Professional learning in early childhood, casual/relief and rural/remote teaching contexts

This report, published in 2018, explores the opportunities and challenges of teacher professional learning in the early childhood, casual/relief and rural/remote learning contexts.

AITSL conducted a range of stakeholder consultation and research activities to inform this report.

Some of the key findings were:

• Within these cohorts, no ‘single story’ became evident as the individuals within each group are working in diverse contexts and have different needs. Teachers within these cohorts feel they are often ‘lumped together’ when it comes to considering their needs, practice and growth. This emphasises the need for granularity and nuance to be considered in finding solutions for each cohort.
• The major perceived barriers across all 3 cohorts in accessing high quality professional learning were funding (to pay for fees, travel, accommodation) and time (to undertake the professional learning and, in many cases, the time needed to travel to and from the professional learning activity).

Early childhood and rural/remote teachers stressed the difficulty of accessing CRTs to cover them while they undertake professional learning. At the same time, CRTs emphasised their feelings of exclusion from professional learning within schools, often because they are brought in as cover while other teachers undertake professional learning. This challenging consequence highlights the difficulties arising from the nature of each cohort.