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Education, Employment and Workplace Relations portfolio

The Hon Julia Gillard MP

Minister for Education. Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations

Minister for Social Inclusion. Deputy Prime Minister

26 May, 2008

Transcript

Radio Interview Am (ABC), 8am Monday, 26 May 2008

BCA Teaching Talent report

TONY EASTLEY:

The Federal Government is doing its own research into teachers' pay.

In its first budget it set aside $400,000 for a research project with the states and territories on teacher quality and pay.

While New South Wales Education Minister John Della Bosca has dismissed the Business Council paper as "unfunded" and "unworkable", his federal counterpart, Julia Gillard, welcomes the report.

She's speaking here with Alexandra Kirk.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: Julia Gillard, do you agree that as a basic principle, you need to pay teachers more to improve the quality of education and to keep good teachers in the education system?

JULIA GILLARD: I certainly agree we've got a problem with attracting the best and brightest to go teaching and we've got a problem with retaining senior teachers in front of classrooms. Now, to fix that problem requires us to have policies all the way through from how to inspire people to go teaching, through how to better reward teachers, better value teacher excellence and keep the best teachers in front of classrooms.

The Government's already working hard in this area, we've entered an historic agreement with state and territory governments to work together on improving teacher quality, and we will deliver agreed new policies by December this year.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: Are good teachers worth as much as $130,000, as the Business Council of Australia study shows?

JULIA GILLARD: I've read the Business Council of Australia report and I'm pleased to see that it is broadly an endorsement of the Government's work in this area and an endorsement of the need for an Education Revolution, including in teacher quality.

Of course, as the Government works with our state and territory governments, we'll be working through costings in this area, so I'm not agreeing to any individual figure when government works on new policies they've all got to be properly costed.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: The pay for top teachers, in for example, NSW and Victoria, is capped at about $75,000. Does that need to be lifted significantly if Labor is serious about an Education Revolution?

JULIA GILLARD: We certainly need to be looking at ways of valuing teacher excellence and I think everybody would be concerned that the evidence shows a lot of teachers leave teaching mid-career. Now, we need to work through all of the factors that feed into that.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: And you would agree that the cap needs to be lifted?

JULIA GILLARD: What I'm agreeing is that we need to work on teacher quality and teacher retention. We need to find ways of valuing teachers who are teachers of excellence because we want to keep the best teachers in front of classrooms.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: That would mean paying them more, at least?

JULIA GILLARD: It means working through reward structures which are about teaching excellence, and that is what we've agreed to do with state and territory governments, as we work towards these new policies to be agreed in December this year, for implementation as soon as the next school year.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: What about some standardisation between states on teachers' pay?

JULIA GILLARD: Basic wage rates for teachers, the core wage rates are going to be agreed by those who run schools. So, of course that's state and territory governments, it's the Catholic system and it's independent schools. I think it's important to have a unified approach to national registration. I think it's important to have a national cooperative scheme on teacher quality and that is what we're working towards.

TONY EASTLEY: The Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard speaking with Alex Kirk.

ENDS

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