Ted Ballieu is buying a fight with teacher unions which is long overdue. If only the teacher unions would allow teachers to be graded like every other worker in the economy:
THE worst 5 per cent of teachers could be sacked under a radical Baillieu government plan for Victorian students to match the performance of students in Finland and Shanghai within 10 years.
The provocative proposal will enrage the teachers’ union, already fighting a rancorous battle with the government over its broken promise to make Victorian teachers the highest paid in the nation.
Other controversial suggestions include teachers doing extra days of professional development during school holidays, teachers of hard-to-staff subjects such as maths and science earning more money and principals coming from professions other than teaching.
The government ”vision” paper, to be released today for consultation, says ”bold and sometimes difficult reform” is required if Victorian students are to do as well as those in the ”global top tier”, including Shanghai, Finland, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea.
”For Victorian students to catch up with their peers in the top-performing jurisdictions, our 15-year-olds would need to progress an extra six months in their learning by the time they enter year 10,” it says. ”If we invest in the right reforms to support quality teaching, 15-year-old Victorian students could bridge the gap within a decade.”
The paper says ”exiting” the lowest-performing 5 per cent of teachers and replacing them could alone improve performance by two months. Teachers would be required to demonstrate annual progress – if they were unable to do so within a set period they would be sacked.