‘The quality of the teacher is the most critical factor’: principal
A national analysis of data has revealed how the Territory’s biggest private and public schools compare for student to teacher ratios. Where does your school sit?
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A data analysis has revealed urban private schools have some of the smallest student to teacher ratios in the Territory.
An NT News analysis of national data from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) has revealed student to teacher ratios across the Territory for 2018.
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One of the NT’s biggest private schools, the Essington International School Darwin had one of the lowest figures in Darwin at 13.7 students per teacher.
Essington principal Brian Kennelley said while class ratios were important, parents should be more concerned about teacher quality.
“The quality of the teacher is the most critical factor in kids learning progression,” he said.
“That links to the curriculum, also their (teacher’s) knowledge, their experience, their engagement with the kids, the content of information and how they teach it.
“Those factors are really important … we’ve very blessed to have fantastic, quality teachers getting the best out of our students.”
Mr Kennelly said teachers at Essington were equipped to maintain a high quality of education no matter the student to teacher ratio.
“Very rarely do we have any concerns where we have one or two students coming into the school and increasing the class,” he said.
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“No concern expressed by teachers or parents for that matter.”
He added school environments should also be considered when determining quality of learning and resources.
“Our classes are big, you’ve got to have a big room size to enable kids to work in groups,” he said.
“The quality of the lighting, the furnishing, floor covering as well, all of those things are factors to be considered as well.”
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In comparison, the Territory’s biggest public school Darwin High School had 14.5 students per teacher.
It the school’s highest student to teacher ratio since 2008. Darwin High School was contacted for comment.
According to ACARA the national student-teacher ratio was 13.5 students for every teacher.
Across the country independent private schools had the lowest student to teacher ratios with 11.7 students to every teacher.
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Government schools had an average of 13.8 students for every teacher while Catholic schools had an average of 14 students for every teacher.
Student-teacher ratios do not take into account teacher aides or non-teaching staff at schools, only the full-time equivalent teachers.
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