As teachers return to the classroom it is concerning that the politics of education remain one of the biggest challenges awaiting us in 2014.
Many words have, and will be, written about Christopher Pyne’s recent appointment of a former Liberal party staffer and a professor of public administration to review the Australian History Curriculum. Putting aside the illogical desire to review a curriculum which has yet to be implemented and ignoring the partisan politics, it is surprising that this issue is the most pressing concern for a government which came to power decrying the woeful state of education in Australia.
One might expect Mr Pyne to concern himself with the fact that, in most states in Australia excepting NSW, the history syllabus will be delivered by teachers with little or no specialist training in the area. As for ongoing indecision surrounding the funding reforms, it appears that putting an end to uncertainty is only of a concern when it applies to the business community. Teachers and students, it seems, can just live with it.
The Minister’s dismissive attitude towards the three years of concerted effort by the thousands of contributors in developing the syllabus is disappointing. The seeming indifference to the time and energy spent over the last 12 months in programming and resourcing for the 2014 implementation shows little appreciation for teachers and fuels the diminishing respect the public has for the profession. As Mr Pyne himself wrote recently, “Partisan politics is at its worst when dressed up as public concern”.
Closer to home, Mr Piccoli has just returned from a taxpayer funded study tour of Finnish schools, where he discovered that the key to their success was a highly trained, and presumably highly respected, teacher workforce. This might come as a shock to those who believe that high stakes testing of Year Three students and constantly revamping syllabuses is the key to success, but will hardly surprise teachers who have been saying this for years.
As the school year commences teachers must continue the process of determining the future direction of our profession. Members are urged to support the current IEU claim we have with the universities to ensure the adequate resourcing of the practicum. Members should also remain active in ensuring that schools and systems are adequately supporting their professional development needs as they implement the new curriculum in the coming years.