{"id":50999,"date":"2020-02-10T00:00:34","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T08:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=50999"},"modified":"2020-02-09T13:25:46","modified_gmt":"2020-02-09T21:25:46","slug":"making-better-use-of-australias-top-teachers-will-improve-student-outcomes-heres-how-to-do-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/making-better-use-of-australias-top-teachers-will-improve-student-outcomes-heres-how-to-do-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Making better use of Australia\u2019s top teachers will improve student outcomes: here\u2019s how to do it"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nAustralia must do better in school education. Following our\u00a0worst ever results in international tests last year<\/a>, politicians are\u00a0keen to act<\/a>, and quickly. But Australia has had any number of educational reforms over the past few decades, and our grades keep slipping.<\/p>\n

We need a much more systematic approach. Many teachers and schools are already doing great things and delivering outstanding results; but this practice is too piecemeal, too isolated.<\/p>\n

Among other things, becoming more systematic means making better use of our top teachers \u2013 those helping students flourish and who can guide other teachers to a similar path for success.<\/p>\n

A Grattan Institute report released today,\u00a0Top teachers: sharing expertise to improve teaching<\/em><\/a>, shows the way.<\/p>\n

What is happening already<\/strong><\/h4>\n

We aren\u2019t the first to have the idea of making better use of top teachers.<\/p>\n

Over the past few decades, Australia\u2019s education systems and schools have invested in a smorgasbord of programs focused on instructional leadership.<\/p>\n

These include\u00a0Primary Maths Specialists<\/a>\u00a0(a federal professional learning program for teachers),\u00a0Instructional Leaders<\/a>\u00a0in NSW (where instructors work with teachers to build student and teacher capacity in literacy and numeracy) and\u00a0Learning Specialists<\/a>\u00a0in Victoria (a career pathway for highly skilled teachers to help improve the practice of other teachers).<\/p>\n

These initiatives have all been well-intentioned. But they haven\u2019t all been well-executed. For instance, the national\u00a0Advanced Skills Teacher scheme<\/a>\u00a0in the 1990s was intended to increase top-end pay for only the highest-performing teachers. But in Victoria,\u00a0virtually everyone who applied got the pay rise<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other initiatives have been\u00a0ad hoc<\/em>, rather than becoming part of the daily work of teaching. None have had the scale and continuity Australia needs \u2013 or that high-performing systems already have, such as the Master Teacher roles that are part of\u00a0Singapore\u2019s expert career track<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A big disconnect between theory and practice<\/strong><\/h4>\n

We surveyed 700 teachers, instructional leaders and principals across Australia to find out the impact of instructional teachers on the ground.<\/p>\n

Three-quarters of the teachers said they valued guidance from instructional leaders, but fewer than a third regularly changed what they did in response.
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Grattan Institute<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear what causes this disconnect. But (self-identified) instructional leaders did tell us they were allocated too little time to do the job properly. Nearly half of them received no initial training when they started the job, and nearly two-thirds had no oversight from external experts.<\/p>\n

And most are hired as generalists, which means they don\u2019t get specific on how to teach particular subjects well.<\/p>\n

What our model looks like<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Unless something changes, we should expect this disconnect to continue. This was recognised in two recommendations in the\u00a02018 \u201cGonski 2.0\u201d report<\/a>: better teacher career paths, and more effective teacher professional learning. Our new report shows how to do both in one go.<\/p>\n

Our model would create two new types of teaching job, with an elite cohort of 2,500+ Master Teachers and 20,000+ Instructional Specialists. That\u2019s enough for three Instructional Specialists in a typical primary school, and nine in a typical secondary school.
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Grattan Institute<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Master Teachers would work across schools as the overall leaders in their subject. They would mentor and support Instructional Specialists, who work in schools to develop and support other teachers. And they would do this at scale: we are proposing one Instructional Specialist for every ten teachers, and one Master Teacher for every eight Instructional Specialists.<\/p>\n

The new roles would help spread evidence-informed teaching practices, and generate new research in high-priority areas.<\/p>\n

These are big roles and should be paid accordingly: Instructional Specialists up to A$140,000 per year ($40,000 more than the top standard rate for teachers) and Master Teachers $180,000 per year.<\/p>\n

And to do the job well, Master Teachers and Instructional Specialists need to have the right skillset:<\/p>\n