Federal education agenda made clear in Minister’s speech

Giving principals the power to hire and fire, performance pay and league tables are on the Howard Government's education agenda, reports KERRI CARR.

The Howard Government's education agenda and attitude towards teacher unions was spelt out by Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop in an address to the National Press Club on February 7. "Principals must be given greater autonomy over their schools. In particular, principals must have power over staffing," Ms Bishop said.

"How can we expect a principal to guarantee the quality of education in their school without some control over who is employed at that school?"

"I propose to work with the states to move even further in the direction of principal autonomy and ensure they have the power to hire and fire teachers based on their performance, just as the head of any organisation or enterprise is able to do."

"Giving the power to principals will fix the problem of state governments, captives of the unions, unable to deal with under-performing teachers," she added.

On the matter of performance pay, Ms Bishop said: "We cannot hope to raise standards in our schools if we continue with the fallacy perpetuated by state governments and unions that teachers do not deserve incentives and rewards for better performance."

"We must move beyond the low salaries and artificial salary caps that are imposed on the profession, and supported by education unions in their one-size-fits-all, lowest common denominator mentality," she said.

"I will put to State Governments a proposal for the inclusion of a performance element in teacher salaries, focusing particularly on teachers in disadvantaged schools who are making a significant difference to their students' achievements, and work with the states to improve the status of the teaching profession."

"In addition to performance-based pay for teachers, I believe there must also be rewards for schools that are able to improve student performance in the fundamental skills of literacy and numeracy," she added.

"There must also be greater accountability to parents at the individual school level," Ms Bishop said.

"Parents would be in a better position to decide which school is the right one for their child if they were able to compare schools in relation to staff qualifications and turnover; suspension and expulsion statistics; attendance and retention rates; raw academic scores and improvements in scores demonstrating progress over time; post-school first destinations; and feedback data on parent, student and teacher satisfaction levels.

"Making this type of information public gives parents informed choice when deciding which school their child will attend, and also creates an incentive for the school to continuously improve."

The Howard Government plans to investigate the possibility of having people teaching in schools who don't have a Bachelor of Education.

"To ensure a continuous supply of specialist knowledge in schools, the Australian Government will also explore alternative pathways into the teaching profession," Ms Bishop said.

"There are people with valuable knowledge, experience and expertise, who don't have a Bachelor of Education, but who are keen to bring their talent to our schools.

"I am asking Teaching Australia, the body established by the Federal Government to raise the status, quality and professional standing of teachers, to provide advice to the government on alternative pathways for teacher registration."

Ms Bishop also discussed national testing; national consistency in curriculum, assessment and reporting; and schools having stronger links to employers and the business community.

Union bashing

• "Education is a national priority and it is too important to be left at the mercy of State parochialism and union self-interest."
• "Raising academic standards and improving educational outcomes for Australian students involves making some hard choices. It means making decisions that state Labor governments, education unions and other vested interests will not like."

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Last Modified: 22 Feb 2007