Reward payments for teachers
Julia Gillard,Simon Crean
posted Monday, 9 August 2010
A re-elected Gillard Labor Government will implement reforms so every classroom teacher in the country will be eligible for a bonus payment under a new performance framework.
Federal Labor knows that great schools are created by great teachers and believes that great teachers deserve to be recognised.
Australia’s first national system of performance assessment and pay will provide the funding and the process to identify and reward the very best teachers.
The national system will be implemented in schools from 2012, with performance bonuses paid based on performance in the 2013 school year.
The first payment will be made in 2014 with funding substantial enough to enable a one-off 10 per cent salary bonus to the top 10 per cent of classroom teachers.
A $1.25 billion investment will be provided for reward bonuses for top performing teachers for five school years from 2014.
The assessment to identify which teachers are the very best will include:
• Student achievement data.
• Contribution to the school community including providing support to other teachers.
• Participation in extra-curricular activities.
One in ten, or around 25,000 classroom teachers would receive a performance bonus in each year under this reform. Bonus payments will be made in two instalments, one in each semester.
Based on current wages, this bonus would be up to $8,100 for our most experienced teachers, paid in two instalments of $4,050. A teacher in the first few years of their career might receive a bonus of around $5,400 dollars.
The Gillard Labor Government will develop a nationally consistent, transparent and equitable performance management framework - the ‘Australian Teacher Performance Management Principles and Procedures’.
All classroom teachers will be required to participate in the new framework which will involve development of an individual performance management plan with continuous assessment of teacher performance. No teacher will have his or her salary reduced.
The method of assessing a teacher’s performance is expected to include:
• Lesson observations.
• Student performance data (including NAPLAN and school based information that can show the valued added by particular teachers).
• Parental feedback.
• Teacher qualifications and professional development undertaken.
The consultation process to develop the framework will also consider how student feedback could appropriately be incorporated into the assessment.
The Principles will be based on the National Professional Standards for Teachers that will be introduced in schools next year.
Assessment will be conducted by a panel including the principal, a senior regional staff representative and an independent third party.
To ensure the integrity and fairness of the process it will also include an independent review and appeals process.
Starting this year, the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) will lead the development of the Australian Teacher Performance Management Principles and Procedures.
The development will include detailed consultation with teachers unions, State education authorities, ACARA, professional teaching bodies, parents and student representatives.
Support will also be provided to the States and Territories to realign current performance management practices to move towards a nationally consistent model, and to implement the new Principles.
The implementation of this initiative will build upon existing teacher quality reforms, including reforms underway as part of the Teacher Quality National Partnership, with the goal of delivering a nationally consistent performance management framework for classroom teachers.
A total of $175.1 million will be provided for this initiative over the forward estimates.
Funding for this commitment will be fully offset over the forward estimates, consistent with the Gillard Labor Government’s commitment to return the budget to surplus in three years.
Further information regarding this announcement is available at http://alp.org.au/agenda/school-reform/performance-pay/
Tags: Education, Gillard, Labor, Schools, Students, Teachers