Northern Territory Principals Association

Submitter information

Name

Northern Territory Principals Association

Where are you located?

Northern Territory

What type of area do you live in?

Regional or rural

Are you an education professional?
(e.g. teacher, school leader, learning support assistant, teacher’s aide)

Yes

Which sector do you work in?

Early childhood education and care,Primary,Secondary,Special education

What is your occupation?

School leader

Elevating the profession

The actions proposed recognise the value teachers bring to students, communities and the economy.

Neither agree nor disagree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

These actions are tokenistic and not real measures to address why the profession has lost status- teachers are overwhelmed, tired and sick of criticism from media/parents. Is giving out awards really going to attract teachers to the profession?

We propose the following actions:

• Establish an “Australian Educators Advisory Council” to strengthen the voice of professionals in achieving the national goals of education

• Implement a campaign targeted at the public and aspiring teachers to elevate the status of the teaching profession

• Review and clarify the purpose of education and how we define student success

Address the issue of ongoing abuse, harassment and bullying by parents who feel empowered and authorised to constantly criticise teachers and school leaders for decisions made in their schools. although they only represent a handful they cause the most disruption and often schools need to put up with managing these people rather than addressing the abuse they dish out. This could be addressed by a National Anti Abuse process to issue an order or ban from the school for a period of time (eg 2 weeks, 2 months) when they have breached a code of conduct.

Improving teacher supply

The actions proposed will be effective in increasing the number of students entering ITE, number of students completing ITE and the number of teachers staying in and/or returning to the profession.

Neither agree nor disagree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

How will this be implemented equitably across Aust and particularly in the NT?
These actions are fine if your jurisdiction has the funds to do some of these actions.
The NT is the most underfunded jurisdiction with the most vulnerable children (low ICSEA, high first nations, 30% SWD, 49% EALD) in Australia. How is the NT going to compete with larger jurisdictions who have the funds to be able to contribute?
We are a small population with the most vulnerable children and young people in the most remote areas of Australia.
The whole VISA process needs to be undertaken by experts other than the school principal. It is not just fast tracking the process it is also the time taken to complete the process by a school leader.


We propose
• Remove barriers and improve incentives for participation in ITE programs
• Increase the diversity of the ITE student profile
• Recognise previous career skills and experience in pay scales and RPL provisions
• Improve the pay and working conditions for teachers and school leaders
• Require teacher regulatory authorities to facilitate more efficient national teacher mobility
• Remove barriers and improve incentives for suitably qualified international teachers to teach in Australia
• Require ITE providers to align course provision with identified workforce supply trends

Strengthening Initial Teacher Education (ITE)

The actions proposed will ensure initial teacher education supports teacher supply and quality.

Neither agree nor disagree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

LANTITE Important that they have the literacy and numeracy skills but what about the qualities and dispositions required to become a quality teacher- such as ability to build strong relationships, work collaboratively, show resilience, flexibility, etc, as with other professions that use this process.



We propose the following actions

• Implement a profession led review of initial teacher education, prioritising the advice of experienced school leaders to ensure that graduates are classroom ready
• Improve the design of professional experience placements through consultation with professional educator associations
• Increase the amount of on-the-job training in initial teacher education
• Co-design with NATSIPA and others, approaches for the attraction, engagement, and retention of First Nations’ teachers
• Include culturally safe perspectives and practices in ITE
• Develop an assessment framework in partnership with the profession to select ITE candidates based on the cognitive, personal, and interpersonal attributes required to be a successful teacher

Maximising the time to teach

The actions proposed will improve retention and free up teachers to focus on teaching and collaboration.

Somewhat disagree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

We believe that we need to do more than pilot approaches Pilot new approaches to reduce teacher workload through a Workload Reduction Fund to maximize the value of a teacher’s time.
every teacher, leader and school already know what are the things which consume teacher time- lets be proactive and take a professional led strategy to reducing the increasing compliance imposed on teachers and school leaders.




We propose the following actions
• Refine the roles and responsibilities of school leaders, teachers, and support staff appropriate to their professional focus
• Resource schools to more effectively enable teacher collaboration, planning, teaching, and assessment
• Demonstrably reduce jurisdictional red tape requirements for schools

Better understanding future teacher workforce needs

How effective are the proposed actions in better understanding future teacher workforce needs, including the number of teachers required?

Moderately effective

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

It is still important that we are attracting quality teachers, therefore the conditional or provisional registration process plays a critical role.

We propose the following actions

• Require state and territory education systems to apply a consistent approach to teacher workforce data collection
• Require state and territory education systems to complete the ATWD rather than individual teachers
• Ensure that the needs of school students inform the design of ITE and ongoing professional learning for teachers

Better career pathways to support and retain teachers in the profession

The proposed actions will improve career pathways, including through streamlining the process for Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher (HALT) accreditation, and providing better professional support for teachers to retain them in the profession.

Neither agree nor disagree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

we propose the following
• Review HALT programs, in collaboration with the profession, to evaluate their effectiveness in meeting their intended purpose
• Provide schools with targeted resourcing to enable induction, mentoring and coaching of teachers and school leaders
• Strengthen training and professional development for middle leaders
• Increase the resources available to support teachers required to teach outside their subject specialty
• Expand initiatives for retraining teachers to teach beyond their subject and sector expertise