ACT teachers are paid more and have fewer teaching hours than nearly all other states, according to the Auditor-General.
In a report tabled in the Legislative Assembly yesterday the Auditor found also that non-teaching school staff had salaries 15.8 per cent above the Australian average and teacher-student ratios were on the Australian average but below what one would expect in a highly urbanised, consolidated system like the ACT.
Total costs per student exceeded the Australian average by 7.1 per cent.
“”Substantial cost reductions should be possible is the inefficiencies identified in this report were addressed,” the Auditor said.
ACT teachers got a 4.3 per cent pay increases in return for productivity gains. If they did not translate into cost savings, costs per student would escalate further above Australian averages.
Reduced Commonwealth funding would result in pressure to cut education spending.
“”Some potential for cost savings exists from school closures however the major two areas which need to be addressed if major savings are to be made are the number of teachers relative to students and the average salary cost per teacher,” it said.
The Auditor recommended increasing overall face-to-face teaching hours. This could be done by more centralising of curricula development and reviewing all arrangements which result in release from teaching.
The Auditor recommended reducing the average salary paid to teachers.
“”The liberal access to the Advanced Skills Teachers status should be reviewed, as should automatic progression by annual increments to higher salaries,” it said.
The reasons for non-teaching staff having higher than the Australian average salary were not clear from the audit, the report said. Further work should be done to find out why and rectify it.
The report pointed to an improvement in the ACT’s position between 1991-92 and 1992-93 compared to the other states and territories.
The report said there was no accountability process in the ACT system to assess the quality of teachers in any systematic way.
“”In the absence of data of this kind the audit was dependent on the opinion of teachers, students and parents and the general observations made during school visits,” it said.
The report comes two days after the Budget in which the Government proposed the cutting of 80 school-based jobs and 10 administrative ones as part of a 2 per cent overall cut.
It prompted the ACT branch of the Australian Education Union to call for a half-day strike next Thursday.
The Minister for Education, Bill Wood, welcomed the Auditor’s report. He said he would give the recommendations the close attention they deserved.
However, he warned that the report “”deals only with facts and figures and draws attention to significant resource issues. The document does not deal with a large number of other factors which impact on schools and teaching.”
Among other findings, the Auditor noted: “”There appears to be a growing need for school counsellors due to many factors including increasing retention rates of non-academically inclined students.”
Students were somewhat apathetic in standing for election to college boards. However, parents were actively involved in the colleges’ decision-making processes. It was harder to get involvement at college level than primary.
At high-school level parents appreciated the opportunites to be involved. At both primary and pre-school level parents spoke enthusiastically about the principals and staff.
The report said: “”A point made by the primary schools was that the ACT school system relied on the goodwill of teachers and parents to keep functioning effectively but that the time commitment and financial expectation of both groups had escalated so much over the part five years that there was a level of frustration building up that was concerning.”
There was a high level of satisfaction of curriculum, both in range and content.
Teachers at all levels expressed concern about funding levels, information technology and career development.
Mr Wood said he was pleased at the community satisfaction with schools and teachers.