Testing Teachers: The Documentary

In Australia, children from low income households are almost three years behind students from high income households. Fortunately, it is possible for students to catch up. Quality teaching and school leadership are critical contributors to breaking the cycle of disadvantage.

This April on SBS, Testing Teachers will follow the experience of six Teach For Australia teachers in their first years of teaching as they confront Australia’s education gap head on.

Follow the action.

A new SBS three-part documentary series will explore the wide and varied challenges facing students, teachers and schools in low socioeconomic communities.

Follow Emmanuel, Fiona, Kitty, Sasha, Stephanie and Will who teach across three schools in outer metropolitan and remote Australia. The documentary captures their experiences across 12 months of completing our two-year teacher training and leadership program.

There will be challenges but each teacher is supported by experienced colleagues, professionals and others who you’ll meet along the way. The teachers are also equipped with key competencies, such as resilience and a commitment to making a difference in children’s lives.

We thank participating students, parents, teachers, principals and communities for inspiring people to stand up and take action.

In Australia today, the postcode you’re born in can radically impact your entire future.

Watch this animation for a snapshot of educational disadvantage in Australia:

Children who are from low socioeconomic backgrounds, are Indigenous Australians, from a rural or remote community or from a refugee or asylum seeker background are more likely to face additional barriers that impact on what they can achieve at school and in life.

• Indigenous Australian students are, on average, six times more likely to be below national literacy and numeracy standards than non-Indigenous Australian students across all year levels.
• Students from rural or remote communities are less likely to attend school and university than their metropolitan peers.
• Many students from a refugee or asylum seeker background are placed in a grade level based on chronological age that does not match their educational attainment level, resulting in many students leaving school without the basic literacy skills required to realise their potential as an adult in society.

Without addressing the barriers these students face, the gap in academic achievement often grows over the course of their education.

This is educational disadvantage and we must tackle it.

Despite the barriers that children from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds face, it is possible for them to catch up. Quality teaching and school leadership are key.

In Australia, students taught by the highest performing teachers have been found to learn as much in six months as what the lowest performing teachers accomplish in a year (Leigh, 2010).

We need high-quality teachers in classrooms and strong individuals leading our schools who are dedicated to supporting students to succeed.

To support teachers and leaders, as a country we need to:

• value teaching as a profession;
• ensure new teachers work in a supportive environment;
• support student learning in a way that we know works; and
• develop teachers as leaders.

With a good education, an individual’s employment opportunities can improve, so too their health and wellbeing. For Australia, improving teacher effectiveness could cause economic growth to increase by AU$90 billion by 2050.