National Teaching Standards transcript 41KB RTF
A national approach to accreditation of initial teacher education programs
On 15 April 2011, the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood and Youth Affairs (MCEECDYA) endorsed a national approach to the accreditation of initial teacher education programs, Accreditation of initial teacher education programs in Australia: Standards and Procedures. This endorsement is an important milestone on the way to improving educational outcomes for young Australians
The national approach to the accreditation of initial teacher education programs, aimed at improving teacher quality through the improvement of the quality of initial teacher education programs, is one of the elements of the national education reforms. Along with the National Professional Standards for Teachers and a nationally consistent approach to teacher registration, the national approach to accreditation of initial teacher education programs contributes to an integrated framework for continuous improvement of, and increased public confidence in, teacher quality.
The endorsement of the Standards and Procedures requires programs preparing teachers to be assessed against agreed program benchmarks and their graduates meeting the National Professional Standards for Teachers. These nationally agreed standards describe what teachers should know and be able to do at appropriate career stages.
The Standards and Procedures were developed through extensive national work drawing on the expert knowledge of a number of key stakeholders and organisations involved in initial teacher education and followed by wide consultation on a draft proposal in 2010. Stakeholder responses, collected through consultation forums, an online survey, and written submissions and compiled in a consultation report, were instrumental in shaping the content and structure of the national approach.
The national approach to accreditation builds on existing processes. Program accreditation will continue to be undertaken by the state and territory teacher regulatory authorities. However they will now do this using a common set of graduate teacher standards, program standards and using the agreed national accreditation process. Applications for accreditation are submitted to the relevant jurisdictional teacher regulatory authority as listed below:
Requests for further information and any queries about the accreditation of initial teacher education programs may be directed to ite@aitsl.edu.au
Useful links
Media Releases
MCEECDYA - Initial Teacher Education - Media Release 13KB PDF