Testing teachers

The Masters Review, authored by international education consultant Geoff Masters and commissioned by Anna Bligh, recommends that aspiring primary school teachers should sit tests to demonstrate competency in numeracy, literacy and science and the teaching of these areas. I could not agree more.

In the absence of the prestige accorded to teachers in other countries, the education system should be doing all it can to ensure that educators are of the highest standard. Ensuring that new teachers understand and are able to teach key areas is something which will have long term effects and create a positive feedback cycle with regards to teacher education. That is, the better a teacher is, the better their students will do academically and some of those will go on to be high quality teachers.

This is a much better idea than merit based pay, performance reviews or any other test of teachers abilities which relies on their classes. Each class is different and there are many factors which simply can not be adjusted for in any attempts at analysing the effectiveness of a teacher. Testing teachers to make sure they’re good enough to teach in the system makes sense. A uni can do the bare minimum to have their Bachelor/Diploma of Education accredited; a school interview panel can go easy on a prac student to swell the ranks of teachers; a substandard teacher can get a job in a remote school, accrue transfer points and then transfer to a suburban school with fewer problems.

The solution, then, is to make sure we have good teachers entering the system in the first place. If you don’t understand numeracy, you should not be teaching numeracy. If you are not sufficiently literate, how are you meant to teach literacy? If you don’t understand why science is so important, perhaps you shouldn’t be helping kids explore the world around them.

This isn’t a justification for back to basics education, particularly in the university classroom. Let’s be honest, education is an academic pursuit. If you are not academically inclined and don’t want to be intellectually stimulated, teaching is probably not a good career path. Loving kids isn’t enough. To be a successful teacher requires a passion for knowledge and an appreciation of intellectualism. Teaching should not be the default option for people who can’t pick any other vocation. You should be teaching because you love education, not because you don’t know what else to do with your life.

Ongoing teacher training will continue to be necessary as the curriculum and educational practice changes. Teachers could probably also do with a pay rise given the amount of work they have to do  as well (it’s not really 8:30-3:00 with extensive holidays and there are no paid lunch breaks in the state system). There is a need for structural change; hopefully the Masters Review starts the ball rolling.

Masters’ five key recommendations are

1. That all aspiring primary teachers be required to demonstrate through test performances, as a condition of registration, that they meet threshold levels of knowledge about the teaching of literacy, numeracy and science and have sound levels of content knowledge in these areas.
2. That the Queensland Government introduces a new structure and program of advanced professional learning in literacy, numeracy and science for primary school teachers.
3. That additional funding be made available for the advanced training and employment of a number of ’specialist’ literacy, numeracy and science teachers to work in schools (and/or district offices) most in need of support.
4. That standard science tests be introduced at Years 4, 6, 8 and 10 for school use in identifying students who are not meeting year-level expectations and for monitoring student progress over time.
5. That the Queensland Government initiates an expert review of international best practice in school leadership development with a view to introducing a new structure and program of advanced professional learning for primary school leaders focused on effective strategies for driving improved school performances in literacy, numeracy and science.

Read more: Geoff Masters’ piece at Online Opinion from Feb 2008.