National Professional Standards for Teachers

1
National Professional Standards for Teachers
Policy or Reality?Lawrence IngvarsonACER

• Australian College of Educators/Flinders
  University Meeting
• March 18, 2011

2
Current context The COAG National Agreement on
Quality Teaching

• Priority areas for reform
• Developing and enhancing the skills and knowledge
  of teachers and school leaders throughout their
  careers
• Retaining and rewarding quality teachers and
  school leaders
• Improved mobility of the Australian teaching
  workforce and equitable distribution of quality
  teachers across schools

3
9th of February 2011 Minister welcomes the
release of new National Professional Standards
for Teachers

• Mr Garrett said the Standards will drive future
  reform in the areas of national accreditation of
  teacher education programs, nationally consistent
  teacher registration, and the certification of
  highly accomplished teachers.

4
At the launch of the new National Standards, Tony
Mackay, the Chair of AITSL, announced that

• AITSL will be working in partnership with the
  various regulatory authorities, teacher unions,
  and all school sectors, to implement the
  standards in all jurisdictions. This work will
  include explaining and elaborating on the
  standards, providing support materials, providing
  the processes, and deciding on how judgements are
  made.
•  

5
AITSLs challenge

• Developing and implementing a nationally
  consistent and credible voluntary system for the
  certification of highly accomplished teachers -
  what might be involved and how might this be
  achieved?
• AITSLs challenge is also a challenge for the
  teaching profession

6

• A little history

7
Teaching standards and professional
certification Where have we been?

• Sir James Darling 1959 Address to Inaugural
  meeting of ACE
• Despite its importance, the teaching profession
  as a whole has never yet had a voice with which
  to speak. There are innumerable professional
  associations, at different levels and of
  different degrees of specialised interest, but
  there is no organisation to speak for education
  as a whole in matters of principle, which concern
  the whole body of those who teach.
• There are acknowledged leaders in specialized
  fields, but no leaders of the profession as a
  whole. There are higher degrees for those with
  expert knowledge of the techniques of teaching,
  but there are no ways in which the profession as
  a whole can be recognised.
• Thus on the one hand, individuals are denied the
  position from which they might give leadership,
  and on the other, the profession as a whole is
  denied a proper representation in the councils of
  the nation.

8
1973 the Interim Committee for the Australian
Schools Commission

• A mark of a highly skilled occupation is that
  those entering it should have reached a level of
  preparation in accordance with standards set by
  the practitioners themselves, and that the
  continuing development of members should largely
  be the responsibility of the profession.
• In such circumstances, the occupational group
  itself becomes the point of reference for
  standards and thus the source of prestige or of
  condemnation. . . . in Australia teachers as an
  occupational group have had few opportunities to
  participate in decision-making.
• Their organisations have been traditionally more
  concerned with industrial matters, including
  those that affect the quality of services
  offered, than with the development of expertise,
  which has been seen as primarily the
  responsibility of the employer. (p. 123)

9
1998 Senate Inquiry into Status of Teaching , A
Class Act

• A system of professional recognition for
  teachers must be established which is based on
  the achievement of enhanced knowledge and skills
  and which retains teachers at the front line of
  student learning. Such knowledge and skills
  should be identified, classified and assessed
  according to criteria developed by expert panels
  drawn from the profession. Education authorities
  should structure remuneration accordingly. (p.
  7)

10
2003 National Statement from the Teaching
Profession on Teacher Standards, Quality and
Professionalism (agreed to by more than twenty
teacher associations and unions)

• A nationally coordinated, rigorous and consistent
  system should be established to provide
  recognition to teachers who demonstrate advanced
  standards.The enterprise bargaining process
  between employers and unions will be an important
  mechanism for providing recognition for
  professional certification. All employing
  authorities should be encouraged to provide
  recognition and support for professional
  certification as the process comes to demonstrate
  its credibility and its effects on professional
  learning.

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National Professional Bodies

• Australian Teaching Council (1994-96)
• Teaching Australia (NIQTSL) (2003-2008)
• Australian Institute for Teaching and School
  Leadership (2009- ?)
• (Formed to provide leadership for Commonwealth,
  state and territory governments in promoting
  excellence in the profession of teaching)

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AITSL STANDARDS AITSL STANDARDS CAREER STAGES/CERTIFICATION LEVELS CAREER STAGES/CERTIFICATION LEVELS CAREER STAGES/CERTIFICATION LEVELS CAREER STAGES/CERTIFICATION LEVELS
AITSL STANDARDS AITSL STANDARDS Graduate Proficient (i.e. Registered) Highly Accomplished Lead
Professional Knowledge 1. Know students and how they learn
Professional Knowledge 2. Know the content and how to teach it
Professional Practice 3. Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning
4. Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments
5. Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning
Professional Engagement 6. Engage in professional learning
7. Engage with colleagues, parents/carers and the community
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• A little theory
• How is it all supposed to work?

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A Standards-based Professional Learning and
Certification System

• Main components
• Teaching standards that articulate what teachers
  should get better at and provide direction for
  professional development over the long term
• Career paths that value teaching and provide
  substantial incentives and for teachers to attain
  these standards
• An infrastructure for professional learning that
  enables teachers to gain the knowledge and skill
  embodied in the teaching standards
• A voluntary system of professional certification
  based on valid methods for assessing teacher
  performance

15

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Certification in Professions

• Certification refers to an endorsement by a
  professional agency that a teacher has attained a
  designated standard of teaching.
• This process should be seen as distinct from the
  rewards or recognition that an employing
  authority may choose to give to that
  certification, if any. Certification is a
  professional qualification that belongs to the
  teacher regardless of where they teach.

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An important distinction

• Systems for recognising and financially rewarding
  accomplished teachers

• System for identifying accomplished teachers and
  providing certification of their knowledge and
  skill

Responsibility of employing authorities

• Responsibility of the profession

• National professional body
• Profession-wide standards
• Standards-based performance assessment by trained
  peers
• Portable certification
• Voluntary

• Recognition of certification may be built into
  industrial agreements and career pathways
• Specific to particular jurisdictions/ employers
• Certification not the only basis for performance
  pay

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Another important distinction Two different
purposes for teacher evaluation

• Performance management (e.g annual performance
  reviews, bonus schemes) Employer responsibility
• Professional certification Provided by
  independent national professional body (aims to
  be recognized by employers)

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A surprising policy emerges

• OR, the things you say to get elected

20
ALP Federal Election PolicyReward Payments for
Great Teachers

• AITSL to develop the performance management
  system (The Australian Teacher Performance
  Management Principles and Procedures)
• Performance bonus of 8000 for 10 of teachers
  each year
• Methods
• Lesson observation
• Analysis of student performance data (e.g.
  NAPLAN)
• Parental feedback
• Teacher qualifications and professional
  development
• 1.25billion over five years
• 50million to states and territories to make
  necessary changes

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Letter to the Minister

• Does the Government still plan to implement the
  policy announced just prior to the election
  called "Reward Payments for Great Teachers"? If
  so, what will be the relationship between that
  program, which is a performance management bonus
  pay system, and the standards-based certification
  system announced by the Minister today?

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• Dear Mr Ingvarson 
• Thank you for your email of 9 February 2011 to
  the Department of Education, Employment and
  Workplace Relations concerning the Reward
  Payments for Great Teachers election commitment.
•  
• On 9 August 2010, the Australian Labour Party
  (ALP) announced a 1.25 billion election
  commitment, Reward Payments for Great Teachers,
  to recognise and reward top performing teachers. 
  In the 2010-11 Mid Year Economic and Fiscal
  Outlook (MYEFO) process Cabinet advised that the
  Reward Payments for Great Teachers commitment
  will be reconsidered in the 2011-12 Budget
  process.
•  
• The Reward Payments for Great Teachers election
  commitment has two elements?- development of a
  nationally consistent performance management
  system, known as the Australian Teacher
  Performance Management Principles and Procedures
  for roll out into all schools from 2012 and ?- a
  performance bonus paid once per performance
  assessment to the top ten percent of teachers,
  commencing in 2014. 
• The Australian Teacher Performance Management
  Principles and Procedures will be a nationally
  consistent performance management framework which
  is built around the new National Professional
  Standards for Teachers. I trust this information
  is of assistance. 
• Yours sincerely
• Quality Teaching Branch, Department of Education,
  Employment and Workplace Relations

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• Thank you for replying to my query.  However, I
  do not think you have addressed the second part
  of my question. 
• What is the relationship between the Australian
  Teacher Performance Management Principles and
  Procedures (i.e. the Rewards Payments for Great
  Teachers policy)  and AITSLs standards based
  certification system announced by the Minister on
  Feb 9th?
• The two approaches seem to be incompatible.

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Three essential steps in developing standards for
professional certification

•  Defining what is to be assessed i.e. what do
  highly accomplished teachers know and do. (This
  is what the National Professional Standards for
  Teachers aim to do
• Developing valid and consistent assessment
  methods for gathering evidence about what a
  teacher knows and is able to do in relation to
  the standards and
• Developing reliable procedures for assessing that
  evidence and deciding whether a teacher has met
  the standard. (i.e. performance standards).

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Developing standards for accomplished teaching
Defining good teaching
Capturing good teaching
Measuring good teaching
Content Standards (Capabilities Competencies,
etc.)
Methods for gathering evidence for assessment

• Training assessors
• Setting Performance standards (How good is good
  enough?)

26

• Standards are not standards unless it is clear
  how they can be used to assess performance

27

• The decathlon as an analogy for developing a
  nationally consistent certification system for
  highly accomplished teachers

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Who is the World's Greatest Athlete? The
decathlon decides

• The decathlon is an athletic event consisting of
  ten track and field events. Events are held over
  two consecutive days and the winners are
  determined by the combined performance in all.
  Performance is judged on a points system in each
  event, not by the position achieved. The
  decathlon is contested mainly by male athletes,
  while female athletes contest the heptathlon.
• Traditionally, the title of "has been given to
  the man who wins the decathlon. This began when
  King Gustav V of Sweden told Jim Thorpe, "You,
  sir, are the World's Greatest Athlete"

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Main components of a set of standardsfor great
all-round athlete (decathlon)
Guiding conception of a great all-round athlete

• Performance standards
• What level of performance meets the accomplished
  standard (benchmarks)?
• How will we discriminate between levels of
  performance?

• How will we gather evidence?
• Day 1
• 100 meters
• Long Jump
• Shot Put
• High Jump
• 400 meters
• Day 2
• 110 meter hurdles
• Discus
• Pole Vault
• Javelin
• 1500 meters
• hind it

Content standards What constitutes a great
all-round athlete? strength speed stamina enduranc
e perseverance
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Benchmark levels needed to earn 1000, 900, 800,
and 700 points in each sport.
                   
Event   1000 pts   900 pts   800 pts   700 pts   Units  
100m 10.395 10.827 11.278 11.756 Seconds
Long Jump 7.76 7.36 6.94.1 6.51 Meters
Shot Put 18.4 16.79 15.16 13.53 Meters
High Jump 2.20 2.10 1.99 1.88 Meters
400m 46.17 48.19 50.32 52.58 Seconds
110m Hurdles 13.8 14.59 15.419 16.29 Seconds
Discus Throw 56.17 51.4 46.59 41.72 Meters
Pole Vault 5.28 4.96 4.63 4.29 Meters
Javelin Throw 77.19 70.67 64.09 57.45 Meters
1500m 233.79 247.42 261.77 276.96 Seconds
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• Applying the analogy to the certification of
  highly accomplished teachers

32
Developing standards for accomplished teaching
Defining good teaching
Capturing good teaching
Measuring good teaching
Content Standards (Capabilities Competencies,
etc.)
Methods for gathering evidence for assessment

• Training assessors
• Setting Performance standards (How good is good
  enough?)

33
Methods for capturing evidence of teaching

• samples of students' work over time plus
  commentary
• video recordings of classroom practice plus
  commentary
• documentation of accomplishments outside the
  classroom
• Written assessments (of PCK)
• Student evaluations of teaching

34
Ensuring reliable assessment against the AITSL
standards
METHODS OF ASSESSMENT METHODS OF ASSESSMENT Written assessments Portfolio entries Portfolio entries Portfolio entries Student evaluation Classroom observation
AITSL STANDARDS AITSL STANDARDS Tests of pedagogical/ content knowledge Student work- or learning- based Video-based Documented activities Questionnaire Trained observers
Professional Knowledge Know students and how they learn v v v v v
Professional Knowledge Know the content and how to teach it v v v v v
Professional Practice Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning v v v v v
Professional Practice Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments v v v
Professional Practice Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning v v v v v
Professional Engagement Engage in professional learning v
Professional Engagement Engage with colleagues, parents/carers and the community v
35
Examples of portfolio entries for primary teachers

• 1. Provide evidence of a unit of work, with
  student writing samples, in which you have
  developed students writing ability over time.
• 2. Develop an inter-disciplinary theme and
  provide work samples that show how you engage
  students in work over time that deepens their
  understanding of an important idea in science.
• 3. Provide a videotape and commentary
  illustrating how you create a climate that
  supports students abilities to understand
  perspectives other than their own.
• 4. Provide evidence, through a videotape, written
  commentary, and student work samples, of how you
  have help build students mathematical
  understanding.

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Links between teaching standards and performance
assessment tasks
Knowledge of subject
Ability to plan for effective learning
Knowledge of students
Portfolio entry Teaching a major idea in science
Ability to reflect insightfully on
effectiveness of their teaching
Ability to engage students in a sequence of
learning activities
Ability to assess student progress and provide
helpful feedback
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• Just as it is difficult to imagine a decathlon
  that would gain respect if each country decided
  on its own events and performance standards, it
  is difficult to see how a nationally consistent
  system that provides a widely respected
  certification to highly accomplished teachers can
  emerge if each jurisdiction develops its own
  assessment methods, using AITSLs standards only
  as a framework .

38
Issues in planning a national certification
system for highly accomplished teachers

• Do the standards distinguish between highly
  accomplished and proficient teaching?
• What methods of assessment provide valid evidence
  of meeting the standards?
• How will we gain a representative sample of what
  a teacher knows and does in relation to the
  standards?
• How will we ensure that the evidence covers all
  the standards, and in more than one way where
  possible?
• How do we do this without placing an unreasonable
  burden on teachers?
• How do we ensure that assessors are trained to
  high levels of consistency in interpreting the
  evidence and making judgments?
• Should teachers meet a certain level on every
  standard, or should they be able to compensate
  for a poor performance on some standards with a
  good performance in others?

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How to ensure AITSL certification works

• Strengthen involvement of the profession in the
  operation of the certification system e.g.
  standards committees, assessment development
  teams, assessor training.
• Focus on ensuring that the assessment of
  performance is rigorous i.e. a valid indicator of
  teacher excellence fundamental
• Once this is done, convince employing authorities
  to give salary recognition to nationally
  certified teachers to encourage standards-based
  professional development
• Encourage multiple ways to assist teacher
  professional development toward the standard
• Mainstream the certification scheme make it a
  condition of eligibility for school leadership
  positions

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Example of Portfolio Entry Designing Science
Instruction

• Provide evidence of a unit of work which shows
  how you link learning activities together to
  promote students' understanding of one important
  scientific concept along with the development of
  one or more related process goals.
• Choose students who represent different kinds of
  challenges for you.
• Choose three instructional activities, related
  instructional materials, two student responses to
  each activity, and submit a Written Commentary.

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• Problems with the current Framework

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AITSL STANDARDS AITSL STANDARDS
Professional Knowledge 1. Know students and how they learn
Professional Knowledge 2. Know the content and how to teach it
Professional Practice 3. Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning
4. Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments
5. Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning
Professional Engagement 6. Engage in professional learning
7. Engage with colleagues, parents/carers and the community
43
AITSL STANDARDS AITSL STANDARDS AITSL STANDARDS
Professional Knowledge 1. Know students and how they learn 1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students 1.2 Understand how students learn 1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds 1.4 Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students 1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities 1.6 Strategies to support full participation of students with disability
Professional Knowledge 2. Know content and how to teach it 2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area 2.2 Content selection and organisation 2.3 Curriculum, assessment and reporting 2.4 Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians 2.5 Literacy and numeracy strategies 2.6 Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
44
AITSL STANDARDS AITSL STANDARDS Career Stages Career Stages Career Stages Career Stages
AITSL STANDARDS AITSL STANDARDS Graduate Proficient (i.e. Registered) Highly Accomplished Lead
PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE 1. Know students and how they learn 1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students and how these may affect learning Use teaching strategies based on knowledge of students physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics to improve student learning. Select from a flexible and effective repertoire of teaching strategies to suit the physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students. Lead colleagues to select and develop teaching strategies to improve student learning using knowledge of the physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students.
45
AITSL STANDARDS AITSL STANDARDS Career Stages Career Stages Career Stages Career Stages
AITSL STANDARDS AITSL STANDARDS Graduate Proficient (i.e. Registered) Highly Accomplished Lead
PROFESSIONAL Standard 3 Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning PRACTICE 3.3 Use teaching strategies Include a range of teaching strategies in teaching. Know Select and use relevant teaching strategies to develop knowledge, skills, problem solving and critical and creative thinking. Apply Support colleagues to select and apply effective teaching strategies to develop knowledge, skills, problem solving and critical and creative thinking. Support Work with colleagues to review, modify and expand their repertoire of teaching strategies to enable students to use knowledge, skills, problem solving and critical and creative thinking Lead
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National Professional Standards Framework

• No clear conception of what good teachers get
  better at
• Confusion between developing expertise and
  changing roles and promotion certification
• Knowledge domain and Practice domain not clearly
  distinguished leading to duplication
• Not as yet in a suitable form to be used for
  developing assessment methods or setting
  standards deciding how good is good enough

47
Developing standards

• Start by describing what counts as quality
  learning in your teaching field
• Then ask, what do teachers need to know and be
  able to do to enable that kind of learning?
• Develop standards with their assessment and
  professional development purpose in mind

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Standard 6. Highly accomplished teachersof
science engage students in scientific Inquiry

• Highly accomplished teachers of science actively
  involve students in a wide range of scientific
  investigations . . . .
• They both teach and model practices that allow
  their students to approach knowledge and
  experiences critically, recognise problems, ask
  questions and pose solutions. Their teaching
  reflects both the excitement and challenge of
  scientific endeavour and its distinctive rigour.

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• Where is the profession in all this?

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Australian Science Teachers Association

• National professional standards for highly
  accomplished teachers of science
• March 2002

http//www.asta.edu.au
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PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT
Name of association Present or Intended Level of Use Present or Intended Level of Use Present or Intended Level of Use
Name of association Competent Accomplished Teacher Leadership
Australian Association of Environmental Educators ? ?
Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT) ?
Australian Association for Special Education ?
Australian Association for Teachers of the Deaf ?
Australian Association for the Teaching of English (AATE) ?
Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation ? ? ?
Australian Council of TESOL Associations ?
Art Education ? ?
Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations (AFMLTA) ?
Australian Geography Teachers Association ?
Australian Literacy Educators Association (ALEA) ?
Australian Library Association/Australian Library and Information Association (ASLA/ALIA) ?
Australian Science Teachers Association (ASTA) ? ?
Australian Society of Music Education Inc. (ASME) ? ? Expert
Early Childhood Australia (ECA) ?
History Teachers Association of (HTAA) ? Effective
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Ensuring a nationally consistent approach to the
certification of highly accomplished teachers

• Need to think profession-wide, not
• Certification must be respected it is to be
  rewarded
• Teacher mobility is a key aim of COAG NP
• Professions certify excellent practice wise
  employers reward it