Building bridges of spaghetti is not enough

Taking matters go from bad to worse, to make an application to teach in a Queensland state school the submission would have to include the identical documentation (all certified) that was already submitted to the Queensland College of Teachers; a parallel and burdensome ordeal.

After years of professional development often paid for by the school, losing the maturity of experience and leadership qualities of teachers long before retirement makes no sense. Not to mention the devastating loss of mentoring that skilled senior teachers provide for our student teachers and the crumbing foundation behind our university teacher training programs, particularly in physics.

Although teacher renewal is important, there is little incentive for experienced teachers to return (or stay) when the demands inherent in the system require it. This outdated system does little to generate any level of enticement to pick up the chalk once it has been put it down, even on a part time or casual basis. Whether our skills are in demand or not, once out, physics teachers stay out.

Try as it has, the educational bureaucracy has failed and we are not listening. Longstanding calls to teach based on the love of teaching or the inspiring of young minds has proven patently unsuccessful - it is not compelling enough.

If the very calibre of teacher we desire to teach difficult and technical subjects like physics and mathematics is choosing not to teach, then many features of education need to change before they choose otherwise. The compulsion to change ought to rest within the system.