It is obvious these days that Australia has serious problems in the education sector, once of which is teachers fleeing the profession and this is only likely to keep getting worse. The truth is that there is no easy fix and currently the rumored changes that the government are considering for university isn’t the answer. To find a solution let’s understand the issue.
Overview
Literacy and numeracy standards in Australia have been in decline since 2015 while teachers on average work 45 hours a week. This leads to burn out and is contributing to the current teacher shortage with schools approximately 28% understaffed. This shortage hits low social economic areas and challenging school contexts the most as they in demand teachers have more options than before. A situation made worse by schools’ inclusion of signing bonuses to attract staff assuming they have the money. The result of this is that the remaining teaching staff are being called on increasingly to teach extra classes by reducing time allowances for leadership roles or offering extra payments. Once again this has a flow on with workload, a loss of available support and increased burnout. All this means the situation is going to get worse with more teachers leaving the profession and a further drop in educational outcomes. So, let’s look at the reasons for these issues.
Reason 1: Workload
Increased workloads are the most obvious cause as during my 11 years in the profession I have seen a marked increase in the administration and pastoral care elements of the job. Beyond this the demands for best teaching practice to assess often and use formative tasks to differentiate for students is a tiring prospect, especially for a high school teacher that might have over 100 different students over 5 different subjects. To have any hope of doing this and maintaining a high standard means we work more than 9 to 5. Once again on top of these demands is the increasing complexity of parent relationships in the 21st century where everyone seems to believe they know better, and technology means that teachers need to keep a constant stream of compass posts on behaviour, academic progress, and wellbeing.
Additionally, teachers are also expected to complete a minimum number of hours of professional development and engage in Professional learning communities to investigate initiatives and new practices to improve student performance, this is often part of the weekly meeting schedule but involves additional planning and implementation. Realistically this is a snapshot of the life of a teacher and there are other elements that crop up more periodically or for those wishing advancement of salary progress the responsibility of higher duties. Even if you find yourself at a well-run school it is an exhausting job.
Reason 2: Bureaucracy
The next reason is an increasing level of Bureaucracy and red tape. This in part is due to government response to the overall trends in society which has become more litigious but also a desire to create an increasing uniformity and assessment standards. Conceptually this isn’t the problem however the reality that most of these instances seems like an attempt to overcomplicate the simplest things like taking a class out locally to an overall down the street with added paperwork and process is just nauseating.
In addition, anyone that has spent more than five minutes in education is familiar with a sensation of Déjà vu. Each new government initiative seems like an endless circle that recycles similar concepts with new names and the latest buzz words. On top of this half of these initiatives are poorly implemented with training which ignores the very research it is based on and expects teachers to learn at the same rate as each other or through a static method of instruction. Finally, these initiatives are often not allowed to run their course or due to funding restrictions are implemented so poorly that they are doomed to failure or reduced to ticking the box. Either way after a certain level of experience teachers is rightly jaded and skeptical, we’ve read this script before.
Reason 3: Behaviour
Of course, student behaviour and the current age of entitlement also have a lot to do with teachers leaving the profession. The days are long gone when teachers could give a class an explicit instruction to a whole class of students and expect everyone to follow it without question. Nowadays, even the simplest instruction can be followed endless winging like “why can’t I type it up” or ‘how about I just tell you the answer, I don’t need to write it down”. Better yet are the endless questions like “why do we need to do this” or “can I work in a group?” You would be mistaken to think that a teacher that has studied for 5 years and been in the classroom for a decade might know what they’re doing more than a 14-year-old. Added to this is often a similar attitude from parents which in turn enable this behaviour and often absolves their child of responsibility like the parent that once suggested to me that telling year 11 students about the due date for an assignment was insufficient and, I should make sure they program reminders into their phones. Some of these conversations have nearly pushed me over the edge just out of complete absurdity. It is not surprising that in 2015 PISA found that Australian classrooms were some of the most disruptive in the world.
Reason 4: Technology
Added to this attitude is the disruption and poor implementation of technology. Devices can be the greatest asset and the largest hindrance in the classroom as they are powerful learning tools when harnessed correctly but often become frustrating time wasters, distractions, and psychological tools of mass destruction. This in many ways is the challenge of 21st century learning as first and foremost every student has a phone which means they have access to a device that is as addictive (and deliberately made to be this way) as illicit drugs, this means schools need to have strong and rigid policies around mobile phones otherwise teachers find themselves in a competition we have a hard time winning. The success of these is reliant on the support of the wider school community, the minute parents are arguing for the need for students to have their phones accessible you have a problem as it becomes increasingly more difficult to succeed in implementing consequences consistently across the board.
However, it isn’t just the disruption that is the issue, even when teachers wish to utilise technology for good instead of evil there are numerous blocks which are much more noticeable at low social economic schools. Starting with poor wireless connectivity and performance which causes interruptions in service or slow speeds to issues in poor communities with access to a quality device and teacher training about the use of technology to expand student learning rather than replacing simple tasks with an electronic equivalent. Even the assumption that ‘digital natives’ that have grown up with phones know how to use a computer (serious the number of kids that can’t save a document with a proper file name is astonishing) all of these means it is not as easy as giving them a computer. Like I said before, so many initiatives have been poorly implemented and it has become a train wreck, especially in those poorer schools, which serves only to widen the gap.
Reason 5: Pay
Finally, there is of course the ongoing pay dispute which often gets brought up much to the anger of the public that see teachers as winging. However, let’s break this down for comparison, after 4 to 5 years of university a teacher in Victoria of $75000 ($58 600 after tax) admittedly this is a better starting salary than other professions like law which has an average starting wage of $70 000. However, after several years in the profession teachers drop behind many other roles that require a similar level of qualification in a post graduate degree with pay in the education sector averaging $97 000 (includes education consultants and university) compared to $106 000 for other professionals, $116000 for those in the finance sector and $132 000 for the mining sector.
However, the biggest issue with the pay set up for teachers is after 11 years teachers are at the top of their scale at $113 000 with no further room for pay growth in the government sector unless taking on a leadership position which drastically increases workload and are often in short supply. This means that once you have reached the top there is no financial incentive to stay in teaching, especially as there may be opportunities to earn a similar wage at a university or even in consultation work for a supplier. After all, if you have experience, the same money in a far less demanding role is a no brainer and these are the teachers we need to stay in the profession the most. This is an inherent flaw in the system which has not been addressed for years and no doubt will continue to be ignored.
As the issues in education become more obvious and the teacher shortage gets worse the government is talking about action. Promising some form of intervention, however discussions of university entrance scores and teacher training may be a related issue it isn’t going to fix the main problem. If you get a better-quality graduate in teaching with more prospects elsewhere if none of these other elements are addressed, they aren’t hanging around for long.
Read my other thoughts on the role teachers have in creating a supportive environment or the difference between good and great teachers
Leave a Reply