Summary: This entry follows on several others (see links below), all of which have focused upon justice--particularly social or distributive justice. In this entry I focus upon concerns which should be addressed when attempting to construct a just compensation system for teachers.Two other soon-to-follow entries will work further with justice and teacher compensation.
What questions should we ask when we evaluate or construct systems of distribution of goods? Deutsch (1978, Distributive Justice) gives a great set of questions to ask about any distribution system and applies the questions to an analysis of options for grading. (Refer to my Jan 2nd entry for a look and for a first take on average teacher compensation systems). I translate Deutsch's general distributive justice process outline to one concerning teacher compensation here (starting at purple number 94.)
Amongst the most important of the many things a compensation package should accomplish or address are :
- that any system be constructed to be very good at accomplishing its purpose and to get better over time, and
- that that system accomplish its ends in an ethical fashion, e.g., without exploiting those who are members or damaging those who it serves .
In response to the item one --good and getting better -- the following are big mistakes:
- hiring teachers without demonstrated ability to produce growth
- keeping teachers who have a neutral or negative record student growth record
- paying teachers in a manner that does not reflect the degree to which students successfully learned in their classroom.
- To give students education that has no specific relation to their individual potential is damage by neglect. To give students less than the growth of which they are capable is, again, damage by neglect.
- Re pay levels of the good teachers that are employed by a district. If a district is part of a community that endeavors to be just and ethical, and if amongst the ethical goals of that community is to nurture individual realization of all members, certainly its children, present teacher pay levels are exploitive. To pay the minimum that one has the power to 'live with' neglects a number of other issues. Pay of all employees should reflect not only ability to pay (which is partly a matter of priority setting) but the values which one is supporting by that pay. If teachers are paid so little, for example, that, both parents must work (leaving children to the latch key effect after school has started, and to daycare centers before school years) is denying a teacher's children the home-based nurturance that most would recommend. Thus low pay levels for teachers (for any?) are exploitive. One teacher's salary (or two teachers splitting one salary) should allow a family (up to 2 adults, 2 children) a moderate living. Anything less is exploitive, giving a districts children better than it allows its teacher's children.
In my next entry I will suggest an application of the Fair Shares principles to the pay of teachers. In the final (the third of the three summaries) entry I synthesize and compare a normal compensation package for teachers with a compensation package based on the Fair Shares approach. (See the Bio-logic entry listed below for a more general exposition of Corning's thought).
Recent justice related entries with most recent listed first.
- See full teacher justice story for my shot at comprehensive treatment. (Decided it was too long and needed some 'sparkle'.. thus the sequence of shorter entries [today's entry being the first].)
- Justice for Teachers In which I introduce two teachers with no difference in pay, or background, or training, or load, or student population served. However, one is clearly more effective in nurturing meaningful student achievement. Is this just?
- Justice: A fair distribution of goods and harms (3). Implementation . In this piece I use Deutsch's distributive justice questions to examine typical teacher compensation approaches.
- Justice: A fair distribution of goods and harms (2). Bio-logic. Peter Corning's Fair Shares approach to the distribution of goods is introduced.
- Justice: A fair distribution of goods and harms (1) John Rawls' approach to defining justice is outlined.
