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Please identify the biggest frustrations for the education industry as a whole and also pain points experienced by teachers in the classroom.
Thank you for your question about problems in schools and classrooms in Australia in particular, and in developed countries like the US, UK, and regions like Europe and Scandinavia.
Some key sources I consulted included the OECD education report (TALIS), Sydney University's education faculty, the PISA study, the Australian Council for Educational Research, Teacher Magazine, and news articles,
The short version is that one of the main gaps in education is updating both methods and content to meet the needs of the 21st century. Students are distracted from learning by their phones rather than taking advantage of them. Classes are knowledge focused rather than skill based – and employers are struggling to find hires with the appropriate team work, communication, and technological abilities. Countries like Australia are lagging behind in maths and computing.
As a teacher myself, who has taught in a range of countries, including Australia, I found this research particularly interesting.
Below I go into more detail.
ASSUMPTIONS AND FOCUS
I've focused on current issues (last two years) that are both the biggest issues, and that are of the nature that they could be solved with an app or technology, as opposed to more over-arching social and systemic issues.
I started out by researching Australia, which you said was your first priority, and then have researched the UK, US, Scandinavia, and Europe, or wealthier countries more generally.
I've focused more on primary and high school education than on university.
OVERVIEW
There are significant differences in teaching systems and styles among the various wealthier countries: some have segregated systems (UK and Australia have “selective schools” for students who perform better in exams), some have more private schools and racial inequality (US), and some like Finland are less focused on testing and grading. Therefore, while I've tried to find issues that apply across the “developed” world, some of the below challenges apply more to a selection of countries.
DECLINING INTEREST IN MATHS
Though estimates suggest that 75% of the fastest growing occupations require science, maths, and technology skills, less than one in ten Australian students studied advanced maths in year 12, and the number of females studying maths and science has also “collapsed”.
Australia is one of the few wealthier countries that doesn't make maths compulsory for graduating from high school, and many universities now have to offer maths development courses to support new students.
TEACHERS NEED TO BE LEADERS AND COLLABORATE MORE
After a 2016 study – the Program of International Student Assessment (PISA) found that Australian students were behind in their maths results – slipping since 2000, despite high education spending, headmaster Dr Ian Lambert concluded that teacher development was at the heart of the issue. Teachers feel pressured to stick to the curriculum, but he said “if you push standardised content you get standardised outcomes, and that doesn't inspire the teachers or the pupils." He said teachers need to be more like leaders, who are flexible and innovative.
Andreas Schleicher, the education chief of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said last year that teachers need to be perceived as professionals who don't just deliver the curriculum but who are the “owners of professional standards” - who learn from their colleagues, and have more professional collaboration and autonomy. For Schleicher, the education industry is “about 150 years behind health” in terms of its ability to facilitate collaboration and development. When world leaders debated the issue recently in Dubai, and UNESCO sought to define the teacher of 2030, they found that teaching isn't perceived as being a real profession for “talented people” and that the status of teachers needs to be elevated.
DECLINED READING PERFORMANCE
Finnish education expert Pasi Sahlberg said in October last year that the decline in PISA results (mentioned above) was happening across all developed countries. He blamed it largely on the increased use of smart phones by students.
Sahlberg said that studies such as Growing up Digital in Canada were finding that digital immersion changes the way children think and process information, making deeper learning more difficult.
The solution here though, isn't necessarily to get rid of phones, but rather to adapt and create apps that encourage deeper reading and learning skills.
COMPUTER LITERACY LEVELS LOW
2015 results found that only 55% of 10,000 Australian students tested by ACARA were considered IT proficient. Australia's Teacher Magazine argued in 2015 that Australia's curriculum needs to be brought into the 21st century, and that includes skills in communicating, creating, and using technologies, team work, and problem solving.
In the US, according to NEA Today (2016), students' use of technology (ie smartphones) is tending to distract them from classes, rather than complementing their learning. Teachers often “don't have the techno-savvy to compete with those devices” and aren't sure how to bring education and technology together.
INABILITY TO APPLY LEARNING TO EVERYDAY PROBLEMS
Related to the above challenge, there has also been a long-term decline in the ability of Australian 15 year olds to apply what they learn to real everyday life – according to the Australian Council for Educational Research (2016). Classes are dominated by factual and procedural knowledge rather than applying concepts to real-world problems. School subjects are taught in isolation of each other, and emphasise passive learning rather than innovation. Assessments are based on students' knowledge, rather than their ability to work in teams, communicate, and use technology. Students compete and learn in isolation from each other, even though working environments are often based on team work. Traditional classroom settings still dominate, despite technology transforming learning in other spheres of life.
There is a lack in the availability of testing or assessing of such real life skills, or even of “credible indicators of such capabilities”
TEACHERS LOSING TIME TO CLASSROOM DISRUPTIONS
An OECD report on first world education practices in 2013 (TALIS - the latest version of the report) found that overall, teachers are spending 80% of their time on actual teaching. However, one in four teachers in over half of the countries covered reported losing at least 30% of their time to classroom disruptions and admin tasks. Such teachers could benefit from help with managing classroom disruptions.
Teachers have identified classroom management issues as one of their biggest concerns, and one of the main reasons for burnout, job dissatisfaction, and early exit from teaching. Teachers rely on “controlling” students for compliance, using rewards and sanctions.
TEACHER FEEDBACK SYSTEMS COULD BE IMPROVED
The OECD report found that among developed countries, comprehensive systems of teacher appraisal and feedback that are linked to improving teaching practices and student learning are not common enough. Nearly half of teachers reported that such feedback systems existed just to meet administrative requirements. 80% of teachers get feedback following classroom observation, and two thirds following an analysis of student test scores, but feedback from students and parents is less common, and considered to be less important.
In Australia, teachers are more likely than in other developed countries to be appraised by a mentor or members of the school management team than the principal. Just under half of Australia’s teachers report increased job satisfaction or motivation after receiving feedback compared to almost two thirds of developed country teachers. However, most teachers also felt the appraisal systems were there to meet admin requirements, and under-performing teachers would continue to be untouched. The majority of teachers see the appraisal process as an inaccurate assessment of their skills and practice.
STUDENT LATENESS AND ABSENTEEISM
The Australian Report of the Teaching and Learning International Survey (latest version 2014) found that over two thirds of Australian schools reported that students arriving late occurred at least weekly in their school, and just under 60% of teachers work at schools where student absenteeism is commonplace. The report's developed country averages were 51.8% and 38.7% respectively. Related to this, 10% of schools had intimidation or verbal abuse of teachers by students on at least a weekly basis, and a quarter had verbal abuse among students on a frequent basis. The report's developed country rates for this were 3.4% and 16% respectively.
According to a 2014 survey of Australian teachers, the most challenging things that students do in classrooms are: avoiding working, disrupting lesson flow, disengaging from classroom activities, talking out of turn, being late, and using a mobile phone inappropriately.
Related to the above point, but more applicable to the US than Australia or the UK, there is an issue where in some schools, teachers are afraid of their students. Violence is rampant in some communities, and that's then reflected in the behaviour of students. They skip class, throw rocks at each other. Teachers talk about the need for a “delivery system for resilience” - creating a loving, caring adult and “dissolves the toxicity of shame”.
Further, in the US, a poll from the National Center for Education Statistics found that problems like apathy, lateness, disrespect and absenteeism posed serious challenges to teachers. This happens more at the secondary than primary level.
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT
One in five Australian students don't find school engaging, and the rate drops as students get older (30% of year 7 students weren't engaged, compared to 55% of year 9 students), according to a 2014 Australian Journal of Teacher Education study. Key reasons for this include lessons being too challenging or not challenging enough, boring, or irrelevant.
CONCLUSION
The main issues in Australia and in other developed countries in education are student absenteism, teachers spending too much time on classroom management, the disconnect between classroom content and real life, and the lack of applicable technological, maths, and science content.
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