Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the motion about the government's response to the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group's report, Action now: classroom ready teachers. I do so having been a schoolteacher for 11 years. I taught English and geography, but also a little bit of history, science and even religion. I understand the importance of properly trained teachers, of teachers who are capable of inspiring the next generation. Now more than ever, this nation needs them.

There are many challenges for teachers in the modern classroom. In the almost 20 years since I left the classroom, there have been enormous changes in society generally and in the way that information is provided in a learning environment. Back when I started, there were chalkboards and Gestetner machines. When I left, whiteboards were an innovation. Facebook did not exist and the World Wide Web was only in its infancy. When I was teaching, a tablet was something you took if you were ill and a notebook was something that you wrote in with a pen. 'Chalk and talk' was the way teaching was described and it had moved on when I left to 'squeak and speak', but obviously it has changed. If I were to re-enter the classroom, I would not know that space. There has been a complete change from the idea of 'the sage on the stage' to 'the guide on the side', using technology.

Many teachers who graduated when I did are still teaching. In fact, all of my bandmates that I met at teachers college are still teaching: John Carozza; Brendan Ballinger; Sharon Weir, now Sharon Schofield; and Brendan Logan, whom I played music with regularly. I am sure my former teachers college classmates have adapted well as technology has become available, but they were not trained for the environment that they now find themselves educating in. It is imperative that improvements are made in teacher education. The Action now: classroom ready teachersreport highlights some reasonable measures for improvement to teacher training, but it does not go nearly far enough. There is nothing in that report that will take our education system to the next level for the next century. This, sadly, is a missed opportunity for the government to do real reform to our education system.

The Abbott government do not really care about our education system. We saw them promising one thing before the election about the Gonski commitment and delivered something completely different. They talked about improving teacher training at the same time as they ripped $30 billion out of the education system. Queensland will be nearly $7 billion worse off. Think of classroom sizes and the good that could be done. Labor is committed to education reform. For us, Gonski is a policy, not a political tactic. Labor is committed to establishing a STEM teacher training fund to support 25,000 primary and secondary school teachers over five years to undertake professional development in STEM disciplines: science, technology, engineering and maths. Labor has committed to offering 25,000 Teach STEM scholarships over five years to address the shortage of qualified teachers. Recipients of the scholarships will receive $5,000 when they commence a teaching degree and $10,000 when they complete their first year of teaching. That is real reform. That is forward thinking. That is training teachers for now and for the future. We believe in a better next century, not dragging people back to the 1950s.

Our teachers have one of the most important jobs—to create our future teachers, lawyers, doctors, engineers and leaders. Most of us, if we are lucky, can remember a particular teacher that inspired us to do better, to work harder and to achieve our dreams. To name a few of mine: Annette Picking, Lorna Locke, Sue Pollock, Russell Shoring and, most importantly, Anne Reilly and Linda Noriek. I would like to hope that some of the students I taught over my 11 years of teaching were also inspired in some way.

I know that there are teachers in my electorate who are inspiring students every day. Two of the schools in my electorate were named in the top five schools in Queensland from NAPLAN results published last week. St. Aidan's Anglican Girls' School was in the top five from the year 3 and year 7 results, and Sunnybank Hills State School was in the top five from the year 5 results—and many other schools did very, very well. They are wonderful schools with wonderful teachers.

We need to support those teachers and all the other teachers, whether their school made it to the top five list or not. We need to arm those teachers with the skills they need now and in the future to continue to inspire. The minister does not get it. The member for Sturt, sadly, I think is a little short on principles and class when it comes to rolling out a real education plan.

Debate adjourned.

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