Indigenous-Education-Review_DRAFT

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Review of Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory Bruce Wilson Chapter Twelve: Workforce planning 16 The Department of Education spends 52% of its budget on employee expenses. Teachers represent the bulk of this expenditure, and as Hattie demonstrates, teachers constitute the single largest variable in student learning where levers for improvement are available (Hattie 2003: 1‐2). Effectively resourcing, planning for, managing and training teachers and other employees is a key factor in achieving educational goals. Yet the Department has no current workforce plan, and there is as yet no effective strategy for the achievement of a number of key workforce goals impacting on Indigenous education. Work undertaken by the review has identified factors contributing to workforce issues facing the Department: the unforgiving geography and demographics of the Northern Territory, and their effect on the capacity to staff remote schools; lack of expertise and experience in workforce planning; uncoordinated and fragmented programs and widely distributed responsibilities for areas of human resource management; and varied and uneven arrangements for the recruitment, training, induction and promotion of Indigenous staff. Learning Lessons The Learning Lessons report identified the high level of reliance on local Indigenous staff in remote schools and the very high turnover of non‐Indigenous staff (Collins 1999:71). Critically, the report identified a lack of policy and strategy to support Indigenous staff, and called for the expansion of the mentoring arrangement to increase the number of Indigenous people in leadership positions (Ibid: 89). ‘Bums on seats’ was the recruitment strategy of that time, and was cited as a key issue impacting on good teaching practice in remote schools. The report argued that improvements needed to be made in recruitment, retention and development of personnel working throughout the education system. Collins pointed out that ‘all things point to the need for a comprehensive recruitment and retention strategy aimed at improving Indigenous education across urban and remote area schools’. Preparation and training, including ongoing professional renewal for teachers and school leaders was a missing area of strategy. DRAFT By 2005 the Learning Lessons status report described the implementation of a range of initiatives targeting professional development for ESL, cross‐cultural awareness and orientation for staff taking up positions in a remote community school. The Report noted, however, that many of the same issues still existed, that the Indigenous teaching workforce was declining and that there was little progress on developing and implementing a comprehensive workforce plan (LLISC: 2005). The workforce now In September 2013 the Department had 4435 average paid full time equivalent staff. This was a drop of 163, or 3.6% from the period 12 months earlier. The bulk of the reduction was represented in 115 nonschool‐based staff, while schools lost 48. Total employees (i.e. individuals rather than FTEs) numbered 4669, down by 4.2%. School based staff were 85.8% of the total employee base and teaching staff 63.9% of the total (DoE, 2013E). 16 Unless otherwise stated, data in this chapter come from the September 2013 workforce report (DoE, 2013E). 105
Review of Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory Bruce Wilson The reductions were concentrated among fixed period employees (those on term contracts). The year saw a reduction in their proportion of the workforce from 30.5% to 25.5%. Among classroom teachers the proportion dropped from 28% to 17.7%. Overall there was a drop in contract employees from 1,434 to 1,159, a reduction of 275, or substantially more than the overall employee loss. The year appears to have seen a significant shift from contract to permanent employment. Indigenous employees represent 12% of the workforce, while the Indigenous student cohort is around 40%. The majority of Indigenous employees are in the administrative and assistant teacher streams. The number of Indigenous employees decreased from 595 to 560 from a year earlier, a reduction of 5.9%. In addition, the age‐grade census for 2013 shows 187 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) Indigenous staff employed through school councils (246 by head count). There is a noticeable increase in the average age of the Indigenous workforce over the years. In the period between 2007 and 2012, there were significant increases in the number and percentage aged over 50. Average length of service of Department employees was 7.4 years, up from 7.0 the previous year, but slightly lower for teachers (6.9 years) and assistant teachers (5.7 years). The year‐to‐year retention rate for all employees was 83.7% (down from 84.5% the previous year). The rate for principals decreased from 96.7% to 86.7%, for assistant principals from 98.3% to 91.7% and for senior teachers from 93.1% to 88.1%. The classroom teacher retention rate slightly increased from 85.2% to 86.3%, though lower in more remote regions. The unexpected absence rate for all employees fell slightly to 7.1%. Assistant teachers had a much higher absence rate at 25.4%, up from 24.4% in the previous year. Of the 42 Executive Contract Officer positions, only one is occupied by an Indigenous employee. A similar picture is provided for Executive Contract Principal positions, with two Indigenous officers out of a total of 106. Indigenous staff make up 3.3% of Senior Teachers 3.3% and 3.5% of teachers. DRAFT Remote Area Workforce The quality of the remote area workforce is one key to addressing the ‘two systems’ issues discussed in Chapter 4. From the days of Learning Lessons, a broad range of programs and resourcing has been put in place to improve recruitment and development opportunities for the general remote workforce and for Indigenous employees. The workforce issues still requiring attention include increasing Indigenous staffing numbers and quality, and the quality and longer‐term tenure of employees working in bush schools. Indigenous employees As part of the Strategic Plan, and derived from the Smarter Schools National Partnership, the Northern Territory Government has a target of 200 Indigenous teachers by 2018. Nutton et al note that: A radically improved and better supported strategy will be needed to achieve the NTG target of 200 Indigenous teachers by 2018, especially if this number is to include a significant proportion of remote Indigenous staff (Nutton et al: 60). Effort has been applied to articulate career pathways for Indigenous employees, but the resourcing and design of initiatives to achieve progression along the pathway are less clear. High profile initiatives such as the Remote Indigenous Teacher Education (RITE) program have faltered, and there is a lack of coordination and consistency across the human resources domain. 106
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