Rewarding quality teachers

Like many employees, teachers believe they are overworked and underpaid. We accept that for many, including the best teachers, the job entails far more than working 8.30am to 3.15pm five days a week, with 10 weeks’ holidays. At the same time, many Australians would readily swap their conditions for those of teachers. First-year teachers’ wages, which range from about $65,000 to $69,000, are reasonable. It is of concern, however, that the profession’s top pay rate for classroom teachers, of $100,000 or more, caps out after 10 years’ experience. The exit rate of early teachers is also a concern.

Educational performance has been a major priority of governments on both sides for 20 years. But despite billions of extra dollars spent and countless inquiries, fundamental issues remain to be resolved. One of those is ensuring the most able candidates are accepted into teaching degrees, which for too long was a fallback option for those unable to make the cut for more rigorous courses.

Another issue that has emerged, as Rosemary Neill wrote on Saturday, is the International Baccalaureate as an alternative to mainstream Year 11 and 12 programs and testing regimes, such as the HSC in NSW. Few would question the rigour of the IB program, which is widely offered in non-government schools in NSW and across a mix of both state and non-government schools in other states.

But in NSW, concerns have arisen about an anomaly relating to scaling, which is adversely affecting gifted students aiming for a top ATAR of 99.95, with a view to studying medicine or winning prestigious tertiary scholarships in Australia and overseas. HSC students’ final results are scaled in NSW, while IB ­students’ results are not. As a result, the number of maximum ATARs for HSC students is ­effectively capped at 0.05 per cent of their ­age cohort. Yet the number of top ATARs awarded to IB students is unlimited, provided students receive 45 out of 45 in exams and assessments. Like top HSC grades in the most demanding subjects, that is a major achievement. Education authorities must ensure fairness and transparency.