Talking with a few former colleagues recently who were musing about the ‘good ol’ days ‘when teachers were more valued’. I think they were referring to the 60’s and early 70’s but I can’t be sure and don’t remember myself!!.
What we do know from the much quoted McKinsey report on successful education systems is that valuing teachers to the extent that it is seen as a high status profession in the community is THE crucial element of success. Other related conditions apply of course like excellent pay and conditions, high quality pre and in-service professional development, substantial autonomy and an educationally meaningful accountability framework.
My report card for Australia would go something like this:
- Status- too low but some improvement recently
- Conditions- okay but insufficient to keep the best teachers teaching
- PD- the evidence for good practice is there but the practice is woeful
- Autonomy- yes in higher ed but poorly resourced; drowning in process with VET; and lets see what the national curriculum and assessment process brings in schools
- Accountability- A big ‘F’ but with new institutions to measure and monitor in each sector we are in for an interesting time.
Again happy world teachers day. I will definitely be having a shiraz and trying again to remember the 60’s.
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