Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership

May 2008 consultation - national professional standards

Responses are invited on proposals set out in the National professional standards for advanced teaching and for principals: Second consultation paper.

Feedback and comment is sought on the:

• capabilities for advanced teaching and for principals
• functions and composition of a national standards body
• development of a national code of ethics.

Please provide responses by 31 August 2008 to Teaching Australia by:

Email:    standards@teachingaustralia.edu.au
Post:     5 Liversidge Street ACTON  ACT  0200
Online:   Online response form

Please note, partly completed responses can not be saved and resumed at a later time on the online response form.

Background

Teaching Australia is working with the teaching profession to develop national professional standards for advanced teaching and principals.

This builds on the extensive platform of work already undertaken by the teaching profession, a considerable research base and nation-wide consultation with the profession.

The major milestones in that consultation have been:

• A national conference - the Sharing Experience Conference - on advanced teaching standards in August 2005.
  
• A national forum on school leadership standards in November 2005.
  
• The release of a statement Our Profession - Our Future in May 2006, by the Directors of Teaching Australia which noted three main purposes for professional standards:
  
  
  • to provide inspiration to aspiring teachers and principals, clarifying the expectations of the profession about accomplished practice
    
  • offer guidance to members of the profession seeking to improve their practice through self-reflection and professional learning
    
  • increase public understanding of the complexity and rigour of the work of teachers and principals.
    
    
• Research studies including:
  • Standards for School Leadership:  A Critical Review of Literature, Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), August 2006
  • Standards for Advanced Teaching:  A review of national and international developments, Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), August 2006
  • Professional Learning Using the Mathematical Standards, Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT), August 2006
  • Professional teaching associations and professional standards:  embedding standards in the 'discourse of the profession', Terry Hayes, September 2006
    
    
• A review titled School Leadership Standards:  developments in Australia, Patrick Duignan and Jeremy Hurley, October 2007.
  
• A consultation paper National professional standards for advanced teaching and principals published in March 2007 which proposed a model for national professional standards.

The model of national professional standards has the following elements:

• a charter for the Australian teaching profession, as an overarching statement of core values and commitments
  
• generic, high level statement of capabilities, specific to advanced teaching and principals, organised by categories which are the broad areas of expertise expected for both advanced teaching and principals
  
• sets of descriptors of accomplishment specific to areas of teaching and leadership.
  
  
• A Standards Forum held in July 2007 brought the outcomes of research and consultation together in discussions focused on the shape of national professional standards and processes for their development.  There was widespread support from the profession for the proposed model for national professional standards.  A report on outcomes of the Forum and keynote address given by Vi McLean, Deputy Vice-Chancellor International Development at the Queensland University of Technology are available.
  
• Twenty five experienced teachers and principals contributed to the drafting of capabilities for advanced teaching standards and principal standards at a national standards drafting workshop in November 2007.