We need education reform, not teacher bashing.

Teachers officially start work in their schools tomorrow.
Next Monday and Tuesday the students will turn up.
Good luck to teachers, principals and other administrative staff, especially those in needy schools who will all hope and pray that this year they will see adequate resources and funding provided to them to appropriately address the needs of the children.

It seems a long while ago since Gonski identified the great divide between high and low achieving schools in Australia. Besides identifying this worrying gap, Gonski, more importantly, provided funding to be allocated to schools needing additional staffing and resources. Unfortunately, politicians inserted themselves into the equation and Gonski funding was cut severely and large dollops of it given to schools without any real needs at all. It was argued that spreading money around all schools was equitable and fair. It was manifestly unfair!

It was Aristotle who said "The greatest form of inequality was to make unequal things equal." This could be restated in our day as "The greatest discrimination is the equal treatment of unequals."  
Schools with well appointed gymasiums, olympic swimming pools and huge libraries and resource centres did not warrant any Gonski money.The politicians thought differently. As a result Gonski has not been properly implemented, needy schools are still in need and their students still suffer and the achievement gap is wider.

Teachers in these needy schools are like soldiers in the frontline whose Generals have given them inferior weapons and scant supplies of ammunition and then berate them for not winning the battle.

As these teachers face up to another year they must be dismayed that teacher bashing is still the sport of choice for many of our politicians. For instance, there was a general undertone of teacher bashing in the recent focus by politicians on the ATAR levels of some students entering teacher education. They appears to be saying  that:-
 *Our teachers are not really up to scratch.                               
 *Our student teachers are not really up to scratch.

No evidence has been given to support these two assertions. It sounds like teacher bashing. It is putting down teachers by suggesting that if they worked harder and became even more highly qualified than having four or five year teaching degrees, then Australia would be sitting on top of the education rankings.

So, does this mean that our Australian teachers are below standard? Hardly. Despite the problems inherent with indigenous and non-English speaking ethnic groups, Australia is ranked in the top ten countries in the world, according to PISA. We are invariably ranked above The United Kingdom and The United States, two countries with whom we are often compared and encouraged to copy. Whatever for?

We certainly can do better. The main problem in Australia, as identified by Gonski, is the widening gap between high achievers and low achievers. This can only be addressed by allocating additional resources to schools in need, as the original Gonski suggested.

Any teacher will tell you that if you constantly criticise someone as inadequate, their work will tend to fall away. Attention has recently focused on the low academic achievement levels of trainee teachers. References were made to the low Year 12 pass mark that some student teachers have in comparison for the pass mark required for doctors, engineers and lawyers.

Firstly, the pass mark is not low. Most trainee teachers have adequate to very good ATAR marks. Graduate Diploma students, of course, have already completed a university degree before entering their education studies. And not all student teachers pass the course!  Around 30% of them fail to graduate or have their courses terminated because they are not performing satisfactorily.

We should not focus on who goes into the education course but on the quality of those who graduate and how well prepared they are for their teaching role.

We definitely should investigate any universities enrolling students that they know will fail. Why would they do this? Could it be that each enrolled student attracts healthy funding from the government? Perhaps, a question of academic ethics.

Some people say it is too easy to get into teaching. Maybe so, but it is definitely not too easy to graduate as a teacher. It requires a great deal of intellectual and physical effort as well as a very strong commitment to teaching. From 2003 to 2014 I worked for a Western Australian university, mentoring education students in schools on their teaching practice. The most common remark made to me by these student after just a few days in the classroom was, “I just didn't realise how tiring it would be” or “I just did not realise how much time I needed to spend on planning my lessons.” All teachers know that feeling.

Naturally, we should encourage our best and brightest into the teaching profession, if they have the passion and a commitment to teaching. We should also recognize and applaud the great effort that education students put in to successfully graduating from what is a very onerous, nerve wracking and energy sapping course of study.

Let us also hope that both political parties will cease political point scoring and, in the interests of Australian children, begin properly resourcing teachers and school administrators to do their jobs more effectively by giving real financial muscle to the Gonski proposals.

We need education reform, not teacher bashing.