December 18, 2020

Dunce teachers to be weeded out with tough test

It is certainly a good idea to filter out the dummies BEFORE they do teacher training rather than after.  It avoids big waste of resources.

But no current proposals are going to help the kids in State schools much when all new teachers will be entering what is basically a destroyed educational sysyem.  Smart kids will always do well in any system so it is the plodders and the dummies who need to be looked after.  They are currently being largely failed by the chaos that is common in State school classrooms.

And that chaos both harms the pupil and deters good teachers.  Teaching is not a job for dummies so young people who would make good tachers usually will have many options for their future.  And they just have to look at a typical State school classroom to decide that there are jobs better than teaching

So there is something of a Catch 22 involved:  To improve the education of the kids you need good teachers.  But those who would make good teachers don't go into teaching.  Which leaves mainly the desperates willing to go into teaching.

In short, teaching is a low-prestige job and that is the major dictate governing whom you will get to go into teaching.  You can test yourself blue in the face but if the candidates for teacher training are mostly pretty dim, it it is only dim teachers that you will get. And the current crops of new teachers can be very dim indeed.  You are getting the blind to lead the blind

But teaching has not always been a low status job and  is not a low status job everywhere.  Perticuarly in Asian countries teaching is high status and well-paid.  

How come?  Asian schoolrooms are famous for their high levels of discipline. Teachers are free to teach and do so.  A good teacher likes to teach and in Asia they do

And that is the key difference between their government schools and ours.  In our government systems teachers are  too busy trying to get the pupils to sit down and shut up to have much time for teaching.  And they are even told that it is not their job to get the kids to sit down and shut up. Teachers are not supposed to teach any more.  They are merely learning facilitators.

That all asks too much of most potential teachers so State schools will always remain pits of poor education.

And parents know that.  It is why 40% of Australian teenagers are sent to private schools.  One way or another, such schools provide the sort of good  learning environments that few State schools can equal.  I taught High school in two quite different private schools and had no discipline problems at all.  I was free to concentrate on  my basic task of opening up young minds to the world of knowledge. So there are some dedicated and talented teachers in existence but they will almost all end up in one of our many private schools

So what can parents do who cannot afford private schools?  Their only hope is to get their kid into a selective school or a school in a "good" area.  But what is a good area?  It is wherever well-off people live. Their kids get disciplined in various ways at home so give little trouble in classrooms.  Teachers in such schools can teach.  But again there is a Catch 22.  "Good" areas are expensive so they are just not an option for the less well off.  The less well-off are stuck with government schools

So why are government schools often so bad?  It is purely the Leftist influence.  Leftists have a horror of disciplining kids and they impose low discipline through regulations and other ways.  Once again it is the Left who are NOT the friends of the poor

Shadow Education Minister Tanya Plibersek has told Sky News there must be a higher university cut off to enter teaching courses and potential teachers need to be tested before degrees rather than afterwards.

Dunce teachers will be weeded out before they start university with a tough new English and maths test.

The nation’s education ministers have approved a skills test for school leavers before they enrol in a university degree to study teaching.

One in 10 trainee teachers flunked a similar test after finishing a four-year education degree at university last year.

Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan said the upfront test would save students time and money.

“We don’t want to see students getting to the end of their degree and not being able to graduate or work as a teacher because they haven’t passed the … test,’’ he said.

“The sooner a student takes the test, the earlier they can get support or make alternative arrangements.

“Giving students the option to sit the test before their start their degree will save time and money.’’

Mr Tehan said students who fail the upfront test will still be able to enrol in a teaching degree at uni.

“But it does make them aware that they need to work on their literacy and numeracy skills,’’ he said.

Student teachers cannot graduate until they pass a test placing them in the top 30 per cent of the population for literacy and numeracy.

In 2019, almost one in every 10 graduates failed the online test – 8.3 per cent bombed the literacy test and 9.3 per cent flunked the maths exam.

Each test has 65 questions, administered by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).

The ministerial decree to let students sit the test before signing up to a teaching degree overrides the universities, which had refused to let students take the exam upfront.

However, the upfront exam will not start until 2023.

The federal government will make teaching degrees cheaper next year, to lure smart school leavers into the teaching profession and head off a national shortage of classroom teachers.

The Education Council of federal, state and territory ministers has also agreed to “improve’’ the writing assessment for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 who undertake the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN).

Mr Tehan said NAPLAN was due to go online in 2022.

“NAPLAN is the best tool we have to understand the impact of COVID-19, the long-term trends in student learning and what actions we need to take to improve,’’ he said.

The controversial national test was cancelled this year due to COVID-19 lockdowns. 

https://www.couriermail.com.au/education/schools-hub/dunce-teachers-to-be-weeded-out-with-tough-test/news-story/70981f845b774d62bd0f3da3bd3f187b

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