Reports in the New York Times advocate improving public schools in the United States by raising the status of the teaching profession. Strategies recommended include recruiting more qualified candidates, training them better and paying them more.
The article is based on a report into comparative educational systems by Andreas Schleicher, who oversees the international achievement test Pisa. Schleicher reports that top-scoring countries like Korea, Singapore and Finland recruit only high-performing college graduates for teaching positions, support them with mentoring and other help in the classroom, and take steps to raise respect for the profession.
Teaching is demanding and challenging
“Teaching in the U.S. is unfortunately no longer a high-status occupation,” Mr. Schleicher says in the report, prepared in advance of an educational conference that opens in New York on Wednesday. “Despite the characterization of some that teaching is an easy job, with short hours and summers off, the fact is that successful, dedicated teachers in the U.S. work long hours for little pay and, in many cases, insufficient support from their leadership.”
I am sure that this sounds familiar to educators in Australia. Read the article CLICK here