Teacher bashing and the politics of education
*Change, *Future, *Grow, Election2007 January 23rd, 2007
Labor must pass the test on grading teachers’ performance (The Age, Editorial, Opinion):
Labor’s Stephen Smith has sparked a fierce warning from the Australian Education Union and Independent Education Union for claiming that teachers should be marked on their classroom performance. The unions urged Labor to differentiate itself from the Howard Government’s “teacher bashing” policies and properly commit to boosting a demoralised and under-resourced public sector.
This in The Age today. Teachers have taken a bashing for a long while now; politically, economically, even socially. The role of a teacher was at one point a revered profession in a way, when education was the way out of poverty, mediocrity and mindless labour.
I was talking with a good friend last night (we were trying to solve the world’s education problems) and we wondered when the teaching profession actually took a dive in reputation. We thought back to days when the governess would stay with the family and educate the children; when the masses did not even receive an education (or received a rudimentary one); where no policies for educating our children were yet in place. In local communities the teacher was as much the backbone of the community as was the local religious leader. Even in ancient times, teaching was a must-have:
In ancient Egypt, China, and India, teaching was often the
responsibility of priests or prophets, who enjoyed prestige and
privileges. The ancient Greeks saw value in educating children, and
wealthy Greeks often hired teachers for their households. During the
first five centuries AD in the Roman Empire, citizens often had
teacher-slaves.
Image: Nufkin
One thought I had about the historic journey of the teaching profession and its apparent demise in status, is the amount of information now available and the ways in which we value it. Oral traditions have had a strong history and value, and with the advent of books, information and knowledge took on a different kind of value; information was “packaged” (our first learning objects?) and commodified. Education was begining to be bought and sold, in a way. Since then the industrial revolution, two world wars and increased global movement have seen an explosion in the amount of information available, that is no longer held aloft by the elite, but is now spreading (unevenly) across the global in many forms. Perhaps this has in effect devalued the role of teaching and the teacher profession? Why pay for a teacher when you can just “google it”? Do we now priviledge information over knowledge and experience?
Image: Atomische.com
Back to The Age then, the article goes on to quote Kevin Rudd, leader of the opposition, as already signalling
education as a key policy battleground with the Government,
revealing Labor’s agenda “is as much about the quality of outcomes
as it is about the quantum of investment”. “I am deeply concerned
about ensuring that children from working families across the
country receive a quality education and that those quality levels
are as high as can be achieved,” he said.
Balance Rudd’s aspirations with the views of the Aust Education Union:
How do you get working-class kids to shine? Make sure they are
taught by the very best teachers. How do you get these teachers?
Offer them generous incentives — and weed out the
underperformers. In most states the top pay scale for teachers is
about A$65,000, unless they are willing to take on more duties or
move into managerial roles. The outstanding teacher, therefore,
climbs a stunted ladder of opportunity.
No wonder teachers are fatigued and have had enough. In this recent press release, the AEU has called on both sides of politics to address these issues in education as immediate priorities:
o prioritising Indigenous education by working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents and their communities to develop and fund appropriate policies and ensure that all Indigenous children have access to a high quality public education, regardless of where they live;
o properly funding TAFE to redress previous funding cuts and provide for new and emerging needs, including research and innovation;
o working with the States and Territories to fund a 10 year national plan for early childhood education and care which ensures that all children have access to 2 years of free, high quality preschool education.
Education is not costing us, it’s an investment in the future health and development (socially and economically) of our country. Does education remain a government responsibility, and should it?
technorati tags:ALP, politics, Australia, kevin.rudd, AEU, unions, books, information, global, knowledge, teachers
Blogged with Flock
About
Absolutely awesome post, Marg. Right after reading your post and mentally nodding in agreement with every word, I read this post from Sarah Puglisi, who is a teacher in the midst of the US NCLB nightmare. This is a place Australia cannot afford to go…
[...] Marg O’Connell -Teacher bashing and the politics of education [...]
Hey Marg:
Well I can’t nod as enthusiastically as Graham, but a vote of thanks for making me consider why.
So first a couple of comments and then I’ll offer a shaky bridge between the islands of process and product (maybe).
My “frame/mental model” comes from a background of:
(a) Canada
(b) Middle-class liberal (anglo)
(c) Military instructor
(d) MA (adult ed)
(e) working in a (public) mental health facility
I, of course, think that gives me a legitimate view of your situation, feel free to object.
I’ve read both Freire and Illich.
That is all contrasted with 2+ years in the position of treasure for our Co-Op preschool; getting the money from the parents, setting the budget, getting consensus from the parents on the budget, and writing the paycheques for our 3 (ECE) teachers.
As a result, I am so full of doublethink, I will probably contradict everything I write here at least twice.
On the one hand; Within the first week of Army training it was made very clear to our little selves that, while we were encouraged to study and discuss matters of foreign policy, members of the military do not make, nor influence, (and never, ever critique or comment publicly on) matters of Canada’s foreign policy. Any military objectives must be subordinate to political objectives or the system corrupts.
I think I can say with some certainty that both the teachers professional association and the teachers union in my jurisdiction operate under the assumption that they own the educational system and the government should just shut-up and pay the tab. And I would say a similar situation exists in public health care.
Given that all public services are black holes of funding, all funding decisions are political decisions. If the public doesn’t want to pay for quality education, if they’d rather see nice shiny jets on display at the local airshow, that’s their choice (although I’d agree it’s a poor investment).
So if teachers haven’t taught citizens to critically analyze their choices and make good decisions based on their long-term interests, maybe we do have a real problem in education. That’s a painfull thought because for the last 30 years the outcome I’ve been paying teachers to produce was critically thinking citizens.
So how do we fix it.
Well, I like this guy:
Hans De Bruijn
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/041530038X/ref=pd_rhf_p_1/701-1362832-3427503
He addresses the tension between the professionals’ interest with process and the mangers need for output in a way that allows multiple values and acknowledges that if excellent teachers teaching in a poor environment are evaluated solely on the basis of outcomes, the system will inevitably pervert from it’s intentions (aka NCLB).
Thanks again for making me think
Thank you Graham, and Ian too.
Ian, I think you’ve hit on our eternal human dilemma: the double-think, dichotomising, double-edged sword thinking we all see ourselves involved in!
From what you’ve offered in terms of your background though, I’d say you were well-rounded rather than prone to ‘double-think’ - if that makes sense!
Perhaps that’s part of the fundamental problem here? Polarising the issues: between public and private; community-business; even teaching and learning, I think this sets us up always for a fall (depending on how the political pendulum is swinging at the time too I might add ;)) - I think we need to be more creative about (1) participating in / tackling the issues, (2) defining the problem and (3) communicating the issues to others.
I’m a Union member, and yes, I’m a tad uncomfortable to say that, as I’m not certain our ‘union voice’ is entirely sure about the message it is sending either! The diverse and dispersed nature of public-sphere issues such as education and health, just throws up so much to deal with and we all claim to have “the answer” (especially at election time)… I think that I’ll need to get more involved in developing that voice, if I’m to commit to being a part of the change process as an educator - and I take my hat off to those educators who have done so for a great deal longer than I in getting that voice heard in the past, because I have benefitted from that through (partly) free education and financial support mechanisms.
So our societal spheres, i.e. community, policy, union, education, economy/business and so on all have a voice in this, jostling for poll position. Freire and Illich spoke from both experience and ideology; do we need more than that?
Let me preface my remark by saying that I am not a teacher. I am, however, a learning professional and the parent of two teenagers in full-time education. My observations (based on events I won’t go into here) is that (in the UK, at least) teachers have been largely disempowered. It seems easier to suspend an effective teacher than a disruptive - even violent - student. This is a sad state of affairs, indeed, and must surely damage the field of education…?
Karyn, thanks for contributing.
Yes, things are about-face in many ways aren’t they.
What I’m trying to get clear on for myself is how did things get to this stage without us seeing what was happening? Of course, things are in a constant state of flux, but of all things I think we really have taken our finger off the pulse when it comes to education!
What has sparked the disempowerment of teachers in the UK do you think? And what’s progressing that further now?
BTW - I liked your reference to Doug Belshaw’s Education map of the decade.