Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I congratulate and commend Racquel O'Connor, the principal of Mabel Park State School, in my electorate for convening a symposium last week on attracting, retaining and developing teachers in Logan—a particular challenge for low SES areas. I was pleased to be able to participate in the opening sessions and delighted to see representatives of the council, state parliament, unions and universities and local principals there.

In some schools in our community close to half the teachers are on short term contracts—which means a scramble each term, lots of churn and a lack of continuity in the classrooms. The difficulty in attracting teachers arises out of a whole lot of issues, some of them around perceptions of our area which a lot of good local people are working hard to turn around. Compounding these issues, retention and development are compromised by a range of factors, including lack of flexibility, time and opportunities for capacity-building and support. These are huge issues for my community, because good teachers make a big difference to the lives of our young people. We heard one statistic that showed that teachers can account for around 30 per cent of the difference in student performance and a teacher in the top 10 per cent can do in six months what a teacher in the bottom 10 per cent takes a year to achieve.

I want to see the very best teachers in our local schools. Logan should be the first choice for teachers motivated by the chance to make a real difference. Right now not enough high-performing teachers and graduates are choosing Logan schools, and I will work tirelessly with Racquel and with all the others at her symposium to fix that.