21 February 2007

”The Independent Education Union has long supported the recognition of highly accomplished teachers in schools’ said IEU Federal Secretary Lynne Rolley.

“After ten years in government, teachers and the community will have every right to be cynical about the federal minister’s sudden interest in the need to recognise highly accomplished teachers with appropriate levels of salary. Indeed it is highly likely they will see it as simply opportunistic, particularly when the Minister’s funding whip hand is again being used,” she said.

“The fact is that teachers and their unions have been developing approaches to recognise highly accomplished teachers and these approaches have been recognised in industrial agreements” she said.

“Work is already underway. The Minister is simply behind the times and indeed seeking to undermine years of progress that teachers and their unions have made on the issue of recognising quality teaching” said Ms Rolley

“Almost twenty years ago the IEU proposed a package to employers that would

i) provide teachers with opportunities for more varied, fulfilling and better paid jobs and

ii) improve the efficiency of schools,” she said.

“That package involved a well-supported program of teacher skill development – which the union views as a professional right – that is integrated into a democratically managed program of whole school development” said Ms Rolley

“As a result of IEU Special Cases in the early 90s, the first recognition and remuneration of ‘highly accomplished teachers’ commenced in 1991 with a classification called Advanced SkillsTeacher.

Unfortunately the employer and government commitments of funding to further skills bands were sporadic and in the main, unfulfilled.”

“Certainly for a decade this government has entirely failed to engage seriously or genuinely in dialogue with teacher unions and employing authorities about this issue”

“Consequently, it has been left to teacher unions to progress the issue in a sensible, thoughtful and professional manner” said Lynne Rolley.

“For instance, one only has to look at the industrial agreements recently reached in NSW independent schools that use the teacher professional standards developed by the Institute of Teachers in that State, in dialogue with the union and teachers, to recognise highly accomplished teachers with substantial salary increases” said Ms Rolley.

“It is that type of professional dialogue between the union and employers using validated and public standards that has a real chance of being successful and not the slogan-like dogma which characterises the public statements from the federal Minister,” she said.

“Minister Bishop refers to ‘some’ successful overseas models” said Ms Rolley “but of course fails to acknowledge a wasteland of failed endeavours that have undermined school communities especially in the USA”.

“Even more disturbing is the proposal reported in the media from the Minister suggesting that school students could be given the power to say which of their teachers should be given a pay rise, under a Government plan to improve standards,” said Ms Rolley.

“The IEU rejects her assertion that the research “overwhelmingly” supports performance pay as a way to improve student learning. In fact the research is highly contested in this area”, she said.

“There is evidence that Minister Bishop’s popularity style model disrupts a school’s democratic community-building efforts, undermines cooperation and discourages the kind of professional dialogue and reflection between colleagues. These are what are most likely to lead to authentic classroom and school improvement” she said

For example Ms Rolley pointed to a publication in 2006 by the Oregon School Boards Association which stated:

Actual experience with merit pay plans indicated they were generally unsuccessful, both in Oregon and across the nation. Most merit pay plans were based on individual teacher performance which created competition among teachers.

Everyone wanted the best students and the limited number of dollars available for bonuses. This practice actually undermined – and almost destroyed – the staff teamwork needed in schools.

“Such models also fail to take account of the iterative and interconnectedness of the learning process. When the year 4 student improves in her maths, do the teachers in years 2 and 3 also have their early groundwork recognised?”

“What is required is the development of an integrated career structure for teachers that reflects the work currently underway in Australia around highly accomplished teacher standards. And there must also be a genuine commitment from governments and employers to properly fund such models, without the threats to withdraw funding as an upfront statement before any meaningful discussion, ” said Ms Rolley. “Otherwise it is just the usual empty political rhetoric.”

“Let us leave the popularity contests to Dancing with the Stars if we are serious about quality education” she said.

Contact details

Lynne Rolley
Federal Secretary
Ph: 03 9254 1830
Fax: 03 9254 1835
ieu@ieu.org.au