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Of course not! Public school teachers should not get merit pay? Should the government get merit pay? Should doctors or nurses get merit pay? The list could go on and on. Why are teachers targeted and not any other occupations. It is not fair that teachers are copping all the slack for student's results.

A student's education is the responsibility of teachers, parents and the individual themself. A child's education begins at an early age. Parents need to give their children the building blocks, so they are prepared for year one. Often children come to school and cannot even write their name or recognize letters or numbers. This has a detrimental effect on their education and often leaves student's struggling to survive and keep up. Children need to be exposed to a wide variety of books, well before they reach school. Also each student has to want to learn to achieve the desired results. There is only so much a teacher can do, they can motivate and provide stimulating lessons, but for some student's that is not enough. Some students need to take more responsibility for their education.

In addition, I also believe that teachers pay should not be based on merit pay as they are professional people who studied hard for four years to become teachers. No teacher has studied longer then the other unless they have completed a masters degree in teaching. We all attended and completed the same degree.

Furthermore, if teachers were paid on a merit basis, how would they determine the results? Who decides if a teacher deserves more pay or less? Also every person assesses differently, some have higher standards then others. Therefore if a teacher was assessed on their ability to teach they should be examined by the same person. That is simply not possible. Also have you thought about the varying levels of ability in students in one school. Is it fair or right to reduce a teachers pay if they have the majority of the class on learning support or with learning difficulties? Or is is appropriate for a teacher to receive more pay if their class is mainly gifted?

I agree some teachers put alot more effort in then others, some are more passionate, determined and eager to help students learn. However maybe there is other ways to reward these teachers who achieve high results for their class. But I don't believe for a second that by putting in place merit pay for teachers, that it will change the future of our education. There needs to be a community effort with parents, teachers and students working together to enhance our children's education.

Learn more about this author, Kiran Mckenzie.
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