National Professional Standards

National Professional Standards for Teachers

The National Professional Standards for Teachers were endorsed by Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs (MCEECDYA) in late December 2010.

The Standards will promote excellence in teaching and provide a nationally consistent basis for recognising quality teaching. They make explicit what teachers should know, be able to do and what is expected of effective teachers across their career. The Standards support the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians and the National Partnership on Improving Teacher Quality.

National Professional Standards for primary teachers

AFSSSE is assisting Teaching Australia to achieve wide engagement with primary teachers and principals in the development of national professional standards for advanced primary teaching.

Teaching Australia has provided AFSSSE with materials to facilitate the consultation process. These include:

The key elements of AFSSSE’s work are to:

plan and conduct consultation activities during June and July 2009
compile and submit a consultation report to Teaching Australia by 31 July 2009 including:

feedback on the draft primary teaching standards from each consultation activity
a final report on the project including an analysis of the feedback.

The activities organised by AFSSSE included:

Online consultation	Primary teachers and teacher educators around Australia	July 2009
Lunch time focus group discussions	Primary teachers and school administrators within selected primary schools	June and July 2009
Expert groups – response to questionnaire and teleconference	Invited experienced teachers and administrators interviewed	July 2009
AFSSSE newsletters / conferences / workshops	Information circulated through the AFSSSE network	June and July 2009

Further details about AFSSSE's role in relation to the national professional standards for advanced primary teaching are available from AFSSSE's Executive Officer, Sandra Kenman at kenman@edserve.com.au.

Professional Standards for Accomplished Teaching School Geography

AGTA was a partner, along with Melbourne University, the GTAV and VIT, in a project to develop professional standards for teaching school geography. The Professional Standards for Accomplished Teaching School Geography and further material is available at www.geogstandards.edu.au.