The effect of this stance, as far as the federation is concerned, is to thwart the efforts of principals and the Education Department to identify and retain teachers who are struggling in the classroom. The federation does not seem to realise that it is in the interests of teachers who are having classroom problems to be identified and put on a 10-week support program. At the end of this phase of the program, the teachers are reviewed. If further improvements are needed, another six-week program is available. Only when a teacher fails this program is the matter of dismissal discussed.
Teaching is an extremely difficult job.
There is great satisfaction in it, too, when teachers feel they are making an important contribution to the development of their pupils. There are the rights of students to be considered in this matter, as well. Last year only 14 of the State's 57,000 teachers were dismissed or told to resign for inefficiency. There can't be any claims from critics that the teaching staff in government schools is massively inefficient. The opposite, in fact, applies.