Why shouldn't teachers be rewarded for putting in extra effort?

The bad news for some is that people who can get on in the world because structures are fair and externally supervised won't need unbending militants to appear on TV for them. They will be unimpressed by out-of-date rhetoric that "all teachers are equal, and all are victims of the same oppression, and none are better than others - dare to struggle dare to win, say it loud and often (repeat)".

Something's got to change. There are now more ex-teachers in our community than there are teachers. There is such a spiral downwards in quality and morale that you can probably assume the public system is now increasingly populated by those with nowhere else to go, or those waiting to escape. That's true of teachers and it's true of students. If you are the exception we should all admire you and reward you, but we don't.

Something can change. We spend great fortunes training these people. We should encourage them in the workplace, not let them know that whenever they try they'll be "letting down their mates".

We've got the talent. We've got the real estate. We've got the kids - the best any community can offer. We should add a big dose of encouragement, and a massive pinch of opportunity.

We can afford this at neutral cost. The money paid to the talented will be not paid to the dopes. The same amount of money will be available to teachers. How much of it each gets will be up to them individually. I don't believe this will happen. There are too many senior careers relying on the status quo. The talented have no voice. They have only the Teachers Federation.