Andrew Nikolic (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises:

(a) the release of the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (Advisory Group) report, 'Action Now: Classroom Ready Teachers' on 13 February 2015;

(b) that the Advisory Group, comprised of eight educational experts, was established in 2014 to provide the best possible informed advice and guidance on how teacher education could be improved to better prepare new teachers for the classroom;

(c) that the credentials, expertise and contribution of the Advisory Group was of world-class quality;

(d) that the Advisory Group conducted its review with consistent impartiality, dedication and objectivity, to the benefit of all Australians;

(e) the critical contribution made by this report to optimising teacher development for all Australian schools of the 21st century; and

(f) the truly comprehensive and wide ranging nature of the Advisory Group's investigation and subsequent report;

(2) acknowledges that:

(a) this report is both far ranging and innovative and includes a total of 38 key recommendations;

(b) the recommendations have at their core a central unifying element and thread—the educational interests of children, first, foremost and always;

(c) current and new teachers should also welcome this report, which will further enable and support both individual teachers and school communities as a whole, in both the foreseeable future, and over the longer term;

(d) overall, this report will affect constructively, the lives of a majority of Australians, including most particularly teachers, parents and students;

(e) the impact of this report will be impartial in nature, being blind to both the demographic and economic circumstances of teachers, parents and students, alike;

(f) this report:

  (i) is underpinned by both balance and merit, for example, it readily acknowledges the existence of both current high performing teacher performance and contribution, as well as identifying the need and scope for other performance to be significantly improved, together with a range of mechanisms and strategies to achieve this key objective; and

  (ii) will act to further affirm the significance and centrality of school education within Australian society;

(g) by improving overall teacher performance, this report will likely support the retention of more students at school for longer, including most desirably, the completion of Year 12 by as many students as possible; and

(h) this report:

  (i) will exert a long term and positive impact on current and future Australian workplaces and work performance; and

  (ii) signals the intended ongoing future emphasis which the Government will continue to give to education and education related matters, for the benefit of all Australians, in an increasingly competitive region and world; and

(3) calls on the Parliament to endorse the Government's strong response to implementing this report as both a key milestone and critical policy initiative in shaping Australian school education and performance (for both teachers and students) for the early 2lst century.

At the heart of this motion is a desire to ensure that this parliament works to improve educational outcomes in Australia. It is a consistent message from the Abbott government, led by the member for Sturt, and reflects a deep commitment to our Students First policy. The four pillars of that policy focus on areas we know affect student outcomes: increasing school autonomy; ensuring a robust and relevant curriculum; promoting parental involvement in their children's learning; and improving the quality of teachers.

This motion reflects that last pillar, directed at lifting the quality and consistency of teaching courses in Australia, because doing so helps provide the world-class education that every Australian child deserves. That laudable outcome explains why Minister Pyne has agreed to the majority of recommendations to improve the content and delivery of teacher courses in Australia, which were made by the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group or TEMAG. This advisory group focused on the need for better integration, quality assurance, evidence and transparency in teacher education and the report's recommendations centre on those four principles.

TEMAG noted that there was a high degree of variability in the quality of initial teacher education across Australia. They identified examples of excellent practice—good programs linked to continuous review and improvement. However, they also identified significant pockets of poor practice, where we can and must do better. A clear finding arising from the TEMAG report is the need to ensure we strengthen quality programs in relation to initial teacher education. Providers of that education must work assiduously to improve the preparedness of new teachers.

The TEMAG recommendations are practical, achievable and have the real potential to make a real impact on quality of teachers and student outcomes in Australia. There is an old saying that 'strategy without resources is illusion'. That is why in the 2015-16 budget, we are providing $16.9 million over the forward estimates to support the implementation of the government's response to the TEMAG recommendations.

I will briefly highlight four key initiatives: first, establishing stronger accreditation processes for teacher education courses; second, ensuring a rigorous selection process to assist in determining applicant suitability for teaching; third, providing an assessment framework to ensure all teacher education graduates are classroom ready; and, fourth, having a national research effort into the effectiveness of initial teacher education and workforce data to back it up.

We believe our efforts will make a real and positive difference to the training of our teachers and to the effects they achieve in the classroom. One key component of our response includes a literacy and numeracy test for initial teacher education students, which Minister Pyne announced on 28 June 2015. A pilot literacy and numeracy test for initial teaching students is available from this month for up to 5000 students across seven capital cities and two regional locations. In testing key aspects of an aspiring teacher's literacy and numeracy, we help higher education providers, teacher employers and the general public to have confidence in the skills of graduating teachers. I am very pleased to report that the first round of 2500 tests to be held later this month is already fully subscribed. Students are keen to do this test, because they want to graduate with the best possible preparation for the classroom. I am also pleased to inform the House that a further 1200 students are on the waiting list for the second round of 2500 tests to be held in September.

The test will help them identify their own literacy and numeracy capabilities and where they might need to improve. It is an important step to ensure that teaching graduates can step more confidently from university into the classroom. Over the next two years, the government expects to see the majority of our response to the TEMAG report implemented and the foundations for change in initial teacher education established.

Unlike some previous reviews of initial teacher education, the practical and implementable solutions presented in this report create a significant point of difference. Success as always will require all parties to work together—governments, universities, systems, schools and our colleagues across the chamber. I acknowledge in particular the positive comments from the member for Port Adelaide in supporting this program. Our approach is affordable, implementable and focused on the urgent need to deliver enduring, practical policies that improve our education system.

Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Karen McNamara (Dobell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion.

Alannah Mactiernan (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There are quite a number of things that I agree on with the Minister for Education about education and teacher training. We certainly share a view that pedagogy is very important and we share a view that there has been a lack of evidence based teaching in relation to the selection of various pedagogies. I want to commend, as I have done before in this House, the minister's preparedness to fund direct instruction in Aboriginal communities. He has given funding to the Cape York Academy to roll this program out across remote Aboriginal communities, including those in Western Australia. I also support, in part, the principle of school autonomy. It does unleash some potential to do a much better job, but I have to say that it is a bit of a mantra that has been uncritically imported from a very different educational system in the United States. It is perhaps not as significant here in Australia.

It is important that we look at teacher education. The evidence from around the world is overwhelming. Study after study tells us that the ability and training of teachers is absolutely critical for us to be able to lift the general standard of education. Research is showing us that the academic ability and the qualifications of entrants are critical in selection of teachers for a number of reasons. It is showing that there is a strong relationship between their scores on verbal ability and scholastic aptitude and their eventual teaching effectiveness. This is what the research is showing us.

The minister stalled at the hurdle. We share many of the principles and the views based on research from around the world from high-performing jurisdictions, be it Singapore or Finland, that tells us that the entry levels and the academic ability of students when they enter teacher training is absolutely critical. Minister Pyne, unfortunately, has baulked at the hurdle. He has chosen to appoint Professor Greg Craven from the Australian Catholic University as the person to oversee this review. I have personal regard for Professor Craven, but I have to say that the position of the Australian Catholic University as one of those institutions that is prepared to bolt feed people through its system in its pursuit of Commonwealth supported places is regrettable.

We are currently training around twice as many teachers as can get jobs. We are spending over $10,000 per student per year to train people as teachers, and over half of those people are not getting jobs. There are a number of universities that are feeding people through and taking people through with very low ATAR scores or not requiring ATAR scores and using psychometric tests which have been demonstrated to be unreliable indicators of a person’s ability to become an effective teacher. We are literally wasting hundreds of millions of dollars each year training people who are unlikely to become effective teachers.

We have such a challenge facing us. When our PISA performance is decreasing and our NAPLAN performances are not what they should be, for us to be wasting so much money putting people through teacher training programs at universities who are unlikely to ever become highly effective teachers is cruel, in my view. We need to change direction here. We need to bite the bullet and say, 'We want to restore prestige to teaching.' Part of that is ensuring we demand a high standard of academic achievement and academic attainment before someone enters into training as a teacher. We are not just missing an opportunity; we are spending so much taxpayer money— (Time expired)

Karen McNamara (Dobell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in support of the motion acknowledging the release of the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group report. I thank the member for Bass for raising this matter in parliament. Having well-trained and knowledgeable teachers is the foundation point for a strong, high-quality education system. Driving positive student outcomes through superior teaching can only enhance and highlight Australia's commitment to and support for our education system throughout the world. This report will go a long way in boosting teacher development to the benefit of all involved in education nationwide. Providing a starting point and the means to move forward and begin the implementation of change, this report is designed to have a positive impact on our children's education.

I acknowledge that there are outstanding teachers and support staff who will, no doubt, welcome the report's suggested recommendations, with education outcomes for students at the forefront of the report's focus. Investing in teacher development at the beginning of teacher training is an investment in our ongoing commitment to the provision of quality education in our schools. This is why the Minister for Education and Training, the Hon. Christopher Pyne, has agreed to the majority of the recommendations—to improve the content and delivery of teacher education courses in Australia. Positive changes from the implementation of these recommendations will directly impact on teachers, both current and future, and our students will reap the benefits. It is important to note a success of this report was ensuring the demographics and economic circumstances of teachers, students and parents were not a negative factor.

This report is not pointing the finger at people in their role as teachers. The role of teacher is one of the most important in our community. Teachers play an instrumental role in our children's wellbeing and in shaping the future. This report is about identifying ways to make Australian teacher education a high priority focus and to assist and support improvements in teacher education in Australia. Achieving a balance between the academic and practical skills of teachers in our schools will produce an education system designed to hold a central place in Australian society. This is why, as part of the 2015-16 budget, the government is providing $16.9 million over the forward estimates to support the implementation of the report's recommendations.

Schools play a pivotal role in the developmental process of children. In my role I am privileged to visit many schools in my electorate to witness the outstanding work undertaken by dedicated teachers in Dobell. Last week I attended Brooke Avenue Public School and Tuggerah Lakes Secondary College in Tumbi Umbi to experience firsthand how the school community is working with the AVID program. The AVID program aims to instil children with the skills to enable them to achieve goals they might not have thought possible. Part of this program is ensuring teachers have the necessary skills to educate students on how to aspire and progress to attending university. It was great to be advised by the acting principal, Owen Dalkeith, and his dedicated team at Brooke Avenue Public School that already they are noticing a positive difference in the mindset and attitude to learning of students engaged in this program.

In my electorate of Dobell the youth unemployment rate sits at 16.4 per cent. We have a year 12 retention rate of only 47 per cent and this is totally unacceptable. With the recommendations of this report being implemented and with continued support by the government I am looking forward to seeing positive changes to these rates. It is important to remember that the quality of teaching starts with those who enter teaching, the training they are provided and the support they receive. It is important that we equip our next generation of teachers with the valuable tools required to achieve high-quality outcomes in both their education and the education of their future students.

We are fortunate that in Dobell we have many committed and passionate teachers who consistently strive for the best for their students. The implementation of the practical and achievable recommendations suggested in this report can only expand on the potential to make a real impact on the quality of teaching and student outcomes. The investment of training in regards to teacher development will no doubt improve the quality of teaching overall. I welcome this report and I look forward to seeing the benefits come to fruition in my electorate of Dobell. I commend this motion to the House.

Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to join this debate and, obviously given my history, welcome any debate in this place about national education. I welcome the member for Bass's interest in education and I wonder where the Minister for Education is tonight while we are having this debate. I wonder because I am really interested in what he has to say about this, given that this report basically existed in 2011. Attached to the report is the AITSL Accreditation of initial teacher education programs in Australia 105-page report that was released in April 2011. It is not a surprise that the minister is reissuing things that already exist, work that has already been done, like he is doing with the curriculum review this week. We had an exhaustive, extensive curriculum review. We had consultations across this country in every state with educators and researchers and we came up with a national curriculum. This minister has politicised that national curriculum once again.

I remind the House of what former Prime Minister John Howard had to say about it being so important for history to be taught as a stand-alone subject. This is something that our national review found and something that was in the national curriculum that this Minister for Education and his handpicked panel members have decided to scrap without consultation. Prime Minister Howard said that it is quite shameful that in some parts of Australia and in some schools the teaching of Australian history is no longer a stand-alone subject.

Well here we are again with the minister from the Liberal Party completely showing disregard for the subject of history in our classrooms. It is not surprising that Minister Pyne has clearly forgotten his history. In bringing this motion forward the member for Bass has demonstrated that he does not know his history—or he would understand the work that has been done in education at a national level across the last decade. But not in this chamber and not on this day. We are going backwards.

Let us look at why we are talking about this. Why are we talking about it? We are talking about education because the differences between teacher performance and student outcomes are as variable between classrooms in the same school as they are between schools. We are talking about education across this decade because we have had to address that, we have had to look at it. We had the review and we have got the answers and now we are redoing the work—claiming work done previously. The notion of increasing the potential of teachers going into the profession is an important one, but the work has already been done. Of course we need to ensure that we have national standards—that work has been done before. Of course we need rigor.

I welcome that the report sees teaching—and this is critical—not just as academic achievement but also as personal attributes. Too often the debate about teacher performance and teacher education gets boiled down to a lack of subject knowledge. This is simplistic and misleading. Teaching is complex: it requires high intelligence, high subject knowledge, high emotional intelligence, the ability to collaborate, the ability to reflect, creativity, scientific thinking and scientific method. It is just as important that a teacher understands how a variety of people learn particular subject matter as it is that they know about the subject matter. Teachers know this and they are waiting for this government to figure it out.

One of the most important things going forward in teacher education that I would like to put on the table in this chamber is not just preservice education but the ongoing education of our teachers in our schools. Improving teacher performance is about purposeful schools, purposeful classrooms and purposeful systems. It is about teachers having scientific method in the classroom reflecting on their performance, reflecting on their student outcomes and getting better and better at the work they do.

Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to speak on this motion and I congratulate the member for Bass for bringing this private member's motion forward. I also acknowledge the passion that the member for Lalor has for education in this place. The member for Bass knows the importance of education. He knows the importance of education to our economy and the importance of education to our society more broadly. He also understands the importance of education to the families and particularly the individuals concerned and the empowering nature of education. He knows many factors impact on students getting a quality education. These include many and varied things such as the autonomy within schools of the principal to make decisions at a local level and not be dictated to by the department, as the case might be.

It is also about parental engagement. It is about having parents who are actively involved in the way that the school is run. This has been demonstrated to be an important component. We have talked a little bit about the curriculum and, indeed, the review that was conducted. The work that has been done in that space is important, but the most important factor of all is teacher quality. I think all of us instinctively know this, but the data supports it. High-quality teacher education is a feature of top-performing systems globally. It is a key pillar of our Students First policy.

We all can speak from personal experience. I think of the teachers who have been in my life and I still remember the points that they made. I think of Ted Roberts, Caroline Sangston, Fran Morris and Chris Peat. I think of the great teachers who have left a mark and continue to leave a mark on my two boys. I think of Selwyn Church, Mark Webster, Robyn Russell, Nick Clements, John Badenhagen, Scott Watson and Helen Swiggs. Within the electorate of Lyons I have discussed the experience and passion educationalists have for their vocation. Their skills should be recognised. I think of Andy Bennett from Dodges Ferry, Di Guilbert from Evandale, Annette Hollingsworth formerly of Cressy, Robyn Story from Jordan River Services, Phil Wells from Glenora, Ted Barrance from Tasman District School, Lisa Neubecker from Bicheno, Jenny Bryan from Longford, Lee Craw from Perth, Roseanne McDade from Sorell, Jeanagh Viney from Deloraine, Maree Pinnington from Exeter, Sharon Gee from Avoca and Annette Parker from Triabunna. I apologise to those that I missed.

The 2015-16 budget has $16.9 million over the forward estimates to respond to the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group report to establish stronger accreditation processes for teacher education courses, a rigorous selection process to assist in determining applicants' suitability for teaching, an assessment framework to ensure all teacher education graduates are classroom-ready and a national research program into the effectiveness of initial teacher education and workforce data. The minister has delivered a timely and decisive response to provide an opportunity to make a real difference to teacher training.

The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, AITSL, is pivotal in implementing the government's response to the report. The AITSL board's profile has shifted from a representative structure to an expert based board. Seven members have extensive classroom teaching experience and two are currently still working in schools. It is a positive move by Minister Pyne, delivering the right mix of academic and practical skills needed in the classroom. Lessons and outcomes from the advisory group report, Action now: classroom ready teachers, and the subsequent government response are targeted at the identified need to ensure all initial teacher education programs and providers strengthen quality standards to better equip new teachers for a role as important as any in our communities—indeed, the education of our children. Tasmanian high schools, from year 10 to year 12, will need the tools to support the teachers as year 12 becomes the norm rather than the exception. Indeed, we need principal autonomy, parental engagement and a robust curriculum, but most important is teacher quality.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to 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.