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Howard and Bishop launch two-pronged attack on teachersBy Angelo Gavrielatos The week commencing February 5 saw one of the most orchestrated and ruthless attacks on Australian public education and its teachers. Prime Minister John Howard, Federal Minister Julie Bishop and their gaggle of self-proclaimed education experts are condemned for yet again attempting to create a crisis of confidence in public education in an attempt to impose their ideologically-driven agenda on schools across the nation. Again they seek to promulgate discredited and outdated proposals:
The power to hire and fireThe Government has indicated that it wants to make federal funding contingent upon principals having the right to hire and fire staff. This attempt to achieve an outdated conservative agenda of devolution is designed to shift responsibility (and any blame) in teacher employment practices away from government to local school communities.Proponents of this devolved approach fail to acknowledge and accept it is the responsibility of government to ensure the equitable distribution of staff so that every child, irrespective of background or location, can be guaranteed a qualified teacher in each and every classroom across the nation. Whilst attempting to create the impression that the local hiring and firing of teachers would increase the educational outcomes of students, there is no evidence to support the proposal. To the contrary, there is research that shows NSW, which has maintained a statewide staffing system, is dealing better with issues associated with teacher shortage than other employing authorities which have devolved responsibility for the staffing of schools.
Under-performing teachersPredictably, the call "to get rid of dud teachers" continues to be rehashed by those who seek to undermine and discredit public education. The fact is that teacher unions have negotiated procedures to deal with under-performing teachers. Indeed, no-one is more interested in maintaining the highest teaching standards than teachers themselves. Our professional reputation depends on the application of rigorous performance appraisal procedures.When teachers are identified as under-performing in NSW public schools, they are obliged to participate in a 10-week improvement program. Personnel employed at each supervisory level must identify under-performing teachers and take action to remedy the situation. The procedures are as stringent as any other public or private employment sector, if not more so. Failure to meet satisfactory standards in an improvement program activates disciplinary procedures which include dismissal.
School versus school comparisons -- league tablesConservative politicians, in concert with like-minded media commentators, are again calling for the creation of league tables, whereby schools are compared and rated on student results without regard to the complex and variable nature of their particular students and communities.League tables are a political and media construct that serve no educational value. Indeed, rather than improving educational outcomes for students, the effect of league tables on schools could very well be detrimental to the educational well-being of entire communities. There is no evidence from any country that the introduction of school league tables leads to improvement in student results.
Performance payThe notion of performance pay against student results is offensive to the profession. Performance pay, as proposed by the Howard Government, is a crude attempt to impose its discredited industrial relations policy. It is codespeak for the introduction of individual contracts, insecure employment and the erosion of working conditions. Political advocates of performance pay on student results are yet to explain how it would work. The ludicrous nature of this proposal is evident when considering how it would apply when comparing teachers across a range of settings -- academically gifted and talented, special education and so on.As with league tables, there is no evidence from any country that the introduction of performance pay on student results leads to an improvement in those results. Whilst rejecting this crude, unworkable form of performance pay, teacher unions have long advocated a system of recognising and rewarding quality teaching, knowledge, skills and practice, as identified by assessment against objective standards and criteria developed by the profession for the profession.
CurriculumThe Prime Minister continues to attack the curriculum taught in public schools. On February 8 he called aspects of it "incomprehensible sludge". He uses the insulting language of the extremist to denigrate a curriculum that enables Australian students to achieve outstanding results compared to other OECD countries. His folly is underlined by his failure to realise that the curriculum taught in public schools is developed by the Board of Studies, and is the same for his much preferred and increasingly well funded private schools.Teachers support a rigorous curriculum underpinned by content which equips students with the necessary skills to be able to critically analyse the world in which they live. Perhaps that's what's all too comprehensible to Mr Howard.
High standardsThere is no greater defender of the highest quality teacher standards than teachers themselves. On February 7, when criticising teaching and learning standards in schools and outlining her desire to raise them, Federal Minister Bishop unveiled a proposal involving 'adjunct teachers', which would allow unqualified teachers into classrooms. That this proposal is advanced in the name of raising standards says much about the duplicity of Bishop's thinking. Such an approach is rejected outright by the profession.Resourcing aside, the most important variable in the educational well-being of children is the teacher. Teacher unions will fight with the utmost determination to ensure that governments fulfil their obligation to guarantee a qualified teacher is appointed to every class across the nation. Promotion of this agenda by the Howard Government illustrates their desire to undermine public education across this nation. This is illustrated time and time again by their funding policies which advantage private schools over public schools.
Schools fundingOn February 8 John Howard said that he believes "in a strong, well-funded and academically rigorous government school system". His actions belie these words.As shown by the recently released Productivity Commission report on government services, the Federal Government spent $1051 per public school student compared to $4515 per private school student per annum, that is 4.3 times as much. If the Howard Government continued to fund public schools at the same levels as 1996 when it first assumed office, Australian public schools would be receiving around $1 billion more per year than they do now. (In 1996 public schools received an unacceptable 42 per cent share of the federal education budget. Under Howard it has been reduced to a 35 per cent share.) The level of under-funding is actually far more serious. Government research shows that public schools need at least an extra $2.9 billion per year to achieve a national schools resourcing standard so that the national goals of schooling can be achieved. The latest attacks on public education from Howard and Bishop are very calculated. They are both a ruse to divert scrutiny from radical federal funding policies that strip money away from public education to expand the private education sector, and a full frontal attempt to implement the destructive WorkChoices laws in our classrooms. As always, as dedicated professionals and union members, we will stand and fight those who seek to deny and undermine the centrality of public education in our society. Guided by our commitment to social justice and equity, and our belief in the fundamental importance of a public education system to a cohesive, multicultural, prosperous, democratic society, we will continue the campaign for the highest quality public education for all students, regardless of their race, culture, religion, socio-economic status, special needs and talents, or geographical location. Angelo Gavrielatos is the Deputy President.
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