School principals are failing to do anything about poor teachers, according to a damning report which suggests the system for evaluating teachers is broken in this country.
The report, which surveyed teachers and principals in 23 countries, said teacher evaluation and development in Australia is among the worst in the developed world.
Australia is ranked fourth-last for identifying teacher quality, according to the study which formed the basis of the Grattan Institute report, What Teachers Want: Better Teacher Management.
Although Australian teachers have annual reviews, most surveyed said they were meaningless, had few consequences and were largely done to meet administrative requirements.
More than 90 per cent of the teachers reported their principal would not take steps to alter the salary of a persistently under-performing teacher, nor did they feel they would receive any recognition if they improved their own teaching. Almost 80 per cent of teachers in government schools said consistently bad teachers would not be sacked, and 43 per cent said they would be tolerated by the rest of the staff.
Not only did this disadvantage students, the report concluded, it demotivated other teachers.
The report's author, Dr Ben Jensen, an education analyst at the Grattan Institute, said the benefits of good teaching were well known and evaluation was the first step to improving quality teaching.
''A student with an excellent teacher can achieve in half a year what would take a full year with a less-effective teacher,'' he said.
He said although all Australian schools had systems of evaluation and development in place, they clearly weren't working. Teachers believed they were broken.
''Not only is this demoralising … it also implies there is no meaningful evaluation that is required for teacher development and school improvement.''
Of the 23 countries surveyed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Australia was fourth-worst when it came to recognising quality teaching. Those doing a better job include Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Mexico, Turkey, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Poland. The United States and Britain were not in the survey.
Principals also aired strong dissatisfaction in the survey, reporting a lack of teacher preparation for classes as a serious problem, as well as too many teachers losing too much class time to administrative tasks and discipline.
More than one-third of Australian school principals surveyed reported that the lack of teacher preparation was hindering student instruction in their school.
Only Italy, Lithuania, Mexico, Spain and Turkey indicated this was a bigger problem in schools.
Dr Jensen called for development of more meaningful evaluations to ensure effective teachers were recognised and rewarded.
''This should not focus purely on improvements in student test scores. An effective system would include peer review, the direct appraisal of teaching, and teachers' ability to identify and then address each student's learning needs,'' he said.
