Over the rainbow : a rewarding career structure

Lawrence Ingvarson, ACER
Elizabeth Kleinhenz, ACER

Abstract

Historically, there has been little gold at the beginning or end of the career rainbow for teachers, and not a lot of colour in between. Until recently, teachers who wanted to advance into leadership positions were obliged to give most of their attention to management and administration. Because the teaching knowledge base was devalued, many teachers saw little point in trying to become skilled practitioners of their craft. Systems tend to reward what they value, and it is difficult to escape from the conclusion that, in terms of reward, the value placed on excellence in teaching has been very low. Now, however, there are encouraging signs that this situation may be about to change, as education systems come to recognise the importance of attracting and retaining teachers of quality by establishing more appropriate, educationally sound, and rewarding career structures.