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The Forum > Article Comments > Insight into teachers' merit pay rises > Comments

Insight into teachers' merit pay rises : Comments

By Mercurius Goldstein, published 2/10/2006

A view from inside the SBS Insight studios into the debate over merit pay for teachers

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No teacher I have ever spoken to has expressed any desire for the performance-based pay claptrap that was actually abandoned back in the nineteenth century. Its aim is the creation of a conformist, careerist culture of exploitation, when we need strong, intelligent, independent-minded people who will speak their minds in teaching. The system cuts pay (see my comment posted on 'Failure to make the grade' on 14/9/2006 for the figures) and then offers some of it back for more work and more obedience - a lot of it of no actual use to the children we teach.

We have some performance-based elements now in Victoria. They are inefficient and ineffective - and not one child in the state is better taught because of them.

Those who advocate performance-based pay at the whim of principals need to consider some realities. I refused to betray my profession by participating in the unprofessional performance bonus system introduced by the Kennett Liberals. My then principal threatened me with the abolition of my Leading Teacher position, a threat which was eventually carried out. I escaped that school, only to find myself victimised by another principal, whom I had to take before the Merit Protection Board, which ordered my re-instatement. It is no surprise that I am horrified at the suggestion that principals should determine teachers' pay. Those who decry the poor standard of teachers need to consider that principals come from those same ranks of teachers.

The tragedy in all this is that teachers stand on the front line of civilisation - along with nurses, doctors, police and parents - and the job they are called on to do matters very much. We are used to the abuse of the ignorant, but the deprofessionalisation we have suffered is too great and the rewards elsewhere are just too attractive for some of us. I am not arguing that all teachers should receive the same pay, simply that the implementation of performance pay is almost inevitably going to lead to rewarding the sycophants and punishing the thinkers.
Posted by Chris C, Tuesday, 3 October 2006 10:17:49 PM
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Any worker anywhere is at the mercy of their boss in trying to earn a pay increase. Why should teachers be any different. Those in metro areas have some ability to change schools, and those in regional areas where this may not be an option are still in the same position as others that work in regional areas (that is, either put up or move).

merit based pay is not going to weed out the bad teachers. Nor is it going to adequately reward all the good teachers. What it may do is provide a means of further reward to at least SOME of the good teachers.

Like all workable reward systems, the criteria needs to be based on long-term averages (I think the main argument for introducing this is to assist those good teachers that have hit the top of their pay system and can no longer benefit from inbuilt service increases - so establishing long term averages shouldnt be too hard in these cases). The criteria also needs to be tied to a number of performance measures. That way, a vindictive student/s couldnt be the sole cause of a teacher losing their pay increase.

I would suggest however, that merit based pay leans towards permanent pay increases, not annual bonuses. With annual bonuses, there is too much incentive to manipulate short-term results.

If a teacher is on the top bracket of pay currently, there should be a way of obtaining references over the course of their teaching career, that may signal whether or not that teacher is worthy of additional recognition in the way of a permanent pay increase above that top bracket. We are talking about a world of academics - surely someone can come up with a workable solution.
Posted by Country Gal, Wednesday, 4 October 2006 11:37:40 AM
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Merit based pay and key performance indicators are a waste of time and lead to unforeseen normally bad consequences. Pay people a "fair" wage and develop a cooperative collegiate workplace and you get better outcomes. Get rid of people who are incompetent and disruptive.

Have differential pay scales for some things such as rewarding people for long service or working at unpleasant jobs such as being a headmistress or working in areas where students tend to be "difficult" or locations that noone wants to go or working at mentoring or doing extra work that takes away from leisure and family time - but don't introduce competition between people into a system that requires collegiality to work well. If you want to introduce competition then introduce it in a way that the institution competes against an external entity such as another school or a set of standard benchmarks but give the reward to the whole school including the students.

The justification that Andrew Leigh gives for there being a problem is that some relative scores to the rest of the population of teachers when they were adolescents is dropping. The problem with this measure is that it is a relative score of something that may or may not have much to do with whether a person is a good teacher. It can be argued that because of the expanding work opportunities we would expect relative scores to drop not only for teachers but all professions. If it wasn't happening then there is an argument that perhaps teachers are being paid too much!
Posted by Fickle Pickle, Wednesday, 11 October 2006 6:12:10 AM
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The question I have is simple:

Who determines 'merit'?

If a merit-based payrise is to be awarded after a drawn-out application process, then it is going to go to the teacher who can sell him(or her)self best, rather than the teacher who teaches best.

If it is to be awarded after analysis of academic results, then those teachers who consistently get the bottom classes (often because they are good at what they do) will miss out.

If it is to be awarded (as has been suggested in the past) by parents and P & C groups, then a very warped selection of popular teachers will receive hefty payrises but those who are unpopular - perhaps because they enforce the rules - will not. Parents often base their opinions of teachers on what their kids say.

I think I am a good teacher - and that I am worth more than I am currently paid. But I can't see a fair way of assessing the merit of teachers in Australian schools. So I will settle for what I get and look forward to my annual payrises, at least until I have taught for 10 years and reached the ceiling . . .
Posted by Otokonoko, Monday, 6 November 2006 12:12:59 AM
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