The Teachers Are Blowing Their Whistles!

Results from a James Cook University maths and science forum suggest that teachers are "clearly angry" about the time wasted on finishing assessment tasks.

"Teachers have an incredibly complex assessment system. It's time-consuming to implement," Professor Peter Ridd of James Cook University's School of Engineering and Physical Sciences told The Sunday Mail.

One teacher told the forum that the assessment process had become so complex that it took up a huge amount of time and mental and emotional effort.

"I feel almost sick when I try to write and mark my senior assessment tasks."

Marking papers, not low pay, is the frustration, Paul Weston, The Sunday Mail, 2 August, 2009.

I was a research scientist who has also taught in Queensland schools for a number of years.

One of my strongest memories of that job ( among the many happy ones of working with a bunch of committed professional altruists and marvellous young people) is the sheer brutal assessment workload built into the Queensland system in high school mathematics and science subjects.

Not many professions repeatedly require what amounts to 18 hour shifts 7 days a week for weeks at a time in the lead up to absolutely inflexible assessment and reporting deadlines - for the rate of pay and working conditions offered to teachers.

This part of the job certainly needs reform if we want to keep good science and maths teachers in our schools.

Steve, Readers' Comments, Marking Papers, not low pay, is the frustration, Paul Weston, The Sunday Mail, 2 August 2009.