Page 1683 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 18 May 1994
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Further, it says:
There is mounting evidence to suggest that the traditional patterns of organising, teaching and resourcing in these years is hindering the capacity of schools to equip all students to function effectively in today's as well as tomorrow's world.
I notice from my quick scan of the document tabled by the Minister earlier today, the report of the Ministerial Advisory Council on Public Education, that the structure of schooling is one of the things that they are drawing the Minister's attention to as well.
One of the most commonly referred to problems is the lack of time teachers have to deal with all the demands placed on them. Staff have been expected to take on more and more social responsibilities. The complexities of the demands in these teenage years have increased the burden placed on them. I believe that staff morale is at an all-time low in our schools. Why? Perhaps because they have been kicked from nearly every direction, with little or no recognition of their professional advice and professional confidence.
Teachers know what is needed in their schools to improve education. Every teacher knows that he or she cannot be effective as a teacher if there are too many conflicting demands in the classroom - too many students, too many management problems, too many welfare problems, along with too little support, too little time out for professional development, too little positive encouragement from the community, and a diminishing resource level which implies that the Government has too little regard for them as well. The task of teaching a classroom full of students is demanding enough without constant attacks from the Government on their integrity and professionalism. What stronger way to do it is there than to say, "We do not care. We are going to take away more of your teachers."?
The Minister may well respond that he congratulates teachers at every opportunity, and we have certainly heard him say so; but these congratulations are hollow accolades when his stronger statement is to ignore the teachers at every turn when they categorically state, again and again, the needs of their students, when they focus on the needs of their students. Last year, when they were objecting to possible budget cuts, they went on strike, and I recall the response of the Minister. They were not going on strike for themselves. There was nothing in it for the teachers. Their focus was the needs of their students. Visitors from a European country recently said that they were shocked at the treatment of and conditions for ACT teachers, as teachers in their own country were treated almost with a touch of reverence and enjoyed a very high professional status. I wonder what attitude they have to politicians.
The point is that this Government, in failing to heed the advice of the teachers as well as parents and teacher bodies, has added to the declining morale right across the board in the education system. One can only guess at the deleterious effect that this alone is having on students in our classrooms today. Madam Speaker, I conclude by saying that when Mr Wood became Minister for Education nearly three years ago I remember saying to him, in a private conversation, that the one thing he needed to do was to ensure that he improved teacher morale. I do not think he has done it. I think the challenge is still in front of him.
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