National Professional Standards for Teachers: Indigenous perspectives

MATSITI ConferenceAdelaideJuly 2012

Ambitious National Agenda

o Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians

o National Education Agreement

o National Partnerships:• National Partnership on Improving Teacher Quality

o Aboriginal &Torres Strait Islander Education Action Plan

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL)

o Not big

o Not government

o Not commercial provider

o Not a regulator

AITSL does have:

o a remit from all Education Ministers to ‘provide national leadership in promoting excellence’

o an ability to broker national agreement

o capacity to add value to policy and outcomes

AITSL

AITSL works with the education community to:

o Set and maintain standards for excellence in teaching and school leadership

o Lead and influence excellence in teaching and school leadership

o Support and recognise excellence in teaching and school leadership

National Professional Standards for Teachers

o Intended for every teacher of every child

o Define the work of teachers and make explicit the elements of high quality, effective teaching in 21st Century schools

o Public statement

o Common understanding and language

o Dual purpose – improvement and accountability

o Map career progression

Standards for Teachers

o 7 standards grouped into 3 domains• Professional knowledge – 2 standards

• Professional practice – 3 standards

• Professional engagement – 2 standards

o Each standard broken into between 4 and 7 focus areas

o Each focus area differentiated at 4 career stages (descriptors)• Graduate, Proficient, Highly Accomplished, Lead

Standards for Teachers

Descriptors

National Professional Standards for Teachers - improvement

The Standards support :

o professional learning

o peer coaching / observation

o self assessment

o professional practices

National Professional Standards for Teachers - accountability

o Graduate - National Standards and Procedures for the Accreditation of Initial Teacher Education

o Proficient - nationally consistent registrationo Highly Accomplished – voluntary certification o Lead – voluntary certification

Standard 1 – Know students and how they learn

Standard 2 – Know the content and how to teach it

Improving Teaching In Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanded Education (ITATSIE)

> Objective: To improve the capacity of all new and existing teachers to meet the requirements of Focus Areas 1.4 and 2.4 of the NPTS.

Pre-service component – led with Queensland DETE In-service component – led by AITSL Each component:

Research / mapping of practicesNational ForumResource development

In-service component – ResearchMonash University (Dr Zane Ma Rhea et al)

> Major findings:– No structured national policy, particularly regarding PD

around Indigenous peoples’ rights or social justice imperatives

– Lack of workforce level PD and little evaluation of effectiveness of what does exist

– The approach to PD in this area is patchy– Appears to have been a reduction in PD offered in recent

times– Teachers are fearful and resistant about these Standards

Pre-service component – ResearchQueensland University of Technology (Prof Aileen Moreton-

Robinson et al)

> Major findings:– There is generally an imbalance between transfer of knowledge and

development of skills– ITE needs a new Indigenous pedagogy, balancing skills acquisition with

knowledge transfer, to be transformative– There is a paucity of Australian and international literature documenting

the impact of racism on Indigenous educational outcomes– There is a correlation between universities’ marketing vigour and their

promotion of Indigenous education as integral to initial teacher education– There is a drive to embed Indigenous content in core ITE subjects– The provision of Indigenous elective subjects is inconsistent across

institutions

Workshop questions …..

Bearing in mind the requirements of Focus Areas 1.4 and 2.4 of the National Professional Standards for Teachers:

1. In your experience, what really useful Indigenous skills and knowledge have you found in (in-service OR pre-service) offerings?

2. In your experience, what Indigenous skills and knowledge (pre-service OR in-service) was of no use to you at all?

3. What has been missing from these programs that would have been really helpful to you?

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