Bishop has decided, but ...

... who is the expert??

Media Release

Expert to develop performance-based pay
12 June 2007

The Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Hon Julie Bishop MP, has announced that the Australian Government will conduct a tender process to engage an expert to develop models of performance-based pay for teachers to be trialled in Australian schools.

“To support the introduction of performance-based pay for teachers, I have requested my Department engage an expert consultant to analyse best practice models of performance-based pay, both in the education field and in other professions, examine mechanisms for assessing and rewarding teachers and likely costs, and develop models of performance-based pay to trial in Australian schools,” Minister Bishop said.

“In trialling models of performance-based pay, the expert consultant will work with the teaching profession and the wider school community to refine and evaluate approaches to recognising and rewarding teachers.

“Current teacher pay arrangements are impacting on the attractiveness of teaching as a career, and retention of quality teachers within the profession. We need to explore ways of creating incentives for our best teachers and move beyond the notion of salary based on time in the job.

“In other professions, performance-based pay schemes are proven to work and are accepted as an effective way to enhance career structures. The time has come for the teaching profession to embrace performance-based pay to reward teachers who achieve outstanding results for their students or who make a significant contribution to school life.”

The Australian Government is committed to ensuring the teaching profession is defined by excellence and that every student has access to a high quality teacher. From 2009, federal funding for schools will be tied directly to quality reforms including the introduction of performance-based pay for teachers to encourage and reward quality teaching.

Is there
one expert who can determine this? If so, who is this expert? What alliances might this expert have? What methodology might this expert use? And are those methodologies going to take into account the myriad of variables that make this issue so complex?