Joke? of Victoria, Reader's Comment, Full marks for teachers who make a difference, Dr Tanveer Ahmed, a psychiatrist, The Age, 5 April 2011 http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/full-marks-for-teachers-who-make-a-difference-20110404-1cyir.html? comments=79 Historical link preserved from the original page.
When I was at uni, we Education students were repeatedly told that Australia was facing a teacher shortage. It was a blatant lie.
I'm a Victorian graduate teacher, who studied a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education, and graduated in December 2009.
I've had the equivalent of probably 2 months of casual and contract work in the meantime, and see no chance of furthering my career in the field; there just aren't the jobs out there that we were told there would be.
After being *lied to* by my university over the course of my degrees, I see little hope in going on to further tertiary study, as the current "areas of high need" will probably change in the 3-4 years it will take for me to complete any postgraduate studies.
We Education students were repeatedly told that Australia was facing a teacher shortage, which was a blatant lie then, and continues to be.
While I recognise that certain fields (such as maths, science and LOTE) are high demand, this is certainly not the case across the field of Education.
I'm appalled at the complicity of the university system, the mainstream media and the Department of Education in maintaining this disgusting state of affairs.
So after many years at university, and a full year of waiting and hoping for my teaching career to begin, I'm going back to hospitality.
The pay and the conditions are terrible, but at least no one is going to ruin my career because I didn't kiss the appropriate posterior, or asked the wrong questions of a psychopath with power.
Anyway, I just wanted to write to you and tell you my story, and thank you for providing me with the evidence to make an informed decision on the rest of my working life.
We need people
like you telling the truth, so that the lies of the universities, the Education Department and the mainstream media can be exposed.
( Email sent directly to the Bad Apple Bullies website in April 2011.)
Victoria: dozens of Victorian students have accused their teachers of p_edophili_.
The Australian Education Union has revealed at least 32 Victorian teachers had taken time off work due to cyber bullying since June last year. Historical link preserved from the original page.
A search of the Rate My Teacher website uncovered dozens of anonymous entries by Victorian students accusing their teachers of p_edophili_.
The principals of some of Melbourne's most exclusive private schools are among the teachers singled out on the website, with comments including: "Children of (school), clench your b_ms and don't stop running... (name) is a p_edophil_, pure and simple.
AEU Victorian president Mary Bluett said students targeting teachers on the website and social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace had caused several teachers to quit the profession and dozens more to take time off work.
"Some teachers feel they just can't go back and face the students at the school... ".
Our teacher unions and state governments have to deal with this problem.
Teachers - and principals - must be protected from children's lies.
This is a really big issue for our profession.
It is much, much too easy for a child, a bogan parent - or a malicious administrator - to lie about a teacher and to destroy their reputation, their health and their career.
Teacher quits over cyber attacks, Hamish Heard, Sunday Herald Sun, 20 March 2011: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/teacher-quits-over-cyber-attacks/story-fn6bfm6w-1226024650367 Historical link preserved from the original page.
Victoria: teachers are on contract for the first 5 to 10 years. This makes teaching an unattractive career option for people who have spent 4 to 5 years getting post secondary qualifications.
Each year Victoria graduates 5000 more teacher graduates than are required in classrooms.
Some of these teacher graduates get absorbed by the education system as the year progresses, but many move into other fields.
Teachers in Victoria are on contract for the first 5 to 10 years, which means -
- They have to apply for positions every year. An incredible waste of manpower spending 6 hours writing each application for 10 to 20 positions, then attending job interviews. Each school wastes manpower forming a 5 person selection panel to write position description, select applicants for interview, interview applicants, select successful applicant and document everything in detail for the department spot audit