Teaching in the ACT. Do we have a rotation policy?

As a teacher of elective subjects, my biggest issue with mobility is with a teacher’spersonal “ownership” over their subject area; in particular, physical resourcing. EVERY school I have worked in during my 10 year career to date, I have had to build up resources (tools, equipment etc) to suit the areas I am qualified to teach in, fit my skills, or I feel are important to that subject, only to be forced out at the end by mobility and having to repeat the process in the new location. Also, in the schools I was in as a contract teacher (ie less than one teaching year) I felt I had no “ownership” of the area and was reluctant to obtain or maintain the teaching areas, as I felt I was merely “holding the fort” for the “real” teacher upon their return to work.

gp said :

Having said that, we are some of, if not the lowest, paid teachers in Australia once each state’s EBA has run its course (for top level teachers). Deputy teachers are WAY behind NSW. Sorry #7 trevar, you been to the union meetings lately? 🙂

Ah, that explains it! Thanks GP. I haven’t kept up with interstate changes or the union because I don’t teach anymore.

MrMagoo said :

Mrs Magoo is a Primary teacher, actually she’s been promotedthis year to DP but that neither here northere for this matter. ACT teachers don’t stay at the one scool for too long, there is a system called mobility which ensures teachersare exposed to a variety of schools and leadership styles. Thus, teachers can share their developed knowledge at a ‘new’ school and also learn new approaches at a ‘new’ school. My wife believes it is a great system, so that teachers don’t fall into relax mode at one school where they have been for many years and also allows schools to have a wide cross section of teahcers coming from vast backgrounds, leadership styles, teaching methodolgies.

Hopethathelps.

Yes, but you also find that schools lose ‘corporate’ knowledge as teachers and higher up teachers constantly get shifted around. I know of a couple of schools where faculties have ended up having to lose every staff member in one go, so the next year you have an entire new staff in a staffroom without an understanding of the school’s operating procedures.
A better system would be one that encouraged mobility by offering incentives, but didn’t force it.

Primary teacher here. Mobility is a great thing simply for the fact that is stops teachers becoming stale, and teaching the same year over and over. Skills and ideas are shared with new schools. We can applying in a transfer round any year we wish, and apply for any positions we wish. Schools can ensure they select the teachers best suited for the school, and their autonomy budgeting. There is some scope for Principals to extend the time a teacher spends in a school if they wish to.

I changed schools this year, and now have 3 extra minutes on my commute each morning, all the way up to 13 minutes driving past other Primary schools onthe way. I plan to be at my new school until the start of 2016, and know my community just fine already.

Having said that, we are some of, if not the lowest, paid teachers in Australia once each state’s EBA has run its course (for top level teachers). Deputy teachers are WAY behind NSW. Sorry #7 trevar, you been to the union meetings lately? 🙂

GP

MrMagoo said :

housebound said :

It is an iniquitous system as it stops teachers from becoming part of their community. The reasons I heard for introducing it were something along the lines of someone in power in DET thinking it would keep teachers on their toes.

The private system has no rotation, and it is a huge advantage. When they get a good teacher or principal, they can hold onto them.

Hang on, by your logic, the schools that can’t attract quality teachers should stay that way? How is that fair? The reverse arguement is that teachers who don’t want to work too hard anymore and there are a few of them, sit back at the same school and never work to freshen up what they are teaching. It’s not a perfect system but it does allow schools the opportunity to have teachers come into the school with a fresh approach.

+1, I wish my high school had rotation so I didn’t get stuck with the dusty old ducks photocopying their overheads from 10-15 years prior.

As has already been said, teacher mobility is a fact of life in ACT schools, for better or worse (and there is both a bit of better and a bit of worse). At any rate, getting moved around doesn’t mean that much in a jurisdiction like ours. The school you move to could, at the absolute most, be only 40 minutes farther than the one you were at, and a move that big is very unlikely. And most teachers get to know their colleagues from other schools better than those in NSW and form lasting friendships and support networks across the system, not just in one school. I’ve worked in both NSW and ACT systems, and there is a much stronger sense of collegiality here, and no old boys clubs like NSW has!

I’m more interested in the statement that the ACT would mean a pay decrease? Comparing NSW Department of Education and Communities classroom teacher salaries with ACT Education and Training Directorate classroom teacher salaries, it looks like she should expect $12,000pa more in the ACT on a standard classroom teacher salary if she’s been teaching for 8 years.

And better still, the ACT ETD doesn’t treat its employees like dirt, which is a vast improvement on the NSW arrangements.

It is an iniquitous system as it stops teachers from becoming part of their community. The reasons I heard for introducing it were something along the lines of someone in power in DET thinking it would keep teachers on their toes.

The private system has no rotation, and it is a huge advantage. When they get a good teacher or principal, they can hold onto them.

Hang on, by your logic, the schools that can’t attract quality teachers should stay that way? How is that fair? The reverse arguement is that teachers who don’t want to work too hard anymore and there are a few of them, sit back at the same school and never work to freshen up what they are teaching. It’s not a perfect system but it does allow schools the opportunity to have teachers come into the school with a fresh approach.

Also wanted to add that if your rellos live in inner western Sydney, IMO there are many many more reasons other than financial ones to move to the ACT. Especially if they are considering having children of their own.

On that note, permanent teachers in the ACT system who take mat leave are eligible to retain their positions (on unpaid leave) until their youngest child is in kindergarten.

AFAIK, teachers are on 5y mobility rotations, with Executive teachers on 8y mobility.

This absolutely does NOT prevent teachers from becoming part of their community. There are many teachers at my child’s school who are enthusiastic members of the school community despite only having been there for one or two years.

Sorry I should have said and I stand corrected on this that mobility is after 6 years for classroom teachers, and a bit longer with School Leader C and B positions. And I’ve broken into venacular, School Leader B is Deputy and C is head of say 5/6 team as an example. AssumeNSW has the same.

Mrs Magoo is a Primary teacher, actually she’s been promotedthis year to DP but that neither here northere for this matter. ACT teachers don’t stay at the one scool for too long, there is a system called mobility which ensures teachersare exposed to a variety of schools and leadership styles. Thus, teachers can share their developed knowledge at a ‘new’ school and also learn new approaches at a ‘new’ school. My wife believes it is a great system, so that teachers don’t fall into relax mode at one school where they have been for many years and also allows schools to have a wide cross section of teahcers coming from vast backgrounds, leadership styles, teaching methodolgies.

Hopethathelps.

It is true. Teachers and principals are moved along every few years. Until recently, new teachers (to DET) get 3 years on their fiorst position, then 5, and so it goes on. Principals get about 5 years in a shcool before being moved on. It changed in the last couple of years, so someone can provide ore up-to-date figures. At one stage, teachers appointed before the mid-1990s were not on this system. This changed also in the past few years.

It is an iniquitous system as it stops teachers from becoming part of their community. The reasons I heard for introducing it were something along the lines of someone in power in DET thinking it would keep teachers on their toes.

The private system has no rotation, and it is a huge advantage. When they get a good teacher or principal, they can hold onto them.