High performing teachers to earn six figure salaries (3 Viewers)

[OzKo]

The state's most talented classroom teachers will be rewarded with a six-figure salary and new teachers will move up the pay scale faster, under a new wage deal reached on Tuesday.
From 2016, classroom teachers in public schools will earn about $45,000 more after nine years in the job than under the previous pay scale.
And teachers identified as "highly accomplished", who demonstrate deep content knowledge, sound teaching practices, leadership skills and an ability to analyse student assessment data, will be rewarded with a salary of more than $100,000 a year.
Classroom teachers' pay has been capped at $89,050 and was based on the number of years spent in the job. It meant those after a higher salary often moved into management roles.
NSW director-general of education Michele Bruniges said she hoped the higher salary would keep the "best and brightest" teachers in the classroom.
"I hope it does have that effect, that people don't have to go away from their passion and love inside the classroom to become an administrator."
She said there was a "very clear set of criteria" teachers would have to meet but it would not be based on student test results.
Teachers across NSW overwhelmingly endorsed the new salaries and conditions at stop-work meetings on Tuesday morning, with 96 per cent voting in favour.
Under the deal negotiated between the Education Department and the NSW Teachers Federation, public school teachers will receive salary increases of 2.27 per cent in 2014, 2 per cent in 2015 and 2.15 per cent in 2016.
The agreement also sees principals of challenging schools paid more and the process for dealing with underperforming teachers sped up.
From July next year, the procedure for dealing with poor performance, which can stretch over 25 weeks, will be condensed to 10 weeks. It will include five weeks of support and guidance and a five-week assessment period.
"If we have poor performance, we should call it and we should act on it and we want to act on it in a much faster way," Ms Bruniges said.
Principals' pay will be linked to the complexity of their school from 2016, not just the school's size. And principals of more challenging schools will receive a higher salary.
NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli said the "more equitable structure" recognised the local decision-making role of principals and that not all schools are the same.
“Influences, such as the socio-economic level of a school's local community, the number of students with a disability and those with a non-English language background, will now be taken into account when classifying principals," he said.
To support the changes, investment in professional development will increase by $17 million a year to $51 million from 2016.
Teachers Federation president Maurie Mulheron said the "compressed pay scale" meant new teachers would reach the top pay bracket in seven years instead of nine.
He said teachers were overwhelmingly pleased with the outcome of the negotiations.
"There's been no concessions, there's been nothing given up," he said.
But he condemned the state government's salary cap of 2.5 per cent a year on public sector employees and said the union would campaign hard against the wage cap next year.
"It's a very unfair and very unjust policy and our members are very frustrated that this salary cap is being artificially imposed."

Never knew that teachers would have their pay capped at such a low level. Hopefully this allows for new teachers entering the system to be more ambitious.

 

[rumbleroar]

I think this is a great way of rewarding dedicated teachers who have consistently worked hard for their students!

I wonder what this "clear set of criteria" is. Ideas?

 

[enigma_1]

man yeah. Good teachers need to be praised. There's too little of them around, unfortunately.

 

[Crobat]

I think this is a great start to the much needed re-vamp of the education system in Australia. Other things that need to happen include more difficult entry pathways to education to ensure that only the best and brightest (or at least a shitload less lazy/uninspired/uninspiring people) will be able to enter the education system as teachers, and a huge syllabus change.

Whilst the counters to this decision are likely to revolve around ridiculously uninformed "but they get 11 weeks paid holidays", "they don't do shit for society", "they are useless and do shit all in comparison to job x", "they have ridiculously low working hours" there is an unfortunately true overarching point created - there are too many low performing teachers that will be undeserving of such a pay rise. Putting beside the point that the same complainers probably do not realise the pay rise isn't some automatic thing given to every teacher or the genuinely crushing workload they are constantly under, this is still a necessary concern (which is why I suggest a more rigorous entry pathway to weed out the would-be-unperformers).

Overall though, there needs to be a greater social respect for teachers. We need an education system similar to that of Norway or South Korea, where teachers are treated with as much respect as the more prestigious occupations such as Lawyers and Doctors.

 

[SpiralFlex]

Too tired to read the article so the question I am about to ask may have already been answered.

How is 'high performance' going to be measured?

 

[JohnMaximus]

This just in- atar cut offs for teaching degrees rise from * to 90.

 

[Drifting95]

So they are looking to create a teacher shortage over the coming years?

From another article i read there is an abidance of primary school teachers but shortage in high school teachers?

Is the the case or is it typical journalist rubbish?

 

[SylviaB]

We need an education system similar to that of Norway or South Korea,

oh you mean where the students are racially homogenous and high-IQ?

 

[SylviaB]

So they are looking to create a teacher shortage over the coming years?

there wont be a shortage

 

[isildurrrr1]

oh you mean where the students are racially homogenous and high-IQ?

lol race + IQ here we go.

Finland has a pretty good system, all their teachers hold masters and get paid 100k+ a year. ALL THEIR TEACHERS.

 

[Crobat]

oh you mean where the students are racially homogenous and high-IQ?

Right, because you could ever get racial homogeneity in a multicultural country like Australia and obviously that's all I care about from their systems and why I brought them up. You're about to take this thread the wrong direction. I meant this from the respect for the teachers and world-class education system they have. If you want to think of it that way, go nuts.

(also I meant Finland, not Norway)

lol race + IQ here we go.

Finland has a pretty good system, all their teachers hold masters and get paid 100k+ a year. ALL THEIR TEACHERS.

Yeah Finland has an awesome system - I actually meant Finland, not Norway

 

[DannyBoy33]

Too tired to read the article so the question I am about to ask may have already been answered.

How is 'high performance' going to be measured?

Recording teachers room and showing them for the people to vote for the best teacher.

 

[DannyBoy33]

On TV. In a new best reality show. So they get kids to be on TV from age 7. Imagine the changes in the world. Idiocracy.

 

[SylviaB]

Right, because you could ever get racial homogeneity in a multicultural country like Australia and obviously that's all I care about from their systems and why I brought them up. You're about to take this thread the wrong direction. I meant this from the respect for the teachers and world-class education system they have. If you want to think of it that way, go nuts.

I'm saying that their systems are good precisely because of the racial makeup of the countries, or at least in large part because of this.

 

[SylviaB]

lol race + IQ here we go.

Finland has a pretty good system, all their teachers hold masters and get paid 100k+ a year. ALL THEIR TEACHERS.

yeah and if they had an identical system in detroit or baltimore, the students would go just as well as the Finnish kids!!

 

[nerdasdasd]

I think money isn't the issue, it's rathermore the way we go about educating future kids that will improve the academic results.

 

[Carrotsticks]

I think money isn't the issue, it's rathermore the way we go about educating future kids that will improve the academic results.

And one of the ways of doing that is to attract more able teachers via monetary incentives.

 

[Kiraken]

Too tired to read the article so the question I am about to ask may have already been answered.

How is 'high performance' going to be measured?

this

 

[someth1ng]

Too tired to read the article so the question I am about to ask may have already been answered.

How is 'high performance' going to be measured?

Yeah, I want to know too.

Recording teachers room and showing them for the people to vote for the best teacher.

Way too subjective.

 

[eastpak]

This is not just one dimensional problem and cannot be solved just by paying teachers more...IMO