Inspiring teachers

It’s been a few years since I was at high school but I still remember Miss Donovan, my inspiring history teacher at Wangaratta High School.

We’ve all had them - amazing teachers who’ve inspired us to achieve things we didn’t know we were capable of.

We still have them - dedicated men and women who give so much of themselves to our children, teaching them and then on top of that, running the school drama club, or staying behind to tutor a child who is falling behind: the teachers that mentor the new and inexperienced teachers, and the ones that run the professional development.

High teaching standards are the key to giving our children the education they need and deserve for their future. Of all the things a government can do to improve students’ learning, the most effective is to provide quality teachers.

The world has changed since Miss Donovan taught me Australian history. Sadly, we’re not attracting and keeping enough of these dedicated men and women in our classrooms.

Being a teacher doesn’t have the status it once did. Now, talented young people can have their pick of professions - doctors, engineers, accountants, you name it. Mid-career teachers start to fall behind the other professions in terms of money, and opportunities for advancement.

Labor wants to turn this around, to make teaching a profession of choice for our most talented high school leavers. We also want to keep the best teachers in our classrooms, not lose them to administrative jobs.

That is why Labor has proposed standards-based pay for teachers. An additional $10,000 a year for those teachers who meet rigorous standards for highly accomplished teaching.

In addition, Labor will fund the appointment of outstanding professional leaders in targeted schools: that is, schools that have concentrations of disadvantaged students and a high proportion of inexperienced teachers. These positions could attract a total salary and professional learning package of about $100,000.

Labor will establish national standards that we expect these teachers to meet. And we will do this co-operatively with the states and territories and the teaching profession.

What do we mean by standards?

A great teacher knows both the content of their subjects back to front, and how best to teach that content to their students.

Effective teachers understand the learning needs of their students. They can manage their classrooms and expect good behaviour from students so that they can learn effectively.

Good teachers are also good communicators, not just with their students but with parents and with the wider community.

Teachers understand that ongoing professional learning is part of the job. They understand that teaching is an unending challenge. They know they must continue to stay up to date with the detail of their subjects and the best ways to teach.

Make no mistake; good teachers make a difference to our children’s future. There’s also no denying that good teachers equip our children with many of the skills they will need in the future. It’s a huge responsibility and those who dedicate their lives to it deserve recognition.

In fact, I’m counting on this fact, as my son begins Year 12. As any nervous parent of a final year student knows, we want to be sure that our children are encouraged, supported, and guided properly as they juggle study pressures with their hopes for the future.

The Howard Government has spent the last ten years beating up on our teachers, blaming and name-calling them. Only recently, the Education Minister, Julie Bishop, called educators Maoists, forgetting, or perhaps knowing, that Chairman Mao was a vicious and barbaric anti-intellectual.

The Howard Government says it wants to introduce merit pay. They let the cat out of the bag when they said merit pay could involve putting teachers on Australian Workplace Agreements.

Labor will not have any truck with setting teacher against teacher or with John Howard’s industrial relations agenda. Parents and children need governments to reward our best teachers - pay them more when they achieve rigorous high standards.

Great teachers have inspired us, nurtured us and broadened our horizons. Our children need our classrooms to aspire to the highest standards in the world.