Let's get political.
Engaging with the politics of teaching.
The teaching profession in Australia is currently facing a crisis.
But you already knew that.
On the ground, teachers are in short supply, feel disrespected by the public, work too much, and are planning to leave the profession.
Meanwhile in the land of policy, Australia’s federal education minister Jason Clare seems to be trying to make efforts to “fix” the situation. A draft National Teacher Workforce Action Plan was drawn up with the help of a small working group of educators and officials to develop some actions to address the issue. The draft was released to the public and teachers alike to respond to with comments and critique.
(crickets)
Is anybody out there?
Following the release of the draft National Teacher Workforce Action Plan, there was a total of 661 submissions for feedback.
Based on available data for 2021, we can estimate that there are approximately 300,000 full-time equivalent teachers in Australia (although one could expect quite a significant decline since this data was collected).
Let’s assume for a moment (and this is a bold assumption!) that if all 661 submissions were made by teachers, this comes to 0.22% of the teaching profession actively engaging with policy that potentially has a direct impact on their work.
If we go by this (generous) calculation, that comes to approximately two teachers for every thousand.
If I were to include the number of teachers that are not full-time equivalent (such as casual teachers), this result would be even more dire.
Let’s get political.
A great opportunity arose for teachers to make their voices heard last year that was mostly left to wither away.
Yes, teaching is chaotic and busy. There are many tasks that are urgent and need to be addressed immediately. Maybe teaching is one of the more difficult professions to engage politically with.
Indeed, there are many who don’t even consider teaching a political act.
But how will the teaching profession be heard if the teachers do not speak?
If as teachers we are serious about shaping our profession, we need to find time to speak into policy.
This does not have to be outside of work hours. Speak with your leadership to negotiate time to engage politically with policy initiatives that have a direct impact on your profession and your community.
Be on the lookout for community consultation opportunities when policy is being considered and carve out time to engage, either individually or collectively with your fellow teachers.
I can’t help but wonder what kind of action might have been taken, what policy changes might have been made, if even a tenth of the profession were to engage with the Draft National Teacher Workforce Action Plan.
But that’s not really urgent.
Till next time.
I've had a chance to think some more on this and it struck me about the timing of your piece and it's premise of teachers being more pro-active in the political arena as democratic workers toward excellence in education. I had not long read an article entitled 'System Failure' by Aare.edu.au and also reviewed "Empowering Teachers and Democratising Schooling" (Editors, Heggart & Kolber) at the time of my comments. Since then I've reread Keith Heggart's chapter, "Australian teachers as democracy workers" and the necessity of Australian teachers to be active citizens and democracy workers not only teaching civics and citizenship but doing and being active in democracy and citizenship. Perhaps it is better if I quote from the book itself and let it have the last word here.
The ́ key ́ part ́ of ́ the ́ concept ́ of ́ teachers ́ and ́ democracy ́ workers ́ is ́ that ́ they ́ aim ́
to ́ produce ́ cultures ́ that ́ transform ́ prevailing ́ inequalities. ́ This ́ is ́ an ́ active ́ stance— ́
perhaps ́ even ́ an ́ active ́ transformative ́ stance ́ (Stetsenko, ́ 2015) ́ and ́ it ́ is ́ significantly
different ́ to ́ the ́ notion ́ of ́ teachers ́ as ́ simply ́ transmitters ́ of ́ knowledge, ́ which ́ domi-
nates ́ so ́ much ́ of ́ the ́ mainstream ́ approaches ́ to ́ curriculum ́ design, ́ even ́ in ́ the ́ field ́
of ́ civics ́ and ́ citizenship ́ education. ́
However, ́ even ́ more ́ than ́ that, ́ I ́ would ́ argue ́ that ́ ascribing ́ to ́ this ́ notion ́ of ́
teachers ́ as ́ democracy ́ workers ́ means ́ embracing ́ the ́ idea ́ that ́ teachers ́ need ́ to ́ not ́
just ́ educate ́ the ́ next ́ generation ́ of ́ active ́ citizens; ́ rather, ́ they ́ need ́ to ́ demonstrate ́
active, ́ or ́ perhaps ́ even ́ activist ́ citizenship ́ themselves. ́ This ́ is ́ a ́ step ́ significantly ́
further ́ than ́ most ́ other ́ progressive ́ notions ́ of ́ education, ́ which ́ might ́ privilege ́
student ́ centred ́ or ́ active ́ learning ́ opportunities. Australian Teachers as Democracy Workers 135
Hmm, I wonder if the lack of response was simply because teachers do not feel or think that what they say will be heard and that the question is a courtesy and the government will just do what they want to do regardless? I think apathy and malaise have set in and not because of a lack of passion for education and public education in particular but because there is too much interference from the government in the education arena. The government has a bad track record in handling education issues (We are still waiting for Gonski...for instance) and I believe that education needs to be taken out of the political field altogether and have something like a CSIRO but solely for education not a portfolio at the whim of the voting public, marketization and neoliberal economisation and successive government turnaround. I asked the Facebook site 'What Australia can learn about education from Finland' about the difference between the political involvement in Finland and Australia for education. Their admin teacher trust responded that there is very little political interference in education in Finland, that educators look after education in Finland and there is a union with 95% teacher involvement and they said it is seen as a professional occupation much the same as dentistry in Australia is considered. Food for thought!