Acer Study and Teachers

We see in the ACER study conducted in 2010, in table 8.1, that schools in low SES areas have a high percentage of early career teachers. These teachers are generally only there because they have to be, in order to gain their ‘points’ so they can move to a ‘better’ school. These teachers often have the attitude that the children they teach from low SES areas will never amount to anything and see their situation as a problem that needs to be fixed, rather than an issue that needs to be resolved with cooperation from both sides, there is a distinct difference between the two. This results in an increase in resentment and therefore a decrease in motivation to learn. We must not forget however, that there are those teachers who genuinely care for and are willing to work with the students affected by low SES, as we see in the Munns et. al. article. The ACER study highlighted the difficulty of gaining experienced and more importantly, willing, teachers to work in low SES schools because of the stigma placed around them. That is, the school is filled with kids who do not care about their education and will not respect the teacher. Because of this stigma, the teachers with the skills required to effectively work with these kids are not being placed where they need to be, which only exacerbates the situation. Thus, whether positive or negative, low SES school communities operate though some form of conflict.