Phillip Tang and others who speak like this:

"Only those who have been in the teaching field (at the front-line) for sometime would understand what Darron C is writing about"

are part of the problem with schools.... the failure of parents to take control being another major element.

This is not 'the Western Front', and anyone in teaching who thinks it is should retire swiftly.

Or start to address the situation within those schools in which they lurk.

It has been my experience that very few people teach for what could be regarded as the right reasons, and even fewer elevate themselves to the positions of HOD, deputy or principal with much of an idea of what they should be doing, or why.

Careerism is rampant, and reflection, a buzz word in 'Education Faculties', totally non-existent within the 'profession'.

There are, of course, individual teachers, and maybe even a principal somewhere, who stand out as 'professionals', but not many make the grade... what relief it is when your child manages to snare one though, and how stupid and incompetent the others appear, to parent and child alike-highlighting their abject failure, when this happens.

Sadly, the path from principalship is ever upwards through the ranks of rank managers towards the light of a deputy DG, or even DG, and therein lies the other half of the equation.

Having sinned constantly as a principal, there is no choice but to keep doing it and in the monoculture of education hierarchies across this widebrownland the failures of imagination and training multiply, like 'the miracle of compound interest' and there is no 'going back' or 'reform' possible....ever.

Rudd and Gillard are humouring 'the ordinary Australian' only, they are not interested in a revolution, any more than most parents or 'educators' are.

Now we have too many teachers: education chief. Anna Patty, Education Editor, The SUn-Herald November 30, 2008. Available at: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/now-we-have-too-many-teachers-education-chief/2008/11/29/1227491893110.html
Please read this article, as it merely contributes to the endless and justified criticism of those 'running' both national and state education. Myself and fellow graduate students addressed this topic close to 2 years ago, writing to a cross section of politicians (local and federal); the NSW Teachers Federation; University Heads of Schools and student bodies; journalists and more. Few responses were recieved, no person was prepared to acknowledge this issue. Now the rot is becoming public! Of course neither the Teachers Federation, the government or the tertiary institutions will admit they are complicit in enticing prospective students to 'Teach and Make a Difference'. Famous last words, and here we sit, now qualified and searching for employment to repay our HECS debts! Coutts-Trotter is unqualified to hold his position, both in terms of qualifications and professional conduct (search his history). What a mess! And the teachers are dealing with repercussions of the multitude of such organisational beureaucratic bungles daily at the chalk-face. I fear for the future in the face of such inadequacy.