Teachers and teamwork

Many of us are nervous about the talk of teaching incentives and performance pay. In Australia there are moves towards teaching excellence payments - described below from the linked article.

"Under the Rewards for Great Teachers initiative, teachers who become certified at the highest level of the standards will be rewarded with $7500 for Highly Accomplished teachers and $10,000 for teachers who achieve the Lead Teacher level." http://www.deewr.gov.au/

Its all making for interesting staffroom discussion! The main fear that I hear from other teachers is the impact this will have on what makes our profession so strong - collegiality.

Teachers are usually amazing at sharing and supporting each other. If we are competing for excellence payments, what incentive do we have to encourage the teacher next door? Will we want to share the latest technique or strategy we've been working on with each other if we're vying for the same reward?

It's a valid concern. Like this video of supportive ants shows - it's when we work together that we are at our best. I'm trusting that our colleagues will always hold on to what makes us strong!