Improvements could be made to the reform agenda for teachers, principals and other school workers that governments are pursuing, according to this draft report.

The draft report - Schools Workforce - finds that governments have initiated a substantial reform agenda to target issues such as teacher shortages, educational disadvantage, and the quality of the school workforce, including inadequate management of teacher performance. While it is generally too early to assess the impacts of these reforms, a small number of additional measures are warranted to build on the reforms and address some problematic initiatives.

The Commission's proposals include:

• exploring more explicit use of higher pay to attract teachers for hard-to-staff subjects andschools
• deferring full-scale introduction of a proposed national performance bonus scheme forteachers until more is known. Instead, small-scale trials of performance pay and improvementsto teacher's appraisal and feedback should be supported
• revising national accreditation standards for graduate entry teacher training so that a courselength of two years is an option, rather than being mandatory.

The report also identifies educational disadvantage as an area that must be a high priority for schools workforce reform. Deputy Chairman, Michael Woods, noted that 'despite a long history of policies in this area, there is a limited understanding of what is most effective. The Commission has therefore called for a comprehensive evaluation of programs that target disadvantaged students, as part of a wider push to embed robust evaluation in the policy process for school reform.'

The Commission proposes that greater school autonomy be accompanied by necessary leadership skills, resources and local governance arrangements. Greater flexibility in the industrial relations regime for school workers is also desirable to accommodate school-level variation in work arrangements.

The Commission is seeking feedback on the draft report, including input on a possible performance-based career structure for teachers. The report will be finalised in April 2012.

Background

On 22 April 2010, the Productivity Commission received a terms of reference from the Australian Government asking it to undertake a commissioned study of the education and training workforce.

The study's focus is on the issues impacting on the workforces of the following sectors:

• Vocational education and training (VET)
• Early childhood development (ECD)
• Schools.

The Commission has been asked to consider and provide advice on:

• The current and future demand for the workforces, and the mix of knowledge and skills required to meet service need
• The current and future supply of the workforces
• The structure and mix of the workforces and their efficiency and effectiveness
• Workforce planning and development in the short, medium and long-term
• Whether sectoral boundaries limit innovation and flexibility in workforce planning, development and practices.

In addition to the issues above, the Commission has been asked to give consideration to factors that have a particular impact on each of the sectors covered by the study.

The third phase of the Education and Training Workforce study is examining the workforce of the schools sector. 

In essence, the Commission will be reporting to the Government on:

• factors affecting the supply of, and demand for, school workers
• whether the knowledge and skills base of the workforce, and its deployment within and across schools and regions, are appropriate to meet the community's needs
• whether policy, governance and regulatory arrangements (in place or in prospect) are conducive to maximising the efficiency and effectiveness of the schools workforce and, if not, what changes may be required.

This issues paper (0) was released on 1 June 2011