Category: Teachers

Evidence continues to accumulate that the teacher bonus scheme soon to be introduced in Australian schools is doomed to failure and a waste of taxpayer funds. Another study published this week has shown that paying performance bonuses for teachers does not increase student achievement or change teaching practices.

The latest scheme to fail is the New York City bonus program introduced by Julia Gillard’s own hero and mentor, former schools chancellor Joel Klein who is now in charge of Rupert Murdoch’s push into the education technology market. The Prime Minister has copied yet another failed policy from Klein. Continue reading “Teacher Bonuses Fail Again”

A new study from the United States shows that teacher turnover in schools lowers student achievement, especially for low performing and black students. Students in grades with higher teacher turnover scored lower in both English and mathematics. The study also found that teacher turnover has a disruptive effect on students apart from changing the composition of teacher quality in schools. Continue reading “Teacher Turnover Harms Student Achievement”

Nothing more clearly demonstrates that education policy under the Gillard Government is an evidence-free zone than the announcement last week on new funding to start paying bonuses to the top teachers in Australia.

The Government has proceeded with the scheme even though the large majority of major research studies in recent years, including three new academic studies in recent months, demonstrate that teacher bonuses do not increase student achievement and can actually undermine student learning. Continue reading “Gillard and Garrett Ignore the Evidence Against Teacher Bonuses”

Maralyn Parker is right on the money in her column in the Daily Telegraph this week. She says all that needs to be said about the Julia Gillard’s teacher bonus scheme. Pitting teacher against teacher is not the way to improve student outcomes. It can even reduce results. This is an extract from her column with our emphasis added. Continue reading “Competition for Test Results is not the Way We Should be Heading”

On 7 February 2007, the then-Federal Education, Science and Training Minister, Julie Bishop, announced that ‘like other professions, teachers should be recognised and rewarded on merit’. This policy announcement, made despite the Federal Government having no legal authority to set pay or conditions on public schools, was based on the pervasive private sector management practice of performance-related pay (PRP) and the incentive principles of inherent in neo-liberalism (economic rationalism). It purported to create an incentive in the employee (teacher) to improve his or her work performance, in order to improve the quality of output (education) that customers (students) receive. Continue reading “Performance pay for teachers is a terrible idea and here’s why”

The most successful countries in school education make teaching an attractive, high status profession, and provide training for teachers to become educational innovators and researchers who have responsibility for reform. These were among key findings presented last month at the International Summit on the Teaching Profession in New York. Continue reading “Train Teachers as Education Researchers Says OECD Report”

Julia Gillard’s hero, former New York City Schools Chancellor, Joel Klein left a legacy of failed school reforms. His school reporting scheme, which Gillard drew on as a model for My School, was claimed to be a huge success in improving student results. However, it was revealed last year that the improvements were a sham, being driven by lower pass standards.

Now it has been revealed that his $75 million teacher performance pay scheme which he described as “transcendent” when introduced in 2007 was also a stunning failure. Continue reading “Teacher Performance Pay is Another Stunning Joel Klein Failure”

Teacher performance pay has taken another battering from a new study published this week. It demonstrates that the Gillard Government’s plan to pay cash bonuses to the best performing teachers in Australia is unlikely to improve student results and will be a complete waste of money. Continue reading “Another Study Shows that Teacher Performance Pay Doesn’t Raise Test Scores”