Susie O’Brien: We must pay for better teachers

There are few more important jobs than teaching but for too long it has been the home of higher education’s low-hanging fruit. So if we want higher standards of education for our kids we must be willing to spend more to get better teachers, writes Susie O’Brien.

Last year one in 10 Victorian teaching students failed the national literacy and numeracy test. They couldn’t answer questions like: “The weather bureau forecasts a 20 per cent chance of rain … what is the chance that it will not rain?”

And: “Correctly identify the word that most closely resembles ‘explicit’ — ‘extensive’, ‘simple’, ‘hands-on’ and ‘clearly stated’.”

What’s amazing is that students had three goes at passing the test and 11 per cent still couldn’t make the grade.

One great teacher — just one — is enough to turn a struggling child’s life around.

The test requires students to be as good as the top 30 per cent of adults for literacy and numeracy, so the bar is pretty low.

To pass, students also had to be able to “correctly spell some polysyllabic words” and know what words such as arbitrate meant.

They also had to use apostrophes properly, such as in this sentence: “respect everyones right to learn without interruption or disturbance”.

So much for the Education State.

There are few more important jobs than teaching.

One great teacher — just one — is enough to turn a struggling child’s life around.

While the majority of teachers are dedicated and talented, there are those who don’t make the grade.

That is why more must be done to attract quality graduates to the profession.

There are now more than 6800 teacher vacancies in this state and 90,000 teachers will be needed in the next four years.

And yet graduates — especially those with high ATAR scores — aren’t going into teaching. The Grattan Institute this week released a report recommending graduates with ATARs of more than 80 should be given $10,000 scholarships to attract them to teaching.

As well, 5-8 per cent of teachers would become “instructional specialists” receiving $140,000 — $40,000 more than they’d get now.

Only 3 per cent of top graduates choose teaching these days compared with 19 per cent for science and 14 per cent for health.

And less than 1 per cent would become “master teachers” on $180,000 — a pay rise of $80,000.

Their research showed that young high achievers want to help others, but they are deterred by the low pay and lack of career progression in the profession.

Researchers say the plan will double the number of those with an ATAR of more than 80 going into teaching.

This is critical given that only 3 per cent of top graduates choose teaching these days compared with 19 per cent for science and 14 per cent for health.

Victoria is part of a national trend towards a drop in first preference applications for teaching and a big part of the drift has been attributed to low salaries, particularly in the state sector.

Who’d want to be a teacher given that the starting salary is $65,000 compared with a graduate dentist who earns $130,000?

I don’t blame them.

I’ll bet they’re also deterred by the idea of teaching alongside graduates too dumb to do anything else.

For too long teaching has been the home of higher education’s low-hanging fruit.

In the past, Victorian universities have accepted students with ATARs as low as 30 or 40 to prop up their numbers and business model.

Some universities have even accepted students with ATARs as low as 17 points via transfer from other courses and other backhand methods.

While the system has tightened up, some of those teachers have remained.

Teacher who are willing to take on hard-to-fill positions such as high school science in the regions should also be rewarded financially.

The entry ATAR for teaching has now been raised to 70 but there are clearly some teachers who don’t know enough to teach others.

The increased ATAR score will take effect over the coming years, raising standards in the profession.

I believe it’s reasonable to expect higher standards are matched with higher pay.

I do not support the idea of performance pay which has been floated by Mark Latham, a One Nation MP in NSW.

That can be impossible to measure and serves to undermine the collegiality of the profession.

So, it makes sense to reward teachers for their expertise and experience.

Those who are willing to take on hard-to-fill positions such as high school science in the regions should also be rewarded financially.

Having said that, no one is going to be a teacher for the money.

These days, educators are expected to be quasi-parents, responsible for the moral and emotional growth of the student.

Standardised testing, a lack of autonomy, long hours and bad press contribute to make teaching one of the toughest jobs around.

The Grattan Institute plan would cost $1.6 billion a year in government schools and about half that in private schools.

MORE SUSIE O’BRIEN

HERALD SUN OPINION

State and territory governments would pay the cost, while the independent sector would be expected to absorb the expense.

Let’s hope these suggestions are taken seriously by state and territory leaders.

Not only do I “respect everyone’s right to learn without interruption or disturbance” (note the apostrophe), I also respect their right to be taught by the smartest and most dedicated graduates.

Susie O’Brien is a Herald Sun columnist.

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