Stephen Pelizzo’s Post

More than 20 years ago I was part of a Department of Education project in the Northern Territory investigating ways to improve recruitment. After exhaustive research, debate and consideration, this remarkably eclectic team presented our findings. Essentially, we proposed that a dedicated unit answerable only to the Chief Executive within the department be established using experienced teachers to actively recruit the most suitable teachers for our context. It was predicated on the idea that recruiting the right people who were retained longer would be more cost effective than cheaper methods, but which resulted in higher turnover. The Executive Board of the department rejected this. They told us that administrative staff using online recruitment and devolving decision making to the lowest levels would be much better and cheaper. And it became so. In my view effective recruitment and retention has been on a downwards slide ever since. Today in the Northern Territory teacher recruitment and retention is in crisis, exacerbated by national and international shortages. Not only do I believe this could have easily been foreseen, I believe there are factors that have contributed to this, for which past and present leadership should take the blame. (there’s an idea bureaucrats and politicians hate).  

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The lead story in the Courier Mail probably won't surprise anyone (at least anyone who is, or who knows, a teacher). I won't pretend that the crisis in teacher recruitment and retention is not a wicked problem, but can I suggest a couple of reasons that aren't really addressed in this latest news report - 1. The teacher workforce in Queensland (and around Australia) has been aging for decades, which suggests that this is not a new problem. The increase in resignations is due, at least in part, to a large number of teachers coming to the end of their careers. 2. The larger problem is why we are struggling to recruit and retain younger teachers. Here, there are many factors, but I think the biggest one could be summed up by the word RESPECT. Somehow, as a society, we need to increase the level of respect for teachers, by students, parents and policy-makers. Pay and conditions can only go so far. School-leavers are more likely to be attracted to a career in education if they know that this is a profession in which their work will be appreciated by the rest of society for what it is - one of the most important, demanding, complex and rewarding careers of all. What do you think?

The biggest myth is that there's a shortage of qualified teachers; the truth is more nuanced. Many skilled educators are exiting the profession, not because they lack the passion or ability, but because the profession itself lacks the support structures that signify respect and provide financial stability. They're seeking workplaces where their expertise is valued, their contributions are recognized, and their financial needs are met—conditions that are essential for anyone to thrive in their career.

The biggest myth is that there's a shortage of qualified teachers; the truth is more nuanced. Many skilled educators are exiting the profession, not because they lack the passion or ability, but because the profession itself lacks the support structures that signify respect and provide financial stability. They're seeking workplaces where their expertise is valued, their contributions are recognized, and their financial needs are met—conditions that are essential for anyone to thrive in their career.

This post hit me hard! I also feel more than financial burdens, there is also the nagging thought of whether a teacher is actually only doing what constitutes a teaching job. Are teachers today exclusively working on only teaching and related tasks or are they drowned also in a deluge of clerical, promotional and marketing activities that are now a part and parcel of the teaching profession especially in HEIs? A teacher chooses the profession to primarily teach, learn and contribute effectively to the subject but is forced to do multiple other activities, thanks to accreditation demands and other committees and rankings that have started to play a big role in meeting the magic numbers demanded by the business of education. While tasks like valuation, textbook writing, research paper publishing and knowledge sharing are an integral part of the teaching profession and lead to growth and subject proficiency and are desirable activities for personal and organisational functioning, most other tasks done by teachers and assistant professors today are merely clerical and can be handled by personnel with the inclination and expertise for such tasks. Take for instance double entry of attendance, marks, internal assessments etc on multiple platforms for digitisation purposes or documentation of events, courses held and reporting tasks for the sole purpose of rankings and accreditations... these tasks require the teacher to possess skill sets that are beyond their subject and can lead to burnout very quickly. It is critical for policy makers and HEIs to rethink the role played by teachers and delegate tasks not in tandem with their vocation to personnel specifically hired for these tasks. A teacher must be allowed the mental space and time to TEACH, else quick burnouts are inevitable. It is high time we reconsidered what should ideally constitute the teaching profession. For isn't teaching after all a vocation that is the very reason for most other professions to exist?

Thoughts about working in Higher Education continued... (Part 3: Politics) This one is a little tricky and discouraging. There's politics in every workspace, every team, every role, right? What differentiates the quality and intensity of politics that happens in higher education? First off, carrying on from the previous two parts of paisa and passion, with the former being a little less and the latter a lot in higher-ed, there is inevitably politics, and an extremely petty type at that. Especially if you're in public-funded higher ed, the tenor of politics can get downright nasty owing to the long-standing concept of ad-hoc and permanent faculty in universities. The moment you designate any role as "permanent" (and it is, like feviquick), you create stability and safety, but also stagnation and exploitation. The permanent, secure in their position, can get away with doing the bare minimum; the ad-hoc, anxious about becoming permanent, will do anything to eventually reach that point of doing nothing. The result? A perfect recipe for textbook workplace toxicity. Imagine this: Your superiors have insane amounts of power, their jobs are unimpeachable, they attained those jobs when the system was a lot more functional and so do not have complete understanding of immediate workplace conditions. You, on the other hand, spend your time oscillating between absolute subservience and sheer panic from overthinking every single action and whether it upset someone enough to lose your job over it. Because you can. You can lose your job for being bad at what you do, being too good at what you do, not being visible enough, being too visible, being seen as too close to one person, not being someone's favourite. These are not far-off abstract scenarios I just dreamt up, but real life experiences. The worst part?There are no checks and balances. "But these things can happen anywhere and do happen everywhere, Sameera", you say. (continued in the next post, sorry this is not clickbait I legit ran out of writing space lol)

Terrific piece in Inside Higher Ed today. Higher education veteran Laurie Fenlason offers timely reminders of the importance of diligent staff stewardship. Over my career, I've enjoyed fulfilling relationships with almost all of the non-staff members I encountered as part of campus communities. But sometimes, I was forcefully reminded that as a staff member, I took a back seat in importance to #faculty and #students, in that order. I didn't quarrel with the basic model - the teacher/learner intersection defines an educational setting - but when the back seat isn't even in the car, that's a problem. In the absence of #tenure, staff live in a vastly different world. Ignoring their needs leads to costly #turnover, loss of institutional memory, and added burden or frustration for faculty members and students alike. The solution isn't complicated. If we treat competent, loyal, committed staff members as essential to the institution's success, we give employees reasons to stay, grow, and lead. It's easy to comfort ourselves by believing staff stay because they're lucky to have a paycheck and, often, great benefits. On the advancement side of the house, this hasn't been true for decades; we've struggled to find and keep strong #talent. Read Laurie's thoughtful essay and consider how we can all contribute to supporting #staff and creating the sense of #belonging that supports #excellence, #retention, and #engagement.

This ties in deeply to how management teams treat staff generally. Overworked, under paid, lack of support, toxic leadership, increasingly longer hours, lack of protection from abusive parents. The list goes on. The industry needs to stop, take a step back and reevaluate how good, dedicated staff are being looked after. What incentives are in place to enhance teacher retention (if any)? What facilities are in place to support mental health of teachers? Usually, the response is that a teacher can easily be replaced. Teachers have become disposable commodities to many institutes.