Teacher training = best school results

Nations with the best student performances have focused on developing a highly trained teacher workforce rather than publishing school results.

Finland, the world's top performing nation in international student tests, has no national system of tests but every teacher has a master's degree and differences in school performance are minimal.

A co-author of the study, Professor Brian Caldwell says school results published in the media could give parents a false impression because research showed that the difference in student performance between classrooms within an individual school is often greater than the differences between schools.

"Teacher expertise is the biggest in-school influence on student performance," he says. "If we are to follow Finland and the Federal Government's intention of creating an education revolution we need a highly skilled profession that knows how to interpret data about a child's performance and knows how to take action if a child falls behind.

"If we have that across all schools, a national testing program becomes superfluous because it won't matter what school your child attends: they will do very well as students do in Finland."

Professor Caldwell, the former dean of education at Melbourne University, says the Federal Government should use its power as the funding source of tertiary places to encourage university education faculties to upgrade their teacher-training courses to a master's degree or equivalent. Almost all teacher training courses now are undertaken as a four-year undergraduate degree or a one-year post-graduate diploma.

"There's a sense of urgency here because we've had about 20 reviews of teacher education over the last couple of decades and there hasn't been much change. We should be insisting that every teacher be very well trained to at least a master's level and not allow any child to fall behind."

The five-year study by Professor Caldwell and researcher Dr Jessica Harris examined successful secondary schools in countries as diverse as Britain and China, including seven government and non-government schools in Melbourne.

It concluded that, despite the differences in culture and student populations, all of the schools shared crucial common practices that led them to be successful. Some of the practices were strong links with neighbourhood organisations, including businesses, and each school was led by a valued and visionary leader.

"Secondary schools in many communities have simply lost contact with their communities," Professor Caldwell says. "School councils were intended to overcome that but they've had a limited impact. If we want our schools to be a central part of community life they need to engage with the wider community. The study highlights the importance of social capital and engagement in the schools that have been transformed."