Mr Daryl Brooks 1

Submission to:

Inquiry into Effective Strategies for Teacher Professional Learning

Education and Training Committee

Parliament of Victoria

Presented by

Mr Daryl Brooks

Schools Director Resource Ed Personnel Pty Ltd PO Box 397 MONBULK, Vic 3793 Ph: 9752 1730 Mob: 0409 416 457 Email: delb@redp.com.au www: www.redp.com.au

President TANVIC - Teacher Agency Network of Victoria c/o PO Box 397 MONBULK, Vic 3793 Ph: 9752 1730 Mob: 0409 416 457 Email: delb@redp.com.au www: www.tanvic.com.au

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1. Personal Background Following 20 years of classroom teaching and 10 years of principalship with the DEECD, I am now a Director of Resource Ed Personnel Pty Ltd which provides recruitment and placement services to schools and teachers nationally. I am currently chairing the Teacher Agency Network of Victoria, an incorporated association of businesses providing similar services to Victorian schools, other employers of educators, and to casually employed relief teachers. My prior experience relevant to this Inquiry includes teaching for the Central Regional Board of Education in Scotland in 1978, and service as an International Teaching Fellow in 1993 in California, USA, on an exchange basis. I managed the Boronia Education Centre in Victoria for three years in the early 1980’s during a period when Commonwealth and State funds were being allocated by local Management Committees for the coordination of in-service education programs through Teacher and Education Centre delivery, and I chaired the Teacher Education Centre Association of Victoria for two of those years. Whilst teaching in rural Victoria for five years I contributed to local Area Management of the Country Education Project which supported the professional and learning needs of school communities in the Goulburn North-Eastern Region. In principalship I was responsible for the implementation of government policy related to school and teacher Professional Development planning and Performance Management of staff.

2. Introduction In my current roles in the education and recruitment industries I continue to develop and provide Teacher Quality initiatives through Professional Learning programs and Performance Management systems for active and aspiring non-school based teachers who are seeking and acquiring occasional (casual and contract) teaching in Victorian schools. These teachers include retired, classroom-experienced, returning, newly-arrived, beginning or visiting international (Visa sub-class 417 from Canada & UK) teachers who are all new to the role of casual relief teaching in Victorian schools, as well as those many experienced relief teachers who have chosen relief teaching for other professional or lifestyle reasons, and who value currency in their professional learning. I welcome the opportunity to make submission to the Inquiry by offering:- - an outline of the initiatives that have been implemented specifically for relief teachers - insights into collaborative partnerships that have emerged most recently - examples of programs being offered and delivered - evaluative data from relief teachers themselves - identification and analysis of existing factors impacting on the provision of PL for relief teachers - consideration of models for resourcing, and - further consultative opportunity for determining criteria for priority eligibility These are presented consistent with the framework of the Terms of Reference.

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3. Teachers Represented Resource Ed Personnel is a member of the Teacher Agency Network of Victoria (TANVIC). TANVIC is an incorporated association of 10 of the major recruitment/booking agencies in Victoria that specialize in the education sector. Some teacher agencies in are yet to affiliate with the association as they may be quite localised, limited in their service provision or not yet attracted by the value of professional affiliation. TANVIC member agencies service a growing number of schools in Victoria at all levels – pre-school, primary and secondary, and in all education systems – government, independent and registered. 2008 members include: *(Refer Appendix 1. TANVIC Pamphlet p2 - Resource Ed Personnel - Essential Personnel - Teachers Relief Services - Standby Staff Teachers - Mosaic Personnel - Primary Education Management - Southern Teaching Services - Emergency Teacher Agency - Inspired Teaching Solutions – Education Centre Gippsland TANVIC has strong consultative links within the wider education community and in particular liaises closes with the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) and the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) on all things educational, but with particular relevance to the casual replacement teacher (CRT). TANVIC agencies demonstrate respect for VIT and DEECD policies and procedures and how they impact on relief teachers and school staffing policies and processes. TANVIC is an excellent vehicle for relief teachers wishing to create and/or broaden their own professional networks. Teacher agencies have a powerful capacity to introduce many teachers to numerous schools, and to identify best-suited matching with great efficiency. TANVIC agencies understand well the variety of needs of their different school clients. They have membership agreements or contracts in place with their schools/teachers wishing to engage their services, with mutual professional obligations specified. All agencies operate according to the association’s Code of Practice and meet all legislative requirements as recruitment, booking or placement agencies. The Association of School Councils of Victoria (ASCIV) is supportive of the value offered by the principles of TANVIC membership eligibility from an industrial and legal perspective. By the very nature of casual and contract employment the transience factor of teacher availability is significant. In its 12 years of operations Resource Ed Personnel (REdP) has registered in excess of 2600 teachers all of whom met current eligibility requirements of the profession at the time of their enrolment. 266 new relief teachers registered with REdP in 2007. Since inception our policy has mirrored the requirements of the Department of Education, including satisfactory Health and Criminal Records Checks, and today we require evidence of eligibility from current registration with the VIT to clearance of applicant nomination through collaboration with the DEECD Conduct and Ethics Branch prior to any initial placement. All legislative and regulatory requirements of teacher employers are respected, including Superannuation, WorkCover and Professional Liability insurances.

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School client demand for relief teacher agency services is seasonal with Term 1 being historically the period of least demand, along with later in Term 4 in secondary school settings when assessment processes are implemented in the upper years, and student attendance requirements reduce. School client numbers also vary as schools move between contracts with various agencies, and many schools engage the services of different agencies concurrently. Similarly, teachers may be engaged by multiple employers within any given period and may adjust their availability at short notice for contract or casual offers. Given the frequent and significant fluctuations above, average placement figures can be regarded as indicative only. REdP alone annually engages an average of 650 different teachers per year, and this figure has been on steady increase. REdP pays fortnightly somewhere between 200 and 250 teachers throughout the majority of the year. Figures from the broader industry are yet to be gathered nor analysed by TANVIC, but data gathered from schools by DEECD may well be accessible and valuable to the Committee in quantifying overall levels of teacher agency activity. The teachers vary in background and experience as previously listed, and their aspirations vary. We engage:-

- Job Seekers - those looking for temporary day-to-day work or short-term contract placements for up six months in any one placement

- Career Aspirants – those intending applying for substantive positions of greater than six months in duration

- Career Relief Teachers – those who choose the simplicity, efficiency and lifestyle of relief teaching, who prefer to maximise their earnings by having a single, or very few, employers providing as much work as they need or want in preferred schools on preferred days in preferred subject and year levels, and who choose teaching roles which are relatively free of the administrative and organisational complexities of other school business or obligations

Accordingly, the Professional Learning needs of these teachers vary enormously, and differ little in range and complexity with those of teachers based in the schools in which the relief teachers work. Their dislocation from base school or agency affiliation because of the casual nature of their employment can distance, and sometimes isolate, these teachers, an issue well recognised in the efforts and initiatives of the VIT and teacher agency employers.

4. Estimate of the Impact of PL on Demand for CRT’s REdP estimates conservatively that on the basis of an average number of teachers per client school at the rate of four of seven annual “entitled’ relief teacher days specifically designated for school and teacher Professional Learning sessions, our company alone provides relief teachers to cover the absences created by 18,000 Professional Learning days annually for school-based teachers in its client schools.

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5. Professional Learning Opportunities Currently Available to Relief Teachers Resource Ed promotes Professional Learning opportunities through its web site and Newsletter circulation. An overview is provided in this section. Of particular interest and concern to relief teachers is the scheduling and cost of the offerings. Many Relief Teachers look to “out of hours” programs so that casual teaching days are not lost to them financially. Evening seminars and workshops are most popular, along with those provided on Saturdays, in school vacation times, or at times of the year when opportunity for work is less abundant (i.e. early in Term 1, in the early weeks of each school term, or late in the school year in the case of secondary relief teachers). The costs can be prohibitive for many relief teachers in terms of their personal budgets (some single day programs are the equivalent in cost to 2-4 days salary), and no assistance can be provided, as many schools do, to subsidise or reduce the personal financial burden on their staff members. Many relief teachers restrict their availability and choice to the “freebies”, thereby often compromising the pedagogical purpose and value of their learning. Resource Ed Personnel offers regular Professional Learning through its own induction process, Performance Management System (feedback from initial placements), Relief Teaching Seminars (free to all employees), First Aid Training, Staff Meetings, CV and Resume Support, Newsletters *(Refer Appendix 2. Sample REdP Newsletter) and promotions for, and referrals to, recommended providers: - Victorian Institute of Teaching: CRT Forums - DEECD, AEU, Deakin University: Returning To Teaching Program - TANVIC – VIT Regional Relief Teaching Seminars - Pdi Online Search Facility - Keys To Success - Australian First Aid - Well Being International - Links Educational Supplies - Relief Teaching Services Bookstore - Macmillan Education - Pearson Education - Teacher Learning Network - Holmesglen Institute of TAFE – Cert IV ESL (Employment) – English for Teachers Of further concern is the relative inaccessibility to trainings on industrial, legislative and regulatory compliance requirements for Victorian teachers which relate to such areas as Mandatory Reporting, WorkSafe, Privacy and Equal Opportunity and which apply to all teachers who work in government schools, even under on-hire arrangements. Schools and DEECD Offices have yet to address the need to ensure that relief teachers working in their schools be included, and is of greater concern if government policy underpins the requirement for all teachers in government schools to access and attend certain briefings. Temporary international visitors eligible to teach in Victoria as relief or contract teachers are initially provided with specific introductory information and advice online from our affiliate web sites Resource Ed Australia and Australia Teachers. Access to local Professional Learning opportunities is available upon arrival.

www.redaus.com.au www.australiateachers.com.au

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6. Professional Learning Activities – Descriptions 6.1 2008 Program of Resource Ed Personnel Seminars and Workshops

*Refer Appendix 3.Program of Seminars & Workshops 6.2 Relief Teaching Seminars

*Refer Appendix 4. Relief Teaching Seminars

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*Refer Appendix 5.Relief Teaching Seminar - Glimpses Summary of Participants’ Evaluations (2007 - 407 participants): High Frequency responses: - “Benefits - What do you Value Most from the Relief Teaching Seminar?”

• Thorough, informative, and very valuable session • Low Key Discipline skills • Classroom management and behaviour • Great resources and websites • Lots of teaching support materials and references • Bag of Tricks • Tools and resources • Gained access to many strategies and skills that could help me • Gained confidence in myself as a CRT • Feeling more comfortable, reassured and prepared • Very helpful for “first-timers” • Great to feel that CRT is a professional career choice • Great refresher from uni – feel more confident as a CRT

“Want More Of” • More time and more information • More information on VELS and curriculum • More information on classroom management and behaviour • More strategies for “challenging” students • More practical hints and ideas • More resources, more handouts • The seminar to be extended • More time to cover more topics • Information about becoming fully registered doing CRT work • IT training and access • Full day workshops • Separate seminar on VELS • More interaction with other CRT’s

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6.3 Introduction to Article in Teacher Learning Network Magazine May 2007

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6.4 TANVIC – VIT – KTS “Leading the Learning as the Relief Teacher” Seminars

Refer Appendix 6. Leading the Learning as the Relief Teacher

Refer Appendix 7. CRT PD Evaluations

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Refer Appendix 8. Joys & Challenges of CRT work 6.5 TANVIC – VIT “Valuing Relief Teaching” In Touch Workshop, BSW Region DEECD Thursday 12th June, 2008 6.6 TANVIC – VIT “Valuing Relief Teaching” Carrum Downs, Southern Region Tuesday 19th June, 2008

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7. Impact on REdP of Current Policies of Authorities

Whilst many individual schools at the local level attempt to open PL to their relief teachers, this does not occur on a consistent or equitable basis because of the transient and occasional nature of relief teaching, and nor in most cases is it a budgeted consideration as it is for permanent staff. A popular view amongst client schools and the systems upon which they are dependent, prefers to consider that the cost obligation should remain on a casual employee or with the agency-employer rather than with the on-hirer, an issue when considering optimal funding arrangements. Only the VIT, teacher agencies and a select few private PL providers are currently offering “relief teacher-specific” PL programs. The VIT offers a range of valuable forums for CRT’s which our agency and TANVIC colleagues support and promote strongly. The Institute represents the sole authority with linkage to all relief teachers in the state, with empirical evidence of PL need and with core purpose to elevate the professionalism and effectiveness of all relief teachers, as it has for all other teachers in all Victorian schools. It is strenuously attempting to offer more PL to relief teachers, which underpins the teacher agencies’ growing association with the VIT in the interests of the industry, the profession and student learning. As evidenced by the content of our REdP Relief Teaching Seminar, our company values stringency for teacher registration and renewal in Victoria, and the requirements formulated by teachers themselves relating to teacher quality and professionalism that the Institute has adopted. The Code of Ethics, Standards of the Teaching Profession and Teacher Code of Conduct provide us with the framework for clear and constructive dialogue regarding the expectations of the work of relief teachers. Our Performance Management System for our relief teachers is underpinned by criteria which consistently apply to all teaching professionals in Victoria, and apply to all professional conversations our relief teachers may have in all schools. As is the case with Resource Ed Personnel, teacher agencies have become the initial providers of, and main conduit for Professional Learning for the relief teachers they engage. We now welcome the VIT online Pdi facility for all relief teachers as it serves as an “e-vehicle” for awareness of availability of PL opportunities for relief teachers. We continue to list ourselves as a provider on the site, and we list and link the site in regular correspondence to our teachers.

www.vit.pdi.vic.edu.au

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8. Optimal Funding Model and Recommendations Given the existing budget pressures, levels of professional disinterest and inconsistency of need, it would be difficult to envisage disbursements of “entitlement” funds to schools, clusters, networks or regions as being optimal. Given also the casual nature of engagement of the relief teacher in a variety of settings over shorter periods of time it would be more difficult to assess in consideration of accountability, how effectively the benefits of the professional learning are being translated. More consistent with current spheres of knowledge and activity, it is suggested that a pool of government funds be:

- designated to support relief teacher PL, - managed by a single authority, and - accessible upon application according to qualifying criteria. The funds would provide for targeted PL to three groups of relief teachers: Group 1 Those beginning as casual relief teachers (more generic in content, and as a prerequisite prior to initial engagement), and Group 2 Those regarded as experienced casual relief teachers after a qualifying amount of relief teaching duty in the role (more specific to the needs of local curriculum and program delivery expectations and eligible to access further resources). Group 3 Those approved as mentor part-time relief teachers contracted by retainer as a supplement to their private salary arrangements providing in-field support and PL to Beginning CRT’s.

Group 1 Beginning Casual Relief Teachers (BCRT’s)would, at no personal cost, be provided with short (1 – 3 days) introductory “Commencement Program” of core relief teaching awareness, expectations, strategies, skills and resources, which enables them upon satisfactory completion, to commence casual relief teaching work in Victorian schools. This program would enable teachers new to relief teaching to commence with basic knowledge and competencies in accordance with the VIT professional framework of Codes and Standards. *Refer to Appendix3: the REdP Seminar for an overview of core components for inclusion in such a course. Group 2 as Experienced Casual Relief Teachers (ECRT’s) could apply to the fund for support in some or all of the following ways:

- Subsidy of % of registration costs for approved PL sourced through Pdi - Incentive sponsorship of up to 50% of one day’s salary lost due to attendance at PL - Access to low-cost, low-interest ICT Notebook purchase plan as per DEECD Program - Entitlement to a CRT internet mailbox service e.g. 112233@vit.crt.vic.edu.au - Free access to VIT approved Online PL training modules sourced via Pdi - Eligible for selection as a Mentor Casual Relief Teacher to support BCRT’s

Group 3 Mentor Relief Teachers (MRT’s) would be VIT-selected and trained to provide in-field support to BCRT. As a part-time responsibility, it deserves a monetary retainer to foster a longer term view and commitment towards such a vitally important leadership role. The VIT appears the best positioned authority to be empowered to design and implement this project successfully.

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9. Concluding Remarks Thank you for the opportunity to make submission to the Inquiry. I wish the Committee well in its endeavours, and look forward eagerly to improvements in those areas of neglect and urgent need, as I have described above. I remain available at any time to provide supplementary information or presentation to the Committee, if required. Faithfully yours

Daryl Brooks Schools Director Resource Ed Personnel PO Box 397 MONBULK Vic 3793 July 26th, 2008