From my perspective as a concerned parent and wife of a teacher, I believe there is currently a largely unaddressed crisis in the schooling system in Australia…it has nothing to do with the teachers, or the students…but is rather a systemic issue exacerbated by bureaucrats and negative government interference – those that are not actually “hands on” in schools, but try to control the running and processing of a school from a distance.
This article by Ned Manning, a teacher for over 40 years and author of Playground Duty, succinctly outlines the direction that education has gone in Australia in recent years which has resulted in a witch-hunt of teachers and an unsaitable thirst for standardised testing, rather than understanding what is behind the lack of drive and a decrease in performance in our schools. The article draws several comparisons to schooling in Finland where their educational system has shown amazing and positive results. So where and how has the Australian education system gone wrong?
In Australia, education has become so bureaucratised, that it’s literally ripped the heart and soul out of learning. Instead of teachers enjoying the organic processes of educating that may be inspired through a variety of ways and resources and watching the students grow and benefit from these enriching activities, they’ve become burdened with so much red tape in the form of “outcomes”, risk assessments, standardised assessments, continual reports and time-consuming paperwork about the most trivial issues. All of this detracts from meaningful teaching and learning experiences, which causes more stress for teachers and less enjoyment for students.
The joy of spontaneous learning is overwhelmed by the burden of rules and regulations that suck the life out of so many lessons to be learnt from the simple things around us – such as deciding to take the children on a walk to a nearby park to illustrate an example of biology or natural art. Finnish students relish the opportunities to innovate and think for themselves, in places that give them experience and risk – for example, the article relates how Finnish students are sent into the woods with a compass and told to find their way back to school. The policing of Australian schools is run on fear and speculation – the tasks of developing responsibility and intuition are replaced by risk-management strategies. Risk assessments take hours for the teachers to prepare. They detract from teaching time and ultimately, decrease the student’s level of experience and opportunity if teachers become too burdened with the extensive paperwork required to enjoy even the simplest of tasks or excursions.
NAPLAN – teachers must teach to it. This and the “outcomes” assessments leave less time in the classroom for non-academic activities that appeal and contribute greatly to student’s life and experiences. Every child is unique and different, which includes the way in which they learn. The arts, culture, philosophy and sport are essential parts of everyday life, but are marginalised in favour of the academic focus that makes up a Naplan assessment. Naplan dictates the funding opportunities for the schools and as schools all require extra funding, an unhealthy emphasis is placed on this assessment.
Unfortunately, our children currently have no music program at their school, – the infants – no dancing or singing – elements that were so important and essential to my childhood and really are compulsory parts of a comprehensive education, are put on the back burner to focus on good Naplan results. Or…the school does not have the resources to ensure that these creative needs are being taught or met. What if your child is not academic? What inspires them to go to school every day? How will they be able to find their way in the world? How will they know they are good at something? How will they be able to set goals in life and go on to achieve exactly what they are capable of?
Reports are barely worth the paper they are written on, as most of the time they are structured in such a way, you cannot garner any truth about your child’s progress. Teachers are given “style guides” and a list of words and terms to adhere to. As Manning writes, teachers are made to disguise “their results in generalities so their parents are saved from facing the truth about their children’s real progress.” I have seen this through my experience with recent primary school reports which have been changed by the Department of Education to become the most frustrating and uninformative, but yet important documentation, you can receive about your child’s schooling, Apparently, if your child is “Satisfactory” they are right where they need to be in their learning and going well. However, if you are used to the traditional scales of reporting, “Satisfactory” appears to be a “C” mark, even though I’ve been assured by school staff that it is not. “Outstanding” means you are relatively about one year ahead of your learning age, “High” is around 6 months ahead, “Satisfactory” is next and so on to the lowest level. Apparently it’s too traumatic for children to be graded in the tried and true system that has worked for decades, that in some way parents cannot accept that their child is not going well or perhaps has learning difficulties that need to be addressed, or perhaps needs a wake up call so that they start to achieve the results they are capable of. This new form of reporting is not useful to a parent at all, as it appears now that, if you’re average, that’s great, exactly where you should be – so if everyone is average, that’s ok. What does that mean? That we are encouraging our children to aspire to mediocrity? Apparently the varying reporting systems are contingent upon which Government is in power in each particular state at that particular time. It also seems that each school interprets the new reporting system in it’s own way, causing further lack of consistency and leaving parents with the feeling that it is quite meaningless. This lack of uniform approach also can cause confusion if students move states and try and use their report as an accurate representation of their level of schooling.
Bureaucratisation has seen control of schooling at an unprecedented level. Principals are now like CEO’s of big businesses – worried about branding and re-branding of their image in a quest to attract more government money, or they are consumed by worry at how to manage the limited funding. Consequently, the future direction of the school is not driven by what’s best for the students, but rather by what is best for the school budget. The Gonski report, commissioned in 2010, set out a comprehensive reformation model and funding of Australian schools, sadly, this report languishes in the archives and the focus on achieving the needs for our children are put on hold whilst schools try and figure out how they will afford the toilet paper and electricity for an entire year. Resources and funding are so inadequate, but the state of our schools is the fault of our teachers??
Class sizes are large and yet when Christopher Pyne was Minister for Education, he wanted to further increase them to 40 students in a class! Whilst other countries acknowledge the importance of reducing class sizes, the Australian government wanted to increase them? It doesn’t make sense, surely it’s obvious that it is impossible to implement quality education with a class that size. Imagine being a teacher, already dealing with a multitude of abilities and capabilities, and having an extra ten students added to the mix. Another trade off due to the lack of funding from the Government are less Teachers Aides. Less Teachers Aides mean less productivity in the classroom, and those students that struggle academically or socially are left behind – where is their hope for the future? If they can’t get by in school, how can they get by in life? The ramifications of this spread throughout society like a negative and helpless disease. We need to take care of our children, we need to give them the best. It’s imperative for the future of society and teachers help in directing so much of this future, their job is essential, it’s one of the most important in society. Which brings me to my next point.
In Finland, teachers are revered professionals on the same level as a Doctor. It’s not just reflected in their professional social status, but also in their salary, which is indicative of the time, effort and importance of their position in society. Children are the future, shouldn’t we be investing our best in them? But in Australia, teachers are taken for granted and not valued anywhere near as much. This is reflected in the lower university entrance scores, and the cost of training to become a teacher, which also impacts on a teacher’s wage through a significant HECS debt for years to come. But if you face reality, a teacher’s wage cannot actually buy you a house in a city, especially in Sydney, let alone the prospect of saving any money with the astronomical cost of living today. So if you want the “best and brightest” teaching the future of Australia, you have to treat them as such. These people are teaching your children from Monday to Friday, they are shaping their future, yet they can’t even afford to live near the schools they teach in. Like they do in Finland, we need to treat teachers with the respect they deserve, pay them an amount that makes the years of hard work studying and the hours of conscientious planning, their dedication and passion for teaching worthwhile and appreciated. The importance of the role of the teacher is insurmountable, as they are the pillars upon which the future of Australia rests upon.
Contrary to widespread thought, teachers do not work around 7 hours a day and get copious amount of holiday time. It’s generally a seven days a week job and most days during the week, it’s 12 or more hours a day. The expectations of teaching in Australia go way beyond the hours they are paid for. There’s marking, writing reports, programming, planning, risk assessments, professional development, accreditation reports, school sporting commitments and the list goes on. Holidays are much the same…marking, programming, planning, accreditation…you get the drill. Imagine being in a classroom with pubescent students all day, who have a range of emotions, psychological issues, problems at home, or issues with friends….having to reign them in, get through to them, teach them, whilst dealing with all of the peripheral energy and drama that comes with with the varying student personalities, their parents, and not to mention fellow stressed out staff. You wonder how they front up day in and day out. Because teaching is a vocation, they love it, they want to invest in the future, they love imparting knowledge, and they enjoy seeing their students inspired, improving…and maybe even going on to change the world.
Australian schools are losing their inspiration, they are losing their morale – they are losing their amazing teachers and their ability to teach with passion and drive. Bureaucracy is ruling from afar and destroying the day to day running of the classroom. They are meddling with the future of society, the future of our world. So let’s learn from the successful countries like Finland, let’s get Gonski out of the archives and back on the table, let’s make this a key election issue…it is just so important. Keep it simple, let the teachers do what they need to, let the schools function to the best of their ability to keep students inspired and at school…and ultimately, be who they need to be to make the future world a great place to live in.