RECOGNITION KEY TO TEACHER MOTIVATION

RECOGNITION KEY TO TEACHER MOTIVATION

11/06/2015

NSW, AUSTRALIA

As the states push for the reinstatement of $30bn in lost Gonski funding and Education Minister Christopher Pyne argues that teacher training and curriculum are the keys to fixing the problems facing Australian education, a more fundamental issue has been largely ignored.

“The simple act of showing that you genuinely appreciate your teacher can make an immediate and significant difference,” says NSW Teacher of the Year Awards 2015 organiser Colin Newell. 

“Parents know the impact it has on them when their own children give them an unprompted compliment. Similarly, a teacher’s motivation is positively impacted when they get praise from their students”

Australia’s data from the most recent OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey found a strong statistical link between positive teacher-student interactions and job satisfaction. Mr Newell believes that this is a key part of addressing a range of issues, from teacher attrition rates to behaviour management concerns.

“When a student lets you know that they genuinely appreciate what you’re doing, it makes an enormous difference to your work. We’ve had teachers in tears after being told their students took the time to nominate them for these awards and they all say it has affected the way they feel about teaching”

On average, Australian teachers work 43 hours per week, with almost a quarter of teachers working more than 55 hours on a weekly basis. However, the demands of modern teaching make it unlikely that workloads are going to decrease and linking pay rates to performance is also a troublesome solution, says Mr Newell.

“Saying that you’ll pay teachers more when they get better results is not a solution because there’s not a linear relationship between a teacher working harder and a student getting higher marks; you have to convince the students to want to change. And bonuses for providing extensive evidence of your excellent teaching is also an issue because it incentivises sacrificing preparation time in order to gather and organise paperwork”

Mr Newell argues that although it is vital for salaries to grow in response to the growing of the job, teachers are not motivated by financial rewards when it comes to improving their teaching. He believes that the first step is to show that you recognise the current hard work of teachers you know.

“Acknowledge those teachers today to let them know that all their work is not going unnoticed. It's free and it can make all the difference”

The NSW Teacher of the Year Awards for 2015 are open for nominations until 19th June. Nominations can be made by students, parents and teachers at www.nswteacheroftheyear.com.au.