BEST PRACTICES FROM AUSTRALIA'S HIGH-PERFORMING SCHOOL SYSTEMS
Empowered Educators in Australia is one volume in a series that explores how high- performing educational systems from around the world achieve strong results. The anchor book, Empowered Educators: How High-Performing Systems Shape Teaching Quality Around the World, is written by Linda Darling-Hammond and colleagues, with contributions from the authors of this volume.
The authors of Empowered Educators in Australia take an in-depth look at the policies and practices surrounding teaching quality in two different states: New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria. NSW offers significant support for government schools in areas such as staffing and teacher professional development. Victoria operates a highly devolved school system. Each provides a contrasting view of how federal and state policies combine to shape learning outcomes for students in Australia.
The interplay between state and federal policy characterizes an intriguing "centralizing decentralization." Initiatives to create national curricular, teaching, and teacher education standards all sit in balanced tension with a movement towards greater devolution of authority to schools. Together the NSW and Victoria case studies provide insights into policies that can support high-quality teaching in a federal education system.
Australia's current educational reforms place increasing emphasis on issues of teaching quality, reshaping teaching as a standards-based, evidence-informed profession, and one that seeks to foster collegiality and professional exchange. These reforms encompass many aspects of a system that supports teaching quality, and highlight: the way teachers are trained, how they are inducted into the teaching profession and supported with mentors, the professional learning they receive, how they are appraised on their work, and the career pathways for teachers.
Table of Contents:
Foreword vii Acknowledgments xi
About the Sponsoring Organizations xiii
About the Authors xv
Online Documents and Videos xvii
Chapter 1 A National Framework to Support Teaching Quality in Australia 1
Australia, Its Constitution, and Federalism in Education 2
A Pivot Point—The Melbourne Declaration 4
About Australia 6
Social Democratic Systems in Australia 8
Australian Education in International Comparison 9
Schooling in Australia 9
International Educational Performance and Comparisons 11
Education and Equity 15
Professional Teaching Standards and the Role of AITSL 17
Development of the Professional Teaching Standards 17
The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) 19
Implementation and Impact of the Standards 20
Australian Professional Standard for Principals 21
Initial Teacher Education 23
Ongoing Developments—Initial Teacher Education Reform 27
Role of ACARA 30
Assessment 30
Curriculum 31
Education Funding in Australia and Gonski 35
Education Funding in Australia 36
Federal Funding and the Melbourne Declaration 36
National Partnerships: Federal Funding to Improve Teaching Quality 37
The Gonski Review 38
Summary 40
Notes 41
Chapter 2 From Policy to Practice: Teacher Quality in New South Wales, Australia 43
About New South Wales (NSW) 44
Demographics 44
NSW Economy and Government 45
Equity and Education in NSW 46
The NSW Education System 47
Overview of the New South Wales Education System 47
The Education Policy Context in NSW 48
NSW Five-year Strategic Plan 2012–2017 50
Local Schools, Local Decisions 51
Education Funding in NSW and the Gonski Review 52
The Resource Allocation Model 53
Students in NSW Schools 54
Diversity in NSW Public Schools 55
Teachers in NSW Schools 63
Teacher Remuneration 64
Teacher Recruitment Incentives 65
Recruitment Incentives for Rural and Remote Areas 66
Casual and Temporary Teachers 66
Portraits of School Practice 67
Engadine High School: A Portrait of Practice 67
Homebush West Public School: A Portrait of Practice 69
Curriculum and Assessment in NSW Schools 71
Curriculum 72
Assessment in NSW Schools 74
Teacher Quality in NSW Schools 76
Great Teaching, Inspired Learning (NSW Policy) 76
Teacher Preparation in NSW 78
Teacher Accreditation in NSW 87
Teacher Induction 91
Professional Learning and Accreditation 94
Teacher Appraisal, Performance, and Development 103
Career Paths and Leadership Development 109
NSW Principals’ Credential: A Portrait of Practice 112
Policy Principles and Design and the Teachers Union 115
Common Platforms for Government, Catholic, and Independent Schools 118
Conclusion 121
Chapter 3 Building Teacher Capacity and Collaborative Cultures: Teaching and Teacher Quality in Victoria 123
Characterizing the Victorian System 124
Overview and Context 125
Demography and Economy 125
School System 127
Indigenous Students in Victoria 128
Curriculum 130
Education Policy Context 131
Three Waves of Reform 131
Understanding the Reforms 139
Education Governance in Victoria 140
Governmental Organizations 140
The Victorian Institute of Teaching 141
Teacher Unions and Professional Organizations 142
Governance of Catholic and Independent Schools 143
School Management and Funding 146
Resourcing Education—How Victorian Schools Are Funded 150
Recruitment 152
Meeting Supply and Demand in Victoria 152
The Teaching Career and Stages 159
Salaries 160
Working Conditions 162
Short-term Contracts 163
Preparation 166
Overview: Teacher Training and Registration in Victoria 166
Accreditation of Teacher Education Programs 167
Content of ITE Programs 170
Improving Clinical Practice in Victoria 177
Induction, Mentoring, and Teacher Registration 185
Teacher Registration in Victoria 186
Supports for Induction 189
Induction and Mentorship in Practice 190
Effectiveness of Teacher Induction 191
The Organization of Schooling in Victoria 195
Organization within Schools 195
School Networks 201
School Review and Improvement 202
Professional Learning 204
School-based, Evidence-supported Professional Learning 204
Professional Learning Polices in Victoria 211
Appraisal 217
The Evaluation Process 218
Teacher Appraisal and Improving Teaching 220
Continual Review and the Politics of Teacher Evaluation 221
Leadership 225
Leadership Framework and Skills 226
Leadership Training and the Bastow Institute 228
Summary 234
Notes 235
Conclusion 237
Appendix 241
References 243
About the Author :
DION BURNS is a senior researcher with the Learning Policy Institute and research analyst at the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education.
ANN MCINTYRE is an experienced principal, superintendent, and NSW state policy leader who is recognized for her work in quality teaching, leadership, and school and system improvement.
