Mallard Wrong on Teacher Incentives

Labour MP Trevor Mallard's claim that teachers do have incentives to improve their performance because they can be promoted to a management role illustrates how ridiculous our education sector is, ACT New Zealand's Education Spokesman Sir Roger Douglas said today.

"It is absurd that the only way to pay good teachers more is to put them in a managerial role – seeing them spend more time out of the classroom in order to receive a higher wage," Sir Roger said.

"The reality is that the one of the only ways to attract the best teachers to a school is to offer them more money. Currently, the only way to offer them more money is to have them spend more time administering, rather than teaching. It's a national tragedy that our best teachers end up doing very little of it.

"Labour seem concerned that so-called 'rich' schools will poach the best teachers. However, low-decile schools are the ones that receive the most Government money, and yet they are prevented from spending the money on the one thing that will have the most impact – better teachers.

"My Bill will allow Boards of Trustees to control and manage all the Government money that they receive – and if they want to pay teachers more to attract better staff, they will be free to do so. We all want the best education for our children, and this atmosphere of incentive will drive teacher performance, improving the education that our children receive.

"If the Labour Party really cares about the children from low-income households – and not the Teachers' Unions – then they will support this Bill," Sir Roger said.

ENDS