The NSW government wants to increase the number of highly accomplished or lead teachers in the state almost tenfold in the next three years by making it easier for them to be accredited.
The changes come following a meeting with select teachers from around the state on Thursday, when Ms Mitchell and Premier Dominic Perrottet were told the current process was putting teachers off applying because it was too challenging and took too long. The inquiry's report, published in February last year, said the number of teachers who had managed to achieve accreditation showed the HALT pathway had not developed into a process that adequately recognised the advanced teaching expertise in public schools.
"These announcements are also designed to deflect attention from the real structural issues of uncompetitive pay and unsustainable workloads that see us now in the midst of a teacher shortage that is becoming increasingly critical." Opposition education spokeswoman Prue Car was critical of the new advisory group, which she described as a talk fest that is not going to recruit a single new teacher.
Why? It’s a pointless (time consuming and expensive) process achieving pointless outcomes. Sarah Mitchell is possibly the biggest waste of space in Australian politics - now that is a highly-‘accomplished’ field.