Master teacher programs are failing despite evidence they could significantly lift teacher quality.
The report said evidence showed students with strong teachers achieved in six months what those with poor teachers achieved in a year,and one of the best ways to improve teachers'performance was by giving them a strong teacher they could learn from.
But while there are master teacher programs across Australia,the institute's survey of 750 teachers and principals found most had never changed their teaching on advice from one.
Half said the advice they received from instructional leaders was inconsistent,and almost a third of teachers said they didn't think the so-called instructional leaders knew better than they did,the report found.
More than half said they didn't think the leaders were among the best teachers,and many were concerned that they were chosen for the job because they were the principal's mates.
To fix the problem,the institute proposed a new model that would involve an external selection panel,a hierarchy of leaders - in which there would be regional master teachers to"coach the coaches"as well as in-school instructional specialists - and better pay.
"This reform helps to improve the teaching of the 300,000 teachers we already have,"said the report's co-author Julie Sonnemann."The benefits[of accomplished teacher programs] are big - it's just hard to do well.