I thought I would write and share my experience as a fresh graduate implementing the new syllabus and why I won’t be teaching it next year.

I graduated from an interstate university in 2007 and began teaching last year at a good public school in Queensland. I didn’t get any senior physics classes first year out, which was fine by me. However, the teacher given the task of implementing the new physics syllabus was an HPE teacher who had physics as his second teaching area. Needless to say, things didn’t go well. He wasn’t a bad teacher; he was just way out of his depth and without much in the way of support. The kids were pretty disillusioned, and many of them began dropping out.

Anyway, on the first student-free day this year, I was told by the Principal that the other physics teacher had been transferred out of the school and that I was going to take the grade 12 physics class. We had no work program, no textbooks, and no assessment. In addition, since I studied education in New South Wales, the Queensland system was extremely  different.

I initially tried to use the material published by the QSA as examples to follow, however I was subsequently told that either: the syllabus is 2 years old and the examples in it are outdated, or the materials published on the QSA website are examples of different schools’ work and not necessary endorsed by the QSA. The saving grace was finding out about a mailing list and stumbling across the senior physics website.

I’ve probably averaged 55-hour weeks this year. We have a program that is acceptable now. We got through verification well; however, there is still much work that needs to be done. I’m just really, really tired. I reached a point around half-way through the year where I decided that I didn’t want to teach the Queensland syllabus any more. I started looking at my options for next year and ended accepting a job in a school that teaches the International Baccalaureate.

Despite all the debate about different aspects of the new syllabus (assessment formats, marks, criteria, etc.) and their effect on student learning, I still firmly believe the best way to improve student outcomes is to have good teachers who aren’t burned out. The question: “How can we implement a syllabus that will allow us to attract and retain quality physics teachers?” doesn’t seem to have been considered very much.

I’d imagine that at the end of this year there will be quite a few young teachers in circumstances similar to mine: Generation Y, young, unattached, enjoyed studying physics at university, possessing skills that are in demand around the globe, and absolutely exhausted.

But I guess none of this is my problem anymore. I’d like to thank everyone for all of your help this year. It has been invaluable in trying to determine the best way to interpret and implement the new syllabus. I may come back to teaching in Queensland in a few years, but hopefully by that time we will have the national curriculum and you guys would have already figured out how to implement it.

I don’t want to have to go through this year again.