Fixing education

Now the mass-income-earning classes are taught by Ph.D. students on sessional contracts, taught far less well it is almost unnecessary to report.

There is some justice in all this. The relevant dean was demoted and is again a mere professor.

The new dean, however, is headed for a major industrial relations fiasco by refusing to allow one of his (female) professors to travel 'Premium Economy' to receive a prestigious award. This is notwithstanding her doctor's certificate asserting that her medical condition should not be subjected to an economy seat on a plane to Europe.

The said dean is a bloke (of course) and from a country that has been thoroughly thatcherised, so I suppose we should be sympathetic. But you'd reckon he'd be a bit smarter than he seems to be.

How to improve the quality of teaching remains unclear. We cannot turn back the clock. Raising wages of teachers relative to those of the average worker might make some minor difference. Chanelling more children into jobs of a lesser academic nature, eg as truck drivers or tradespersons, where chronic shortages exist, would make sense, and would allow at least some universities to again become genuine centres of excellence, teaching students of higher average ability.

Restructuring universities so that every one of the top universities has at least one faculty in which it has a genuine shot at a top ten or top twenty global position is surely not beyond Australia. This would create a series of genuinely excellent faculties, with positive rub-off effects on other faculties.

Here is one radical idea. Henry observes many of his fellow old persons have a lot to offer, would be willing to help and were trained in days when standards were higher. Why not allow them to teach, especially in universities, after intensive short courses in modern teaching methods. This would free younger men and especially women to work harder at 'research'. A win-win, even if most of the additional research was of little interest or relevance.

Henry also adduces other evidence on this matter. Two ANU economists, Andrew Leigh and Chris Ryan, concluded in 2006: 'Using consistent data on the academic aptitude of new teachers, we compare those who have entered the teaching profession in Australia over the past two decades. We find that the aptitude of new teachers has fallen considerably. Between 1983 and 2003, the average percentile rank of those entering teacher education fell from 74 to 61, while the average rank of new teachers fell from 70 to 62. ...

'We believe that both the fall in average teacher pay, and the rise in pay differentials in non-teaching occupations are responsible for the decline in the academic aptitude of new teachers over the past two decades'.

Here is a link to their full paper.

Henry respectfully concludes that the far wider role of women in the economy generally is also a major factor, especially over the longer period.