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 |  Subject: OZschwitz shock: Schools to trial merit-based pay  Tue Jul 08, 2008 8:23 pm | |
| PRIVATE school teachers would be eligible for performance bonuses of up to $10,000 under a contentious push to pay staff based on merit, and not just years of service.
In a radical move, seven Victorian independent schools are set to trial a new performance-based pay system that would assess teachers through a rigorous set of criteria: from "peer reviews" and leadership roles, to professional development and student improvement through test scores or school surveys.
Principals will initially select the teachers who can take part, but in a bid to avoid favouritism or corruption, the teacher's performance will be evaluated against the key criteria by an external panel — similar to the model that operates in the US.
The new scheme would be a significant shift in Victoria, where performance pay has been resisted, partly because of the difficulties in accurately tracking student improvement to the performance of a specific teacher.
Last year, when then federal education minister Julie Bishop attempted to start a range of pilot programs for merit-based pay, she was shut down by the states and teacher unions, which branded her push ill-conceived and ideologically driven.
But Michelle Green, chief executive of the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria, which is driving the program, said rewarding top teachers could lift classroom standards.
"Investing in teachers is a way of improving learning and we believe it could be more cost-effective than other strategies such as lowering classroom sizes," Ms Green said yesterday.
The association has remained tight-lipped about which schools have signed up to the program, or what each performance bonus would be worth.
The Age believes that, based on similar international schemes, teachers who take part could be eligible for bonuses of between $2000 and $10,000 — in addition to their annual salaries — depending on the size of their school.
The plan has been sent to the federal Education Minister's office for consideration.
The Federal Government has been asked to contribute to the cost of a $100,000 project officer to manage the program, which is expected to begin this month. A spokeswoman for the federal minister, Julia Gillard, declined to comment on cost details.
The spokeswoman said the Government was working with state authorities to "attract, train, reward and retain the best in teaching — particularly in subject areas and geographic areas where there are shortages".
"It is the minister's firm belief that the quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers," the spokeswoman said.
A researcher for the independent schools, Dr Gerard Calnin, said the performance-based pay model would assess teachers on four key elements: a standards-based component (peer review and assessing teachers against national standards); professional development (extra training teachers have had and how this has affected their class); contribution to the learning community (the leadership and mentoring roles teachers have undertaken); and performance evaluation (in which teachers must demonstrate how their teaching has improved student achievement).
But the program has already met resistance, with Victorian Independent Education Union general secretary Deb James saying it could be problematic.
State Opposition education spokesman Tony Smith commended the independent schools "on their commitment to do something on this issue rather than simply talk about it".
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