These reports have
recurring findings and recommendations and, as the findings from the
Productivity Commission’s inquiry into the schools workforce illustrate, the issues
which they repeatedly identified persist.[4]
The following selection of recommendations from some of the key inquiries and
reports at the federal level since 1980 shows some of the recurring themes that
are relevant to the current inquiry. These include:
|
Name
|
Key recommendations
|
Source document
|
|
National
Inquiry into Teacher Education (1978–1980)
38 recommendations and
60 ‘positions’
|
- Teacher education entrants:
- entrants
to be in top quartile of academic achievement
- other
applicant qualities determined by references, interviews and other testing to
be taken into account when excess applicant numbers
- encouragement
of Indigenous and ethnic teachers
- Pre-service education and training:
- core
studies and learning experiences
- education
to cater for individual differences of students.
- practicums
to include duties and tasks of beginning teachers
- selection
of appropriate supervising teachers with training and time allowance
- Induction:
- beginning
teacher not to be appointed to difficult schools or classes
- reduced
teaching loads and professional responsibility on full salary during first
year of service
- Professional development (PD):
- standard
number of hours for PD
- PD
sabbaticals of one term after every seven years of service
- specialist
PD courses and centres of specialisation
|
National Inquiry into Teacher Education, Report of the National
Inquiry into Teacher Education, Australian Government Publishing Service,
Canberra (AGPS), 1980.
|
|
Joint Review of Teacher Education
(1983–1986)
7 recommendations and
12 ‘matters for consideration’
|
- Pre-service education and training:
- review
of teacher education courses
- programs
to support training of Indigenous teachers
- Professional development:
- post-experience
study by practising teachers
- in-service
training for principals and staff working with disadvantaged students
- in-service
training for mathematics and science teachers to enhance girls’ participation
- Other:
- improved
consultative arrangements regarding teacher education between the
Commonwealth and states
|
Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission (CTEC) and Commonwealth
Schools Commission (CSC), Improving teacher education: report of the Joint
Review of Teacher Education, CTEC and CSC, 1986.
|
|
Teacher Education
in Australia
(1990)
20 recommendations
|
Pre-service
education and training:
- initial
degree course to provide a strong grounding in general subject disciplines
and educational principles and teaching competencies
- initial
teacher education courses to be a cooperative activity involving higher
education providers, school employers and teachers
- Induction:
- prior
to the award of a Bachelor of Education degree, graduate teachers to be
appointed as associate teacher for two years with reduced teaching loads and
the support of an experienced teacher responsible for teacher development
- Professional development:
- incentives
for PD linked with standards for continuing national registration
- prescribed
number of PD days and budget allocation for PD
- some
school discretion in use of PD funds for local purposes
- Other:
- voluntary
system of national teacher registration
- National
Centre of Teaching and Research for the Professional Development of Teachers
|
Australian Education Council Working Party, Teacher education in
Australia: a report to the Australian Education Council by an AEC Working
Party, Commissioned report, no. 6, National Board of Employment,
Education and Training, Canberra, 1990.
|
|
Australia’s
Teachers: An Agenda for the Next Decade (1990)
12 ‘key findings’
|
- Induction:
- internships
(6 to 12 months) for student teachers nearing completion of their training
- lower
teaching load in first year of teaching
- experienced
teachers to have responsibility for beginning teachers
- ongoing
training for beginning teachers provided jointly by employer and training
institutions
- performance
review after first or second year of full-time independent work
- Professional development:
- improved
coordination
- Industry
Training Fund with contributions by employers, teachers and the Commonwealth
- four
types of PD: to support system or agency initiatives; to support school
needs; partnerships between education authorities and higher education
institutions to support needs of individual teachers; and to enable upgrading
of formal qualifications
- periodic
professional appraisal to sustain professional growth
|
Schools Council, Australia’s teachers: an agenda for the next decade,
AGPS, Canberra, 1990.
|
|
House of Representatives Standing
Committee on Employment, Education and Training, The Literacy Challenge
(1992)
10 recommendations (3
teacher-related recommendations)
|
- Teacher education entrants:
- demonstrated
aptitude for teaching
- minimum
standard of mathematics and English proficiency
-
Pre-service education and training:
- compulsory
component for language and literacy teaching education
|
House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education
and Training, The literacy challenge: a report on strategies for early
intervention for literacy and learning for Australian children, AGPS,
Canberra, 1993.
|
|
Australian Language and Literacy
Council, Teacher Education in English Language and Literacy (1995)
9 recommendations
|
- Teacher education entrants:
- facilitate
credit transfer pathways, articulation arrangements and recognition of prior
learning
- national
guidelines for teacher employment to raise the standard of teacher entrants
and retention, including a demonstrated expertise in English literacy,
raising of entry requirements, and financial incentives
-
Pre-service teacher education and training:
- compulsory
English language and literacy study
- Induction:
- induction
and probation strategies
- Professional development:
- career-long
access to PD with salary and other financial incentives
- continued
support for PD of English literacy teachers
- Other:
- nationally
consistent competency standards for teachers of English literacy
- monitoring
and review of English literacy teacher education programs and courses
|
Australian Language and Literacy Council, Teacher education in
English language and literacy: preservice and inservice teacher education in
both school and adult education contexts, in the fields of English literacy
and English as a second language, National Board of Employment, Education
and Training, Canberra, 1995.
|
|
Senate Employment, Education and
Training References Committee, Inquiry into the Status of the Teaching
Profession (1998)
19 recommendations
|
- Teacher education entrants:
- national
recruitment campaign to attract high quality applicants
- scholarships
for university graduates to undertake postgraduate professional teaching
qualifications
- Pre-service education and training:
- accreditation
of initial teacher training programs
-
Induction:
- development
of induction programs nationally
- Professional development:
- accreditation
of PD providers and courses
- PD
to be a prerequisite for teachers’ continued registration or re-registration
- Other:
- reversal
of casualisation of the teaching workforce
- a
national professional teaching standards and registration body
|
Senate Employment, Education and Training References Committee, A
class act: Inquiry into the Status of the Teaching Profession, The
Senate, Canberra, 2008.
|
|
Review
of Teaching and Teacher Education (2002–2003).
Focus
on science, technology and mathematics (STE) education.
54
‘actions’ as part of an Agenda for Action
|
- Teacher education entrants:
- incentives
for prospective STE teachers, including payment of HECS debt, scholarships
and paid internships
- STE
teachers to not pay more course fees than other teachers
- incentives
for Indigenous teacher applicants
- recognition
of prior learning, including facilitation of teacher entrants from other
specialised fields
- Pre-service education and training:
- focus
on STE education in primary teacher education programs, including
opportunities to specialise
- high
quality teacher education program and sufficient teacher education places in
STE and languages other than English
- targeted
practicums in a range of settings, including in relation to teaching of
Indigenous students
- strong
link to schools for teaching students and educators, with placements by
highly accomplished teachers as teacher educators and teacher educators as
school teachers
- Induction:
- structured
induction and mentoring for beginning teachers
- Professional development:
- PD
in STE for primary teachers
- scholarships
and other incentives for PD in science and mathematics teaching
- science
and mathematics coordinators for school clusters
- PD
for STE teachers to gain relevant work experience
- subject
specialist PD, including upgrading of qualifications to teach in other
subject areas
- PD
opportunities for school leaders
- Other:
- national
professional standards for teachers
- national
data collection relating to teachers, teacher workforce and teacher education
- research
relating to teachers’ working lives and ways to enhance attractiveness of
teaching career
|
Committee for the Review of Teaching and Teacher Education,
Department of Education, Science and Training, 2003.
|
|
National Inquiry into the Teaching
of Literacy (2004–2005)
20 recommendations
|
- Pre-service education and training:
- teaching
of reading a key objective of primary teacher education courses
- literacy
teaching within subject areas included in the coursework of secondary
teachers
- personal
literacy skills and demonstrated ability to teach literacy a condition for
registration of graduates
- projects
to enhance literacy teaching
- Mentoring:
- ‘appropriate’
induction and mentoring
- Professional development:
- specialist
literacy teachers to provide support to staff as well as school literacy
strategies
- postgraduate
studies in literacy provided by higher education providers
- ongoing
mentoring and PD related to effective literacy teaching
- Other:
- national
standards for literacy teaching, initial teacher registration and
accomplished teaching
- a
national program of literacy action incorporating the above
- teaching
strategies founded on evidence-based research
|
National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy, Teaching reading:
report and recommendations, Department of Education, Science and
Training, 2005.
|
|
House
of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Vocational Training,
Inquiry into Teacher Education (2007)
12
recommendations
|
- Teacher education entrants:
- funding
for universities to develop innovative programs to increase entrants from
under-represented groups and programs of support for applicants from
disadvantaged groups
- align
teacher education places with teacher workforce priorities and shortages
- examine
effect of student contribution rates
- Increased
Australian Government contribution amount for education places in
universities
- Pre-service education and training:
- a
sound research base for teacher education
- national
system of accreditations of teacher education courses
- Australian
Government increase funding to universities for practicums and revised
payment processes
- Induction:
- a
one-year structured induction program
- reduced
teaching load for beginning teachers
- mentors
assigned to beginning teachers
- structured
and tailored PD program
- Professional development:
- PD
a condition of registration renewal and linked to higher levels of
registration
- Other:
- funding
for collaborative approaches to practicum, research, induction and
professional development
- longitudinal
study into effectiveness of different models of teacher education
- a
National Clearinghouse for Education Research
|
House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and
Vocational Training, Top of the class: report on the inquiry into teacher
education, House of Representatives, Canberra, 2007.
|
|
Senate
Standing Committee on Employment, Workplace Relations and Education, Inquiry
into Academic Standards of School Education (2007)
7
recommendations
|
-
Pre-service education and training:
- restructure
training courses to encourage trainee secondary teachers to undertake
discipline studies before commencing education studies
- universities
to draw on specialist subject expertise outside education faculties to
provide specialist tuition to trainee teachers
- focus
on literacy and mathematics instruction for trainee teachers
- Professional development:
- improved
PD in mathematics
- Other:
- improved
remuneration and incentives to raise entry standards and retention rates
|
Senate Standing Committee on Employment, Workplace Relations and
Education, Quality of school education, The Senate, Canberra, 2007.
|
|
Productivity
Commission, Schools Workforce Study (2012)
13 recommendations and
10 findings
|
- Teacher education entrants:
- accreditation
standards revised to provide greater flexibility regarding recognition of
prior learning for postgraduate entry into the teaching profession
- cease
discounts for upfront payments of course fees (a means of controlling teacher
surpluses)
- Pre-service education and training:
- guidance
on evidence that training providers are expected to use to demonstrate that
graduates meet Graduate Teacher Standards
- accreditation
standards for initial teacher education programs revised so that two-year
graduate teacher training courses optional. If maintained, governments should
implement measures to limit adverse impact on teacher shortages
- Other:
- expansion
of Longitudinal Teacher Workforce Study to enable analysis of pre-service
training, induction, PD, teacher placement and retention, and thereby improve
effectiveness of pre-service teacher training
- support
for school-based improvements in teacher performance appraisal—efforts to
improve teacher performance should not focus on performance bonuses
- school
authority to take disciplinary action against underperforming teachers
|
Productivity Commission, Schools workforce, Research report,
PC, Canberra, 2012.
|
Note: many of the recommendations have multiple parts and
not all recommendations in some of the reports relate to the teaching
profession.
This work has been prepared to support the work of the
Australian Parliament using information available at the time of production.
The views expressed do not reflect an official position of the Parliamentary
Library.