Page 4982 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 26 October 2010
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For those who become a teacher, it is different. It does not matter how hard you work and it does not matter how well you help your students meet their potential; you get paid the same as every other teacher who started when you did. In fact, I understand it can take up to eight years for a graduate teacher to reach the top of the salary scale. And just as it was under the old Soviet system, there is no incentive to do anything more than simply turn up. There is no incentive to get better outcomes for the kids in your class—no incentive other than the pure dedication to the profession and the joy of helping to develop young minds. I am afraid that, in today’s world, that is often just not enough.
The ACT invests about 30 per cent more per student than the national average. This has brought us the lowest average class sizes and a student-teacher ratio of just over 12 to one—well below every other government system in the country apart from the Northern Territory and significantly below ACT non-government schools. Yet a look at the My School website shows us we are not getting 30 per cent better outcomes. Why? Because we are not able to use the most important resource, teachers, as effectively as we could. We are not able to promote the best teachers sooner and we are not able to attract the best graduates because we cannot offer them a career path, pay and recognition that would make teaching a profession of choice again.
I am determined to change this. I am determined that in ACT public schools there will be an incentive for teachers who want to make a difference. I am determined that ACT public schools will attract and retain the very best teachers by recognising them sooner, promoting them faster and paying them more. I want to see our best classroom teachers paid six-figure salaries. I want to see them spending more time in front of classes rather than buried in paperwork. I want to see them move faster up the pay scale as a reward for their hard work, creativity and determination to get better results for their students. And I want our newest teachers facing a lighter load as they learn the craft, and being mentored by our best and brightest.
None of this comes cheap, but as I have already shown we are investing heavily in our schools. In my view, it is a matter of making sure the investment goes where it can make the most difference.
In summary, reform is essential. The next EBA cannot be business as usual. More flexibility is required. The government will be negotiating a new teaching staff enterprise agreement next year. We will be putting on the table an offer which takes ACT schooling and the teaching profession forward. I look forward to working with teachers, their union representatives and our school principals to ensure that ACT students get an even better education and that great teachers find their careers even more rewarding.
Mr Doszpot: Madam Assistant Speaker, I ask Minister Barr to move that his statement be noted.
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ms Le Couteur): Minister Barr, I believe you need to present it, and then it can be noted.
MR BARR: I present the following paper:
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