The most important school-based factor in improving outcomes for students is the quality of their teachers.
The 2003 National Framework for Professional Standards for Teaching was endorsed by Ministers as part of continuing efforts to define and promote quality teaching. The Framework provided an architecture within which generic, specialist and subject-area specific professional standards could be developed, and an organising structure which established, at a national level, the agreed foundational elements and dimensions of effective teaching.
In the context of the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians, the national Productivity Agenda and the collaborative COAG arrangements and agreements, and especially the National Partnership on Improving Teacher Quality, as well as the range of standards work done by professional associations, it is timely to update the 2003 Framework.
Work began in January 2009 to develop new national professional standards. Extensive work has been undertaken by specialist consultants and by an expert working group made up of representatives of government and non-government sectors from a majority of jurisdictions.
These new draft Standards have been informed by an analysis and review of the standards in use by teacher registration authorities, employers and professional associations. The development process drew on national agreements, extensive research and expert knowledge as well as an examination of the use of standards to inform professional development and provide an objective basis for assessing professional practice.
The draft Standards describe what is required of teachers at four levels of professional expertise – Graduate, Proficient, Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher – across three domains: Professional Knowledge, Professional Practice and Professional Engagement. They make explicit, for those within and outside the profession, the knowledge, skills and dispositions required of teachers at each level.
The Standards are designed to provide a continuum of capabilities and expectations and a nationally consistent basis for valid, fair and reliable identification and recognition of those who meet the standards. These standards will also form the basis for accreditation of pre-service teacher education courses, initial teacher registration, and performance appraisal and professional accreditation of teachers at higher levels of professional expertise.
The following stage was consultation on the draft Standards.
Stakeholder consultations were conducted within jurisdictions using the arrangements determined by jurisdictional authorities, major employing authorities and teacher regulatory authorities. The Australian Government will conducted consultations with national stakeholders.
Ministers sought input from members of the profession and the wider education community. All feedback received is now being considered by an expert working group.
The extended public consultation process on the draft National Professional Standards for Teachers deadline closed on 21 May 2010.
