Over educated, over paid, over opinionated, under employed & under achieving & unisterested, is probably the best way to describe a very large percentage of our teachers. our teachers.

With the results they are achieving with our kids, by comparasion with other states, I'm surprised parents are not calling for a cut in their pay rates, to reflect, more closely, the value of their work.

As a long time office bearer in a P&C I have little respect left for most of them, or the department that employs them.

When 2 of our kids took maths c, & physics, in senior high we discovered, none of the schools teachers could actually handle the subjects, let alone teach it. This did not stop them pretending to do the job, & hold their hand out for the money.

We had to run coaching nights for those who really cared, [about half the class] using uni students, to give the kids a chance.

I think we should pay them what they are worth, a lot less than they get, now

Hasbeen that's not been my experience so far. My exposure to the High School system has been very limited other than the teacher who turned up at a meeting for a society I'm in which had helped out her class, she came with a thankyou card and block of chocolate for everyone who had taken part.

My son's teachers in State primary schools have so far all given the impression of real dedication to what is at times a very difficult job.

Maybe I and my son have been fortunate, other school's and classes may be very different. Teacher pay is just one the issues, classrooms which overheat in summer and freeze in winter, inadequate technology, school facilities in obvious disrepair and parents who just don't care are all factors which work to drag down good teachers.

R0bert

I love the sweeping generalisations. I work very hard. My students achieve excellent results and, strangely enough, tend to attribute some of their success to me. Sitting in my staffroom roughly two hours after they stopped paying me, I have just put in two extra tutorials with students who needed help with their assignments. Strangely, several of my 'overpaid' and 'unisterested' (which I can only assume was meant to read 'uninterested') colleagues are doing the same.

My point is simple. Everyone has a 'bad teacher' story. I have several 'bad doctor' stories, several 'bad mechanic' stories, and at least one 'bad dentist' story. As with all of the other jobs I have mentioned, people are quick to condemn the bad teachers and even to lump all the good eggs in with the bad ones. Note that all of them - doctors, mechanics, dentists - have the capacity to make more money than me, whether they are good or bad at their job. I am inclined to go where the earning potential is greatest, which isn't in Queensland; I am confident that I will easily find employment elsewhere because (without meaning to sound arrogant) I am good at what I do. Many other good Queensland teachers are doing the same. What you will be left with is the chaff - the Queensland graduates rejected by the other states. Your kids will be put into ever-growing classes (at my current school, we spent a whole year with 10 unfillable teacher vacancies last year) and taught by ever-less-competent teachers. After all, why study education when you can earn twice as much cleaning offices out at the mines?

That is the crux of the matter. You want great teachers, but you don't want to offer any incentives. You want intelligent people to take teaching jobs when they can easily take better paid, better respected jobs. I did it, and I know a few others who did as well, so there is hope. But after a while, the same tired old arguments wear us down. I'm looking for a better option. Can you blame me?

Hasbeen,
I too have been on boards of schools, dept pres of P&Cs And all I can say is that I'm glad that I've never run across your school experience.
Sure I've met the duds but that could apply to ANY career.
While I accept your view of life. I would suggest that even in monochrome there are shades of grey.
Terms like baby and bath water comes to mind. I think a bit more research might be in order.

There are many good teachers in the government system. The problem is that the government treats them just the same way they treat the duds.

The government won't pay on performance because the unions protect the duds. The principals are hog-tied by politics and won't support teachers.

It will never change. In SA, more and more teachers are moving to the private system; so are more kids. Like Hasbeen and good teachers, the parents have had enough.

And, when I say private schools, I don't mean the toffee ones. You don't have to send your kids to high-priced schools to feel the difference. My wife spent her last 5 years before retirement in a Catholic college in a low socio-economic area. It wasn't a highly academic school, but they were getting kids jobs, and 'refugees' from the state system lined up to get in, for very little more than they paid in fees at state schools.

Privatised education is the way of the future.

Hasbeen, you're fast turning into the biggest troll in this forum (no small achievement I must say).

To everyone else on this thread: Don't feed the troll!!