SCHOOLS able to select their own teachers perform better in student tests of literacy and numeracy.

The latest report from the OECD on student performance in 65 countries says that in nations where school results are publicly reported, as in Australia, schools controlling their finances also outperform schools with less autonomy.

Much as I hate to admit it Julia Gillard has picked a winner. This is a change that will help bring Australian schools up to the level of other similar OECD schools.

The question is whether she has the ability to push it past the unions.

Imagine how much better the results would be if parents were free to choose the teachers.

Peter, it's hard enough to get people to support P&C associations now, without fighting, I'm nor sure parents selecting teachers would work that well.

Don't forget headmasters are only promoted school teachers too, so I would not expect any great ability to pick the best candidate there either. Personnel managers, [sorry, human relations managers] are not all that good at it either, but at least they have more experience.

So I'm not too enthusiastic about parents hiring teachers.

However, to go the other way, I think parents should be able to remove teachers who don't measure up in their school. In my experience it doesn't take very long for most parents to pick the ability of a new teacher. The power of removal would get rid of the worst teachers, & perhaps encourage some to try harder.

Imagine how much better the results would be if parents were free to choose the teachers.
Peter Hume,
That could possibly leave us where we're at now, considering that many parents' mentality is on par with the majority of today's teachers. Isn't due to these people that the young have nothing to model themselves on & aspire to to better themselves ?
I have not yet been convinced by anyone that young people can find the right track without discipline & sense of responsibility. We can't expect them to learn something from nothing.
Only this evening I went to my local store & remarked to the young lass behind the counter that the tomatoes were in rather poor condition. She shrugged & replied "I don't care I don't like tomatoes". I'd bet that this is not her mentality, she inherited it from her teachers' & parents.

Hang on a moment please.

Anything coming via the Cameron Tory UK government should be read with suspicion, and some research first.

The story was run in the Australian, a newspaper that supports private education, not public education.

Who knows what was left out, or for that matter, what the actual details of the Welsh 'win' really are.

Gillard has thrown her weight behind a failed public system in the USA, and I suspect the UK path, whether under Blair or Cameron, is 'more of the same' as the US.

I have a chum in Bristol, a governor of his local primary school, 'owned' nominally by the County Council-a 'state school' as far as we are concerned here.

They have long had great autonomy and the County Council does not interfere. But Cameron is 'setting them free'.

As a result, each school now has vastly increased costs as each school struggles to deal individually with what they were previously able to collectively organise via the Council.

Case in point: Cameron has cost-saved a grant to Councils that supplies amazing levels of ISP power, about 4000 quid a year.

Now each school has top organise their own ISP, but there is no 'replacement' 4000 quid, it will come out of their 'global budget', which is up to the principal and parents to spend 'how they will'.

Such thinking only benefits the ISP businesses, who can now charge far more. There is absolutely no benefit to the students or school.

But, because most Australians, like the British, care not two hoots about 'education', such a market driven form of 'learning' will become the norm here too.

Progress!

Peter

"Imagine how much better the results would be if parents were free to choose the teachers."

What a catastrophy! What are the parents going to base their judgements on? Perhaps the information that kids feed them.

I know of a school where one teacher used to expect more of kids and mark assessments harder. Because many kids suddenly started getting worse grades, parents decided that he was a bad teacher.

I know of many schools where the bad behaviour of students is kept hidden fom parents, because it might reflect badly upon the school.

I agree with Shadow minister- it would certainly be beneficial if current school staff could choose their new teachers, rather than the education department forcing whomever they like onto the hapless schools!

It would certainly be a disaster if parents were allowed to choose their kid's new teachers.
I can see it now-
all the dads would choose young and curvy, buxom blonde female teachers for their kids, while all the mums would go for the hot, charming and
well built young male teachers! :)

The best qualified to select the teachers are the headmasters with reference to the board.

Others including the teacher's union and the government have other conflicting agendas.

You are assuming a lot here Shadow Minister.

I am sure you subscribe to 'managements right to manage', along with all the others who decry the skills of 'teachers'.

What I've noticed is that no one ever thinks to question the parlous state of school management.

The head of each state school is the school principal.

In Qld, even the minister defers to their power within the school campus.

They are 'in control' now.

And that, I suspect, is more than half the problem with our schools.

Poor, sometimes very poor, school principals.

There is no way in this world that I'd trust them with the task of selecting any staff.

Our high school principal bullies the good staff to retire, transfer, and promotes the brown noses and meek to positions well beyond their capacity.

A formula well known to the Tory, and vote seeking politicians, and journalists from the Oz who trumpet such systems as 'best practice'.

What's this, no energy for edumacation you lot?

How's this for a story:
http://www.truth-out.org/got-dough-public-school-reform-age-venture-philanthropy66598

Compared to the Drongo Right:
http://australianconservative.com/2010/12/the-ruddgillard-education-revolution-an-evaluation/?utm_source=Australian+Conservative&utm_campaign=86bbbf6e55-110107_Newsletter&utm_medium=email

It's worth reading both if anyone is interested in about 20 mins work.

The following may also give a further insight into this discussion:

http://www.andrewbarr.com.au/story/national-curriculum-good-students-good-teachers-good-australia

Err, Barr is yet another Empty Vessel posing as an education expert.

He tolerates Scripture Union running Hillsong Shine in his schools, and backed down when challenged by the ACL mob.

His media release was empty vacuous crap, that contributed nothing whatsoever to improving schools.

Given the population we have, there's not a big percentage that move schools each year.

Then one positive move that is needed but will not be made, is to ensure that at least the public schools are required to teach within a secular framework, no ID- creationism taught as it is in Qld, no 'bible lessons' at the whim of the principal, as in Qld, no coercion into any religion via RI/SRI/SRE/RE, and of course, no room for any religion to place 'chaplains' into public schools.

Barr, and all the others, will run a marathon, never mind a mile, before acting intelligently on this.

It is interesting watching the direction in which Australian education is going. It seems that the American model is the template presently in favour. The following article is from 2008 and warned that they weren't all they seemed.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/dont-mimic-us-school-model-experts/2008/11/24/1227491462460.html
The final paragraph is interesting.

Also an article on former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education, Diane Ravitch and her u-turn criticising "the "No Child Left Behind" act in American education.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124209100

School reform......what a joke! Still moms and dads are paying for all school products that should be payed by the Governments....but that order would of came from the Howard World.

Why are the tax payers forced to pay for Pens,paper,rulers,fee,s,books and these are state ruined/runned schools? The truth is...the upper leveled workings people don't want your children mixing with that they call....the righteous ones.

Struggeling tax/payers are bleeding at the gills for what should be for free to all Australians....and if not...you PIGS tell me why?

And its a fair country.....lol.....Australia!......What a crock of you know what.

BLUE

Sorry..lol...just had to sneak this one in, and oh the irony:)

http://tinyurl.com/2d2yx67

No! Its all fair..lol

BLUE

Another one that shows where we are going here in Australia:
http://www.truth-out.org/cathie-black-and-demise-public-education66427

And now for something completely different...here are a couple of articles on Finland's education system.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/09/28/national/national_30113177.php

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8601207.stm

Poirot, good ones. I've seen them before, and they made me cry when I thought of how wilfully stupid our state-territory and Commonwealth education ministers are.

The truth is, as those US articles I posted say, that 'education' is just another industry to be mined for profits.

Education, if it were delivered to the masses, would upset the status quo, so instead we get child-minding and coercion.

What great posts/links..Poirot...The Blue Cross. Smaller and smarter:)

I hope this exposure continues.

BLUE

Yes another $35 billion for schools over the next 3 years, must been quite a lump sum in the revenue taking in the last two terms for education.

Rewarding teachers how do you correctly reward teachers, when it’s a very hard thing to determine taking into account of skills, students, surroundings ect…

Do you think people will be rewarded fairly or just the one that are noticed?

This is crap the whole education system setup is a farce, multiple areas crossing each other work, assessments not fitting for industries, incorrectness in Englishing training manuals, short periods rather than long, not enough home work to teach researching, to many holidays, year 4 and 8 sucking the basement floor in education standards ect..

Simply the whole system, hit STOP pull it all together correctly and attune it, rather than wasting billions.

Concentrate in what’s important that development outcome of future generations, don’t skip on service bills that give equal change and skills for a black widows attempt to walk around it using teachers.

Teachers are teachers for education, not teachers for leadership, not their mothers of fathers why are you burdening them with more than they are capable of doing