Better teacher training key to lifting student results

The need to improve school performance by reforming teaching degrees has been evident for years as The Australian has followed the literacy crisis – especially among boys – as well as falling results in international testing, flatlining NAPLAN scores, and the decline of maths and science.

As recently as Monday, education editor Natasha Bita reported on the problem of teachers and principals dealing with violent behaviour from students and parents. Billions of dollars in extra funding have had little impact on the malaise, although much-needed improvements in curriculum, assessment and entry standards to teaching degrees have been made. To his credit, federal Education Minister Jason Clare is pressing ahead with an initiative to overhaul teacher training, launched with the bipartisan backing of state education ministers under the Coalition. If well-executed, the reforms should produce “classroom-ready graduates” with the practical know-how to control disruptive classrooms and teach children to master reading and maths.

The back-to-basics transformation of teaching qualifications, Bita reports, will be built on a solid foundation of evidence-based methodology, and especially “explicit instruction”. That is, direct teaching in which teachers make concepts crystal clear to students, showing them how to master them step-by-step, persevering with practice and feedback until the knowledge is embedded. The approach allows multiple opportunities across units of work for students to retrieve past learning, consolidating it in their long-term memories. While too often ignored by education theorists, that traditional, direct-teaching approach is the antithesis of postmodern “self-directed learning” that has caused many students to flounder in recent decades. Explicit instruction is especially important in ensuring students grasp the essence of reading through the tried-and-tested method of phonics, and basic maths – the building blocks of further learning.

The Teacher Education Expert Panel, appointed by the government in September last year, has produced a balanced, sensible report on how to improve teacher education courses. Its chairman, University of Sydney vice-chancellor Mark Scott – a former teacher and NSW Department of Education secretary – said initial teacher education courses should be “more like medicine, nursing, veterinary science and dentistry, with a strong skills-base component” and with an emphasis on “evidence-based teaching strategies and explicit instruction”.

With 46 universities across the nation offering teaching degrees, Professor Scott is correct when he says the achievement of consistent standards needs a “collective effort” from state and territory governments, with accreditation programs needing “more focus and more teeth”.

Dozens of inquiries and reports on fixing Australia’s education woes, covering tens of thousands of pages, have been produced in recent decades. This report, however, is short and to the point, homing in on the most important challenges and setting out practical courses of action. It reflects the panel’s experience in education courses and classrooms. In terms of students grasping the basics, it insists on trainee teachers learning how to teach early reading, including phonics, explicit maths instruction and the explicit teaching of reading and writing in other subject areas.

The report also sets out a proactive approach to teaching education students classroom management. Establishing rules and routines, it says, has been shown to be an effective practice in maximising learning and minimising disruptive behaviours. Setting clear, high expectations, building positive relationships and providing structured, engaging lessons create an atmosphere that is less conducive to bad student behaviour.

Provided it succeeded, the panel’s recommendation for universities to recruit trainee teachers mid-career from professions such as law, accountancy and engineering would help overcome the nation’s shortage of specialist secondary teachers, which unfortunately has left too many students being taught advanced subjects by teachers working outside their academic specialties. Potential candidates should be encouraged with scholarships and offers of guaranteed jobs. The panel also recognised the importance of recruiting high-quality candidates to teaching degrees, preferably with ATAR ranks above 80. It also wants more Indigenous students to train as teachers, and candidates from poorer families and remote areas who would be role models for students from similar backgrounds.

Following public consultation, the panel will provide federal, state and territory ministers with a final report by June 30. From there, ministers should waste no time drawing the heads of education faculties into the process, insisting on a system of implementation that needs to be subject to scrutiny. Because the issues covered go to the heart of where education has fallen down for so long, too much is at stake in terms of students’ future quality of life and opportunities to allow the process to falter. The report is a timely reminder that students respond to good teaching.