Teachers' uphill fight against bureaucracy

The evaluation and assessment of education in Australia by international body the OECD, released last week, called for greater alignment between teaching standards, registration and pay.

The report used SA as an example of where career structures were not linked to teaching standards and registration processes.

"For instance, South Australia's Department of Education and Children's Services set of professional standards for teachers provide for four-career phases (beginning; established; accomplished; and leaders) which are not linked to the salary structure for South Australian teachers," the report stated. "This is problematic in a range of ways. It reduces the incentive for teachers to improve their competencies, and weakens the matching between teachers' levels of competence and the tasks which need to be performed in schools to improve student learning.

"This challenge is compounded by the fact that, in most jurisdictions, registration standards specify only minimum requirements and do not reflect competencies at different stages of the career."

The report went on to state that there were, in general, few opportunities for promotion, greater recognition and more responsibility.

"This is likely to undermine the potentially powerful links between teacher appraisal, professional development and career development," the report stated.

Education Minister Jay Weatherill said SA had made a number of moves to recognise merit among state teachers.

"Last year, we introduced the new competency-based Step 9 pay increment, which recognised teaching quality," he said.

"We are also creating a new outstanding teacher classification that recognises exceptional teachers based on quality teaching rather than length of service.

"The new national standards for teachers provide the opportunity to better align teaching standards with career progression and we are working on how best to take up these opportunities."

Australian Education Union state president Correna Haythorpe said its members voted against performance-based pay.

"We wouldn't agree with the position because in SA we do have a strong emphasis on the accreditation process," she said.

"We believe that is the correct way to go because the accreditation process does recognise a person's skills and experience.

"We think that bonus pay and performance pay for teachers is not the way go."

Ms Haythorpe said there was discussion at the national level about introducing a four-step registration process but until the details were clearer the union would not take a formal position.