New era for teachers’ salaries

After years of advocating higher standards of classroom teaching, The Australian recognises the value of generous salary packages to attract high-calibre candidates to the profession and encourage them to stay.

In granting 95,000 state schoolteachers a 10 per cent pay rise across three years, the NSW government has set teachers’ starting salaries on a par with the six-figure packages of graduate lawyers and other professionals. Given teachers’ responsibility for nurturing the numeracy and literacy skills of the next generation, as well as giving students a firm grounding in science and humanities and imparting enthusiasm for learning, they should be well rewarded.

Coupled with curriculum reform, more effective disciplinary approaches and better teaching degree courses, the change, across time, should do much to turn around the malaise that has undermined the nation’s schools and results in international testing for years.

NSW Education and Early Learning Minister Prue Car is correct; pay is a function of respect. So is pride in a challenging job well done.

In NSW, and other systems that follow suit, the hefty pay boost should signal the end of year 12 students listing education as their fallback choice after other career options with higher entry cut-offs.

Admitting students with Australian Tertiary Admission Rank results in the 60s and in some cases the 50s, as seen in recent years, is not acceptable. Rising demand should fix the problem. If not, universities must stick to minimum entry standards. Rapport with young people is essential for teachers but intelligence and academic acumen matter, too. Under the new pay scales, new and experienced non-performers must be held to account by principals and lift their game.

Given the realities of school life, parents will be stunned about some parts of the deal, such as the right to ignore contact after school hours and the right to switch off work phones and laptops before 9am and after 3pm. That “right to disconnect” goes far past what is allowed beyond the school gate. Teachers need to be accessible.

Nor should it be forgotten that most NSW teachers are allowed to stay home during the 12 weeks a year of school holidays. Teachers also will have eight pupil-free days for planning. The effect of such an investment in public money will be evident across time in results.