Quarter of all NSW schools have at least one bad teacher

Bad teachers are being retired early or retrained under a new program to lift student results.

A quarter of all public schools have at least one bad teacher but a significant amount of them get their act together once they are told by the principal they are not doing their job properly.

A new trial system to manage underperforming teachers in the public schools introduced in 2018 after assessing 970 cases of underperformance found 24 per cent of teachers improved without the need to move to a formal program once they were told they were not up to scratch.

The figures contained in the Department’s latest annual report also show 13 per cent of teachers could not be fixed and either quit or were sacked.

The program addresses underperformance by performance managing a teacher through a range of measures including giving them extra training.

Worryingly, the annual report said the performance management program found 26 per cent of schools on average have at least one bad teacher.

A quarter of all public schools have at least one bad teacher but a significant amount of them get their act together once they are told by the principal they are not doing their job properly

“The program has supported approximately one-quarter of the state with 26 per cent of schools and 20 per cent of DELs receiving case support,” the annual report said.

Last year, 76 staff were put on improvement plans, including 40 teachers, six school executives and one principal.

Former teacher and Shooters and Fishers upper house MP Mark Banasiak said teachers were typically red flagged if they failed to teach the program or manage classroom behaviour or it could be a serious incident that highlights concerns about their performance.

“Like any job, not everyone can be great at it and it takes a special kind of person to teach kids day in day out and I think more and more people are appreciating that now they are homeschooling their kids,” he said.

Secondary Principals’ Council president Craig Petersen said some early career teachers could find themselves out of their depth while experienced teachers could struggle with the changing demands of the job.

“It could be a teacher who was previously performing quite well but there are so many things which could impact on performance — it could be the break-up of a marriage, it could be moving to a new school with a different type of student and different type of community,” he said.

classroom table view

Last year, 76 staff were put on improvement plans, including 40 teachers, six school executives and one principal.

He said the high rate of teachers eventually quitting after intervention of 13 per cent had helped some former teachers acknowledge that the career educating children was simply just not for them.

“People choosing to separate, whether they retired or resigned or found another job, sometimes that is a really good outcome,” he said.

“If someone is in the wrong job, the cruellest thing is to keep them there when they may not be performing well and there is a shame attached to changing careers. And if a teacher is underperforming, other teachers have to compensate for them in some form and in some way.”

A Department of Education spokesman said the program was cost-effective and provided shoulder-to-shoulder support to school principals to identify areas of concern.

“It works in a targeted way to improve teacher practice and includes expert field advisers,” he said.

He said teacher performance was measured against the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. The seven standards include whether or not a teacher knows the content knowledge and how best to teach it and having a good knowledge of the children sitting in front of them.