Education: Teacher quality about more than top marks

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This was published 6 years ago

Education: Teacher quality about more than top marks

Updated

My blood boiled when I read James Merlino's comment: "We always said we wanted to raise the bar for those wanting to become a teacher to ensure we keep lifting standards in our classrooms. ("Tough learning curve", 17/1.) It forces me to misquote JFK: "We do these things not because they are hard, but because they are easy." When will governments and teacher training institutions start doing the hard things? It's easy to require a minimum ATAR for entry to teacher training. But what about the student's performance during the course? It's almost impossible to fail a teacher training course. Supervising teachers are put under pressure to pass students during their teaching rounds – even when the student is obviously unfit to teach.

As for education ministers, we all know there are teachers in every school who are unfit for the role. This is a far bigger problem than new teachers entering the system. For the sake of our children we must move these teachers out of teaching. We all also know there are brilliant teachers out there who can't get ongoing positions and, with regret, drop out of the system. Let's move heaven and hell to hold on to these potentially great individuals. James Merlino, give me a call if you want to know how.

Dyson cartoon; re general news, witch hunts,?partisan mindset, Age Letters 18 January 2018

Dyson cartoon; re general news, witch hunts,?partisan mindset, Age Letters 18 January 2018

Chris Curnow, Mordialloc

Attract the best students

The policy to raise the ATAR bar for entrants to teacher education programs is to be welcomed. However, this in itself does not deal with the main problem. Governments must ensure that a higher proportion of academically successful students apply in the first place. Among the states and territories, Victoria has the lowest proportion of students with ATARs above 70 applying for teaching. Victoria has a recruitment problem, not a selection problem.

It's not that students are "abandoning teaching courses". The problem is that, like most states and territories, Victoria lacks policies to make teaching an attractive career option for high-achieving students. Research shows status and salary prospects are the main reasons successful students do not choose teaching. Internationally, high-achieving countries ensure teaching can compete effectively with other professions for high-quality students. Testing applicants instead for personal attributes such as "resilience, ethics and empathy" does nothing to tackle the problem. These are attributes that courses should develop anyway.

It's time to ask our education ministers about a policy for ensuring that more academically successful students enter teaching, sufficient to meet the demand.

Lawrence Ingvarson, Canterbury

Recognition for a valued profession

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As we approach the start of another school year, I found it heartening to see on the front page, high-calibre student Joanna Wallace "set to pursue her dream to be a teacher" ("Class act", 17/1). Such coverage endorses the honourable profession of teaching and provides the much needed affirmation that our work in the classroom is valuable.

Sandra Fordyce-Voorham, Black Rock

The necessity of English

Susannah Gillam's account of her son's experience represents a good outcome ("Focus on VCE English a glitch", Comment, 16/1); it mirrors that of many maths-science students whose strengths do not lie with English. However, the importance of responding to novels, plays and poetry should be emphasised in a time when gadgets and devices rule many young people's lives. The development of empathy and social intelligence can be assisted by reading fiction, which many boys overlook. Skills in summarising complex instructions are specific and vocational, but surely we need even our engineers and mathematicians to hone their emotional skills for interactions with others. The compulsory role of English in year 12 has long existed for a reason.

Andrew Trezise, Greensborough

FORUM

The making of a 'shithole'

I live in a country on the "shithole" list, the Democratic Republic of Congo, in South Kivu, one of the poorest and most war-torn regions. It is a country with more than 3.9 million displaced people , host to some 250,000 refugees. Indeed, more often than not, people flee from shithole to shithole.

In places such as South Kivu, the human spirit's best and worst, from the weak and powerful respectively, live side-by-side. Unsalaried police and soldiers prey on those they are meant to protect, including raping women, ultimately leading to armed insurrection. Simultaneously, multilingual children from homes with no electricity clamour under the floodlights of military compounds to do their homework, women walk barefoot for miles for water and men toil atop construction sites in monsoonal rain for $3 a day.

On responsibility, South Kivu's situation cannot be explained without: the mass enslavement under a Belgian colonial regime that killed 10 million, the assassination of their first prime minister with a complicit CIA, the 32-year reign of a brutal kleptocrat propped up by the US, immeasurable plundering and violence by its neighbours and the abject failure of its politicians, who work in a capital 2200 kilometres away. To stand upright and suggest these people are "shitholes" or responsible for their plight, one must be incuriously ignorant or a shithole themselves.

Daniel Sneddon, Uvira, South Kivu, DRC

Recognise the strength

It is bad enough that January 26 signifies the dispossession and tribulation forced upon our Indigenous folk, but who, in this day and age could possibly revere the founding of a convict colony? That is all the landing of the First Fleet signifies.

All that Australia became was achieved by free settlers and migrants and through the contributions, not to mention sheer hardship of our Indigenous populations. The strongest enabling force behind this was Federation, which made disparate colonies into a nation and at least offered enough legal protection to guarantee the survival of Indigenous peoples and their cultures. The establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia has much more historical resonance for what we are today. It is the day to celebrate.

Alex Fazakas, Ashburton

Expedition, not invasion

The British soldiers accompanying the First Fleet prisoners were prison guards, not an expeditionary infantry invasion force. It was not an invasion in any sense of the word. In fact, the British and Aborigines lived in harmony for many years and only over time was there growing conflict. By far the greatest impact of the British on Aborigines was the spread of diseases, which decimated a large portion of the Aboriginal population.

Over the past 50 years, these events and outcomes have been acknowledged by successive governments and land returned to Aborigines, including mining-related benefits and extensive welfare rights and other programs put in place, effectively as acknowledgement and compensation for those past events.

It is too simplistic to categorise the initial arrival of whites as an invasion when that was not the intent of the British. The intention was to establish a penal colony on a land believed to be largely unpopulated. What is being proposed by shifting Australia Day celebrations is to redefine that day as a "blame day" for politically correct purposes and not in the spirit of reconciliation.

Rob Rogers, Warrandyte

Off-colour

White privilege is when you are terrorising the streets of Burleigh, Queensland, film yourself trying to break traffic lights and cause chaos around the area and are dubbed a "gang of teenagers". No one mentions race. This mayhem comes after the Torquay attack on police officers by more than 100 white youths last week ("Police officer injured after violent brawl in Torquay", 9/1). Yet I don't expect Immigration Minister Peter Dutton and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to address the issue of "white gangs" or a group to hold a "secret meeting" to discuss how they could address this problem any time soon.

Foad Munir, Berwick

We need the experts

Victorian opposition leader Matthew Guy seems to have a problem with experts. His plan to reduce road congestion was slammed by transport planners as wrong-headed. His latest law and order initiative to remove the courts' discretion has also been challenged by legal authorities. His response? He wasn't interested in academics' views about the policy ("Coalition's violent crime crackdown plan under fire", 17/1).

This belittling of expertise is becoming all too common. In Britain, Michael Gove, a government minister, said "the country had had enough of experts". As presidential candidate, Donald Trump said "the experts are terrible". In Canberra, the Turnbull cabinet has no minister for science.

With so many areas of government administration highly politicised, the public need experts more than ever to protect us from the demagogues who peddle evidence-free, self-serving policy.

Richard Aspland, Rosanna

Look at the evidence

Matthew Guy now has a go at academics in the latest law and order bidding war, saying he is more in touch with a victims' group.

Academics conduct in-depth interviews, often one-on-one with huge numbers of victims and with university and departmental ethics approval. They check questions are ethical and not biased or suggestive, i.e. rigorous. This ensures integrity and eradicates political bias that campaigns for re-election entail.

Members of the community, please, do not buy into the "law and order" bids of any political party.

Use your own judgment and be informed. There are significant evidence-based studies about what works. Many suggest taxpayers' money is used to fuel ineffective "law and order" bidding wars, funding policies that are broken and serve interests including the private prison lobby.

We all want a safe, happy and respectful community. We all know about impacts of child abuse and trauma, mental illness, intellectual disability, the plight of the drug addicted. We know many victims become perpetrators so it's not as simple as politicians would like. Let's ensure, whether its Matthew Guy, Daniel Andrews or Peter Dutton, that we remember life is complex and that proven interventions are better than hot air and bluster.

Dr Liz Curran, associate professor, ANU College of Law

More than it can chew

Stephen Charles ("PM warned against toothless watchdog", 17/1) should have gone on to say that none of the state anti-corruption commissions has been particularly effective. The first – NSW's ICAC – was created by Nick Greiner in 1988 in response to public disquiet surrounding hugely valuable non-tendered public works contracts, notably the Sydney Harbour Tunnel contract.

But in the 30 years since, such non-tendered contracts have become the norm. They've simply been renamed "market-led infrastructure proposals".

State treasurers publicly congratulate themselves on how much taxpayer money they throw away without the inconvenience of having to call competitive price-based tenders, usually on the pretext of there being some spurious "intellectual property" involved. When they retire – or are thrown out – the ministers and senior public servants responsible may look forward to their million-dollar-a-year consultancies or directorships.

Australia suffers from endemic "soft corruption" at all levels of government. It is getting steadily worse and no anti-corruption commissions are going to stop it.

Stephen Morris, Coorparoo, Qld

Put some shoes on

The other day I saw the driver of a B-double get into his truck in thongs. Apparently it is legal to drive in them. How safe would we feel if airline pilots wore that sort of footwear? It is not possible to effectively control a vehicle while wearing footwear that can fall off or slip at any time. A B-double can weigh 60 tonnes. If the driver's foot slips on the brake pedal, the ensuing accident will be catastrophic.

Rod Andrew, Malmsbury

Bring NBN into line

As an NBN user in Northcote whose service is delivered via fibre to the node, then uses an existing cable for the last leg to our home, our problem is not the reported sub-optimal network speed ("Top speeds out for most with FTTN", 17/1) but the recurring drop-outs when the internet disappears for several minutes at a time, often several times a day. This is particularly frustrating when you're trying to run an online business from home.

If we had NBN fibre to the premises, would these drop-outs occur? If not, why have we been given such a second-rate NBN service over cable?

Andrew Rothfield, Northcote

Devoted to icons

What do these things have in common? Airbus A380, Bunnings sausage sizzle, Broome camels, Ferrari, Macy's department store, Violet Crumble, Akubra hats, Dr Frank-N-Furter, The Star Spangled Banner, Tchaikovsky and actor Kerry Armstrong? According to our iconic news media, they are all icons. Have you noticed that nothing ever just "is" these days? Darrell Lea is not just a lolly maker, it is an iconic lolly maker. A Mini Moke is not simply a car, it is an iconic motor car. Every landmark, geological feature, building and singer of popular songs is an icon. As the iconic W. S. Gilbert might have said in the iconic "Gondoliers" – "When everything is iconic then nothing is an icon".

Terry Lane, Blackburn

Fush 'n chup wrap?

If The Age is still outsourcing its sub-editing to New Zealand, stop it! "RUSULTS" (Sport, 16/1) should be the last straw.

Robert Walton, Beaumaris

AND ANOTHER THING

The Australian Open

I am perplexed by the frequent reference by US commentator Jim Courier to a player named Moo Ree. Who is the mysterious MooRee?

Michael Noan, Capel Sound

It is bad enough for commentators to use the word bundled when they mean beaten or lost , but to find it in The Age editorial (16/1) is disappointing.

Christine Hurwood, Newport

Oh no, the shriekers are back.

John Groom, Bentleigh

Alex De Minaur – amazing talent, humble, gracious and gives his all, right to the very last shot. A breath of fresh air. A winner in every sense of the word, even if the score on court says otherwise.

Peter Forehan, Murrumbeena

Lorraine Spies ("And Another Thing", 17/1) has described Bernard Tomic accurately in five words. He needs our sympathy, not our scorn. Irwin Faris, Torquay

Politics

Who visualised US President Donald Trump screaming "let me at my nuke button" during the Hawaiian debacle? Doug Perry, Mount Martha

"America prepares for war" (17/1). What's new?

Anne Flanagan, Box Hill North

We should change Australia Day to February29, then we would only have to put up with the indeterminable wherewithal every four years.

Roger Vincent, Fitzroy

When we become a republic, we can celebrate a new day.

Breda Hertaeg, Beaumaris

Elsewhere

Westpac states it is committed to "competitive" rates, as of course, are the other three. I assume the competition is to see who can get to 0.0per cent first ("Banks hit to online savers", 17/1).

Marie Nash, Balwyn

Readers who are missing Ron Tandberg's wit will appreciate A Year of Madness, a collection of Tandberg's best work of 2017.

Phil Lipshut, Elsternwick

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