[Offtopic] AEU Releases Teacher Pay Plan

[Roland Gesthuizen]

 Relating teacher pay to changes in learning makes as much sense as paying
doctors an incentive bonus that is linked to the health of their patients.
Heaven forbid that anybody skews the average by refusing the very sick,
rejecting those prone to self harm or heal the body whilst harming the mind.


As professionals should help all students aspire to do their best, not
target help to just those that can make the biggest difference by moving a
numerical average. We should be willing to teach to all that wish to be
taught, not just those that we can add the greatest value to. Not everything
that can be counted really matters, not everthing that matters can be
counted. If numbers are all that matter, lets teach to the test, end the
chess club and reopen the homework club. O' joy!

Regards Roland

On 28/06/07, Cameron Bell <bell.cameron.p at edumail.vic.gov.au> wrote:
>
> Me, and just about every govt teacher I know would rather have more
> money put into more teachers to allow us to do our job properly than pay
> rises.
> I would gladly stay on my current wage if I lost just one of my classes
> and had more time for prep and proper correction.
> More pay does not give me more hours in the day. Wish the AEU worked on
> that!
> Cameron
>
> Stephen Loosley wrote:
> > AEU Releases Teacher Pay Plan
> >
> > Thursday June 28, 12:17 AM   <
> http://au.news.yahoo.com/070520/2/13iol.html>
> >
> > Teachers would receive pay rises for reaching higher professional
> standards under a plan by the teachers' union intended to counter the
> federal government's "performance pay" push.
> >
> > The pay plan, to be released by the Australian Education Union (AEU),
> concedes existing salary structures are a disincentive for the best teachers
> to remain in the job.
> >
> > As well as rewarding teachers with so-called "professional pay" rises,
> the AEU proposes overhauling salary scales.
> >
> > Teachers would be grouped into categories of Initial Education, Band One
> (Graduation), Band Two (Competence), Band Three (Accomplished), and a fifth
> band, Leadership.
> >
> > Early in their career teachers would receive incremental increases
> commensurate with experience but those who had reached Band Two (Competence)
> could apply to move up to become "accomplished" and receive a salary boost.
> >
> > "Teachers would be assessed by an independent and fair process and
> rewarded through salary increases, not one-off cash bonuses," the pay
> proposal states.
> >
> > "Teachers would be required to demonstrate how their teaching experience
> and professional development is contributing to the improvement of
> educational outcomes for students."
> >
> > At the same time, the proposal calls for an across-the-board pay rise
> for teachers to address workload and class sizes.
> >
> > Critically, the "professional pay" plan would depend on increased
> funding from both state and federal governments.
> >
> > Treasurer Peter Costello appears to have ruled out federal funding to
> reform teachers' pay, saying it is a matter for the states.
> >
> > The AEU's pay plan differs from that championed by the federal
> government in that it does not propose paying one-off bonuses to teachers
> based on students' exam results or parent feedback.
> >
> > Education Minister Julie Bishop has declared the government will make
> federal education funding dependent on the states introducing performance
> pay from 2009.
> >
> > Ms Bishop has already announced plans to hire a consultant to come up
> with various models of performance pay to be trialled in Australian schools
> from next year.
> >
> > The AEU proposal acknowledges Ms Bishop's argument that current pay
> structures offer little incentive for good teachers to stay in the job, as
> many reach a salary ceiling after a relatively short time.
> >
> > "While salary increments for beginning teachers are essential to
> recognise growing skills and knowledge, there is no career option for
> teachers but to move to administrative and leadership roles after
> approximately eight to 10 years," it says.
> >
> > AEU president Pat Byrne said the union still opposed Ms Bishop's
> "cash-for-grades" plan to pay teachers performance bonuses based on their
> students' academic achievements.
> >
> > Such schemes had failed virtually everywhere they had been tried, she
> said.
> >
> > "This framework aims to solve the problem that around half of Australian
> teachers are already at the top of their pay scale and they have few career
> options to keep them in the profession," Ms Byrne said.
> >
> > "It's about recognising our experienced teachers and improving their
> working conditions to make sure they want to stay in the classroom."
> >
> > Cheers, people
> > Stephen Loosley
> > Victoria, Australia
> > --
> >
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-- 
Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead
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