I attended two forums today, The Lake Macquarie Teachers Federation and the Hunter Business Chamber, I learnt a lot from both.
The Teacher's Federation attendees were all experienced teachers, many of whom were the ones that are going to be leaving the system over the next 5-10 years, one of the questions this raised was who will carry their representative flag? The Greens Education policy has had a large degree of teacher input into its development and so there was some consolation on this front.
We were supplied with a list of issues that needed addressing and what became obvious was that the solutions offered by the Greens are real, practicle and would help strengthen public education and therefore the social cohesiveness of society.
Some of the isssues I addressed were:
Preschools, I work in the preschool industry and see first hand the difference that quality preschool education can make.
The Greens NSW are committed to 2 years of free universal public preschool for all children in this state. We believe that this is best achieved by locating preschools on the same sites as existing public primary schools where land is available. The development of universal public pre-schooling should begin with communities with high concentrations of socio-economic disadvantage, where it will have a significant impact on the progress of children through school and into later life.
School Counsellors; It became apparent when my children needed to access school cousellors how inadequate the numbers were to be able to adequately address the issues and provide real support in a time of crisis.
The Greens remain committed to achieving the Vinson recommendation of increasing the number of school counsellors by 700 to achieve 1 counsellor for every 500 students. The increasing counselling needs of students and changing family structures suggest that the number of counsellors may need to be further increased beyond this target.
The Teaching Service:I was once a beginning teacher and have been High School Science trained, I understand how important mentoring for beginning teachers is and the need to capture the know how of the expereinced and give due recognition for the amazing job that teachers do.
The Carr/Iemma government has failed to plan for the rejuvenation of the public education teaching service. Large numbers of teachers are planning to retire in the next 5 years and 33% of beginning teachers do not expect to be in the profession in the next 10 years. Public education is facing a teacher shortage and a depletion of experienced teachers.
The Greens are also concerned that concentrations of new and recent entrant teachers are occurring in hard-to-staff schools. These teachers are beginning their careers in difficult classrooms, often without a the benefit of a large number of experienced teachers to advice, support and mentor.
Managing the teacher workforce is not just about protecting public education. It is also about delivering workplace justice.
The Greens welcome and endorse Lyndsay Connors’ report “Time and Tide ….”, which makes a number of valuable suggestions for investment in the renewal of the public school teaching service.
In particular The Greens would work for:
- increased Commonwealth investment in teacher education in universities
- funding for professional learning for new and recent entrant teachers, including online induction and support, and a time allowance for new teachers to develop their professionalism;
- programs in hard-to-staff schools, including an additional leadership allowance;
- incentives to recruit and retain teachers;
- the establishment of 50 professional practice schools in areas with concentrations of beginning teachers; and
- massively increase the resources for teacher mentoring, so that more experienced teachers can engage in the process. The current number of 50 is inadequate and will become more so as the proportion of beginning teachers increases over the next 5 years.
In addition, we recognise that many older and experienced teachers have made personal sacrifices over many years to compensate for the under-funding and poor resourcing of public education. They are tired and worn down. As a matter of priority, The Greens would fund programs that increase the number of teachers to reduce class sizes and face to face teaching times to relieve the pressure on teachers and enable them to remain in active service longer.
The Greens are opposed to “performance based” pay. It is not only impractical but would also put pressure the cooperative relationships which are essential to public education.
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