Summer Heights High is quite accurate.
      Everyone I know under 15 is educated at home.

      Reply

    • Dave says:

      04:35pm | 28/01/10

      Why shouldn’t teachers be accountable? Good point Gardiner. However a better question is why aren’t politicians held accountable? I mean if you can hold a doctor, nurse, busniess, social worker legally acountable for their mistakes why can’t politicians be held to that hire standard? It might even make them honest.

      Reply

    • Mick Skinner says:

      04:53pm | 28/01/10

      I looked at the school my wife teaches at.

      Red, red and some more red.

      When I see her hunched over her pc at midnight still working I just shake my head now. Many of the kids in her year 2 class have missed one whole year out of the two they should have had before she gets them. She still flogs her guts out trying to correct the awful abuse Australia is happy to let slide by, that happens to small kids because of where they are born or who their parents are.

      When they start handing out extra dosh to someone working in Mosman or Hunter’s Hill on the basis of “their” NAPLAN results,  I hope I’ll finally be able to persuade her to stop bashing her head against the wall.

      Reply

    • Bri says:

      06:29pm | 28/01/10

      It is definitely important to hold teachers who are involved in inappropriate or illegal behaviour to account. However it is so common for parents to blame teachers if their child is not performing well. Parents have a responsibility to help the educational process along - this includes reading to your kids, helping with homework and being aware of behaviour problems. It is too common for schools and teachers to be blamed for an issue which should have been dealt with at home.

      I would also like to point out that complaints against teachers can sometimes be fabricated by students and other staff for personal reasons. I know someone this has happened to and their life has been temporarily ruined because of a complaint about something that either did not happen or was much less significant than what was being reported by a student or parent. Teachers mostly do the best job they can, it is a minority who really shouldn’t be teaching.

      The myschool website is disappointing because it only offers NAPLAN results and a few other facts and figures about schools. What about a measure of the satisfaction of students and parents? Or a rating of which schools are the most sustainable in their environmental practices? How about letting us know which schools have the lowest rates of bullying and violence, and which schools are the most involved with their local community.

      There is so much more to a school than just whether the kids can read,write and add up - these things are important but they are not the only things a student learns at school. What I want most for my kids is for them to grow up with a strong sense of who they are and what they want from life - a strong ethical base from which to make life decisions. There are many fantastic schools that provide life skills training for kids - why is this not considered as important as NAPLAN results?

      Reply

    • acker says:

      06:35pm | 28/01/10

      My other half is on a school executive, they have had some bad teachers and moved them on, unfortunately the Education department can’t de-list them as teachers and they usualy pop up again at some school in a disadvantaged area where none of the latte sipping teachers in comfy suburbs have no intention of going to. No matter how good a teacher they are.

      The Union is just trying to keep the current unequitable status quo..shame

      Reply

    • silent elephant says:

      07:29pm | 28/01/10

      I think before you write an article about this, you should know what you’re talking about. Make it easier to get rid of badly performing teachers…Did you know about the reviews of their performance that they undergo? (That if they fail they can be fired, they have recourse like anyone else if they feel it’s unfair)

      Teachers can also be fired on the spot in some instances.

      Why doesn’t the table take into consideration whether learning is taught to be respected at home? Why doesn’t it take into consideration that some kids just aren’t academic?  Are ALL of the children tested? The ones who are away on the day, are they then tested at the next possible time? What about the ones who transfer halfway through the year? What if a bad teacher has done a bad job the year before, or a good teacher has done a good job the year before? Surely all of those factors count in.

      Reply

    • robbo says:

      07:44pm | 28/01/10

      Not a fan of NAPLAN, my child was in Year 3 last year. Call me crazy, but I don’t think 8 year olds should be cramming for exams. Normal homework (and school work?) was replaced by NAPLAN style exercises for about 2 weeks.
      Also have heard of other private schools that seem to reject students that may need extra support or are not obviously academically gifted - a quick glance at the paper showed these schools in the highest percentile….go figure

      Reply

    • Chase Stevens says:

      08:00pm | 28/01/10

      Honestly I think it’s politicians that should have their pay based on performance.

      Reply

    • John in Alice says:

      09:36pm | 28/01/10

      Before anyone holds teachers accountable you first have to establish discipline and respect within the school as well as holding parents responsible as well.  If there is no support from home, you are wasting your time.  From what I experienced as a relief teacher for a year after 30 years in American classrooms I wouldn’t walk into an Australian school for a thousand a day.
      Of course the Americans now have a policy entitled “No Child Left Behind” implying no one can fail - yeah, right!  I’m glad I am retired.  Chris - take a year to work in a school before spouting your BS advice.

      Reply

    • Louise says:

      09:53pm | 28/01/10

      I agree teachers should be accountable (and so should parents). But how? This sort of centralised data means nothing.

      For quite a few years we have had this ridiculous ranking of schools based on the number of students receiving a mark of 90% or better in any subject. However 90% in basic maths is not the same academic achievement as 90% in extension maths. This is why HSC marks used to be scaled based on the complexity of the subject. Now students have an inducement to take a subject just below their ability and are rewarded for it.

      It’s no wonder Australia is lacking the scientist and mathematicians we need for future research and development. 

      It’s great we feel all warm and fuzzy giving every player in the Under 7 soccer team a man of the match award, but do we really have to extend this “everybody gets a trophy because we’re all special in different ways” to our supposedly adult school leavers.

      Reply

    • Bruce says:

      11:00pm | 28/01/10

      I have now looked at the “My Schools” web-sight. There appears to be a strong correlation between high, medium, and low socio-economic areas as well as areas with high levels of ethnic population in relation to results. Have a look and see for yourself !! This tells me more about our education department, and our state and federal governments ability to target areas of special needs education in Australia than possibly the quality of our teachers. Its one thing to have good quality teachers, but do we have a real co-ordinated program with determined leadership to level out the inequalties that appear to exist?

      Reply

    • Damo says:

      09:27am | 29/01/10

      How many of you parents with kids in primary school actually sit down with your children EVERY night and do their homework with them ? Not as many as those blaming teachers id reckon.
      The reason homework is given is so that the child has a chance to reinforce what was taught during the day. Its called Revision. If the parent/s are going through this with the child they will absorb it alot faster. Little Johnny might even come to enjoy doing their homework because its a chance to spend some one on one time with mummy or daddy. Teachers have up to 30 kids to manage and teach. Here is your chance for some personal tutoring without the distractions that 30 other children in one room will bring.
      But i suspect you’d rather sit on the couch and watch TV and issue an order to little Johnny to go and do his homework. Oh he’ll do it. It will be half arsed and he probably wont know all the answers and will then be marked wrong the next day at school, but he will do it. Maybe if you did it with him, his answers would improve?
      Unless of course, youre an idiot.

      Reply

    • Gerry says:

      05:15pm | 29/01/10

      As a teacher I can only say I enjoyed my long Summer holiday and after a few days back I’m looking forward to the next break which is only a few weeks away. Another pay rise would be most welcome as well smile

      Reply

    • Tizzanne says:

      08:00am | 30/01/10

      National curriculum, standardized teaching methods, accountabillity by teachers and relevant curriculum are the most important factors in educating our kids. 

      A teacher who cannot spell properly or write legibly cannot teach the kids to do so.  A testing system used across the country for kids who follow different curriculums cannot truly test a childs abilities in comparison with other kids.  If we equalise these factors, we will be on the road to educating our kids for their futures and it is their futures that are at stake. 

      Make sure our kids learn the appropiate subjects and make sure they are taught by teachers who KNOW what they are teaching.  Then worry about teachers salaries.  Incompetant teachers - and there are unsuprisingly a lot of them, do not deserve their jobs let alone getting a pay rise.  Teachers need to be tested regularly to ensure they are up to date with their knowledge and their methods.  It should not be seen as a head hunt unless the teacher has something to hide, namely their inability to teach properly. 

      For too long teachers have tried to paint themselves as targets of undeserved hostility, under-paid and under-appreciated.  On occasion this may be right.  Their salaries could certainly be improved, but not unless they are earned.  Let’s keep this argument in perspective.  Until the basic needs of schools and our kids are met, most of the current complaints by teachers are irrelevant.

      Reply

    • Maria Rattray says:

      03:41pm | 08/03/10

      I can’t say I have read all these responses, but I’d like to steer the debate away from teacher-slanging and accountability if I may, and perhaps open another perspective to the debate. .
      Let me preface this by pointing out that today’s classrooms are a far cry from those experienced by you Chris.  I left teaching a couple of years ago because I was sick of disruptive, aggressive, and downright rude behaviour, and that was in an advantaged school.  Not all the students were so of course, but you don’t need too many behaviour problems to make teaching a challenge!
      We get all sorts of excuses for the bad behaviour from well-meaning educational psychologists and the likes.  One of my favourites was that the child’s brain wiring was different to everyone else’s!  That same child was defiant, intrusive, belligerent, aggressive and objectionable.  At the same time he was intelligent enough to know that he was stopping all learning for the rest of the class. 
      Is that fair on a teacher?  Is that fair on parents who are paying fees?  Is it fair on the rest of the students?  And you know, a teacher who faces this kind of behaviour day after day, week after week, takes it home to family.  Is that fair?
      There are many reasons why students are failing, but the education of children is not just the domain of the teacher.  Parents have a responsibility to support both the teacher and their children, and the first place to start is with their diet!!!
      With so many cancers prevalent in children, with an escalating incidence of ADHD, and with measurable aggressive problems, would it not be prudent to start with what parents are feeding their children by way of food?
      You know, if I were to work with Julia and her team I’d be seeking to put in place, some legislation about what children can bring to school to eat.  We can’t tell parents what to feed their children when they are at home, but we certainly should be able to control what they ingest in the school environment.
      Any self-respecting and loving parent should have the absolute welfare of their children at heart.  Most would say they have, and yet, what children have in their lunch boxes is absolutely scandalous.  The parents pack that lunch box in most cases!!
      Blaming poor Naplan performance on teachers is a shallow response.  Sure we call all get better at our craft.  That is not in dispute. We certainly should be held accountable. But let’s be fair in all of this.  Let those who need to shoulder some of the responsibility for failure, do so. 
      I invite you to read a couple of my blogs at:  http://www.freedompursuits.com.au/wordpress

      Reply

    • deb says:

      10:46am | 23/06/11

      First of all, I think that anyone who seeks teaching as a career should be held accountable for the students’ progress.  There are many great teachers in the schools, but there are also many teachers in schools for the wrong reasons.  There should be high expectations of teachers regardless of pay.  Reviews need to be done objectively and not subjectively.  I don’t think it should be left up to one person to decide a teachers fate either.  I also agree that parents should be held accountable for their children’s success.  Unfortunately, that is a harder factor to control.

      Reply

    • mia says:

      11:23am | 21/03/12

      I believe teachers should be held accountable as they owe a duty of care to the students by teaching them what is right i have removed by children from a local school due to a teacher physically pinching my son on the back and when i spoke to the NSW education dept about it and put in a letter to epac unit they came back saying that the teacher cant be held responsible for pinching my son on the spine and laughing in his face.  What’s this world coming to when if my child had done that to the teacher he would have been suspended for laying a hand on the teacher .  But as the NSW education dept says they teacher can do what she want and nothing can be done about , how lame are you all aware that so many things are happening to these kids and they are to scared to say anything to anyone.  A principle from the local nsw Education dept stated that she is not there for the students that she is there to support the teachers, well my god well who is there to protect our children then it us parents and i will fight to the very end to protect my child since i have never had a problem with there behaviour since they started school.

      Reply
 
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Abbott’s crass logic: trash the Parliament in order save it

by David Penberthy

180

Abbott’s crass logic: trash the Parliament in order save it

An email was sent to almost every politician in Australia this week saying that someone should cut off…

Our special forces don’t always need special treatment

by Paul Toohey

27

Our special forces don’t always need special treatment

We admire them, but we’re not entirely sure why. We allow them to operate in the shadows; we rarely…

A good holiday is about unrest, not rest

by Angela Mollard

3

A good holiday is about unrest, not rest

Like a fat full-stop, it lay in my hand. A small orange – not exactly fresh, but purchased anyway…

Nosebleed Section

choice ringside rantings

From: They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

Michael S says:

"A teacher at Geelong Grammar had criticised her for using words that were too long, which had left her confused and had made her doubt her ability to write essays. She became ''quite distressed'' when her English marks began to fall." I can sympathise. My scholastic mentors conveyed to me a causal relationship… [read more]

From: Welfare for breeders is a bonus for everyone

Change Up! says:

I have no problem paying my taxes. As a single, childless person on a very decent income, I can afford it and not have my life severely altered. Plus I understand that my taxes paying for things like schools, childcare and infrastructure is ultimately a good thing. A better community is better for me… [read more]

Light weight

Gentle jabs to the ribs

They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

A private school girl’s family is sueing her elite, extremely expensive private school for not… Read more

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