Parents make right call on teacher performance pay

Parents make the right call on teacher performance pay

Parents' calls for teachers' pay to be linked to performance, as detailed in Tuesday's Maxim Institute report, are supported by the latest educational research, says Education Forum policy advisor Norman LaRocque.

Mr LaRocque was commenting on the Maxim Institute report which found a majority of parents believe teachers who work the hardest and produce the best results should be paid more than other teachers, and that 70% of parents think standards would rise if teachers were paid according to their performance.

Leading educational researchers, such as Caroline Hoxby of Harvard University* (currently visiting New Zealand as a guest of the Education Forum) and Andrew Leigh of The Australian National University*, advocate sophisticated teacher compensation systems that link - in part - teacher pay and performance, Mr LaRocque said.

"These schemes are not pipe dreams - they are actually being implemented in a number of jurisdictions in the United States right now.

"Teachers are critical to improving educational outcomes in New Zealand. At the same time, the teaching profession is facing important challenges, including an ageing workforce, falling numbers of male teachers and shortages in critical areas such as science and maths. It is time to replace the ageing, one-size-fits-all, industrial-age teacher compensation system, with one that is designed to address today's challenges," Mr LaRocque said.

* For a new presentation by Caroline Hoxby discussing these issues, see Choices, Incentives, Accountability, Professionalism: The Latest Innovations in Education Reform at http://www.educationforum.org.nz/documents/presentations/hoxby_lecture.ppt

* For a summary of a recent report by Andrew Leigh discussing performance pay, see Lifting Teacher Performance at http://www.educationforum.org.nz/documents/e_newsletter/05_05/May05_Performance.htm

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