Evaluation of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers
Project Manager
Ms Anna DabrowskiProject Details
The Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) has engaged the University of Melbourne and our partner, the Australian College of Educators, to design, develop and deliver the process and impact evaluation of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (the Standards; formerly known as the National Professional Standards for Teachers), which is planned to conclude in December 2015.
The Standards were developed by AITSL and endorsed by the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs (MCEEDYA). The Standards provide a framework to enhance the profession of teaching by providing consistent benchmarks for teaching practice and performance, and by increasing the consistency of teacher quality across Australia.
AITSL has engaged the Centre for Program Evaluation (CPE), at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education (MGSE), to undertake the three year long evaluation. The aim of the evaluation is to determine the usefulness, effectiveness of implementation, and impact of the Standards as a contributor to building teacher quality in Australian schools. These aims will be achieved through focusing on the use of the Standards across different elements of the national education reform agenda including Accreditation of Initial Teacher Education Programs in Australia, A Nationally Consistent Approach to Registration of Teachers in Australia, Certification of Highly Accomplished and Lead Teachers in Australia, the Australian Teacher Performance and Development Framework and the Australian Charter for the Professional Learning of Teachers and School Leaders. It is not the purpose of this evaluation to review the content of the Standards.
Research indicates that teacher quality is one of the most important school factors influencing student achievement, thus the findings of this evaluation seek to provide insight into the process of increasing student achievement.
As the Standards are a national policy initiative, the evaluation effort will aim to involve data collection and analysis at the national, state, jurisdiction, school, individual levels. The team will invite key stakeholders such as teachers, principals and school leaders, teacher employers, teacher educators, teacher regulatory authorities, principal and professional associations, national bodies, unions, and other education organisations to participate in the evaluation. See 'How To Get Involved' below and view the AITSL website for more information on getting involved.
The University will partner with the Melbourne Education Research Institute (MERI) at MGSE and Australian College of Educators (ACE) to undertake the evaluation with AITSL.
| Phase | Year | Focus | Stakeholder Engagement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stage 1: Evaluation Inception, Design and Development | |||
| 1 | 2013 | Evaluation commencement |
|
| 2 | 2013 | Initial data collection | |
| Stage 2: Collecting Credible Evidence | |||
| 3 | 2013 | Ongoing collection of documentary and existing jurisdiction data and evidence to investigate effectiveness of implementation and impact. |
|
| 4 | 2014 | Identify success stories and target model of practice, and conduct in-depth site visits. Gather 2nd round of existing data. |
|
| Stage 3: Finalising the Evaluation and Making Recommendations | |||
| 5 | 2014 | 3rd round of data collection to investigate ongoing effectiveness and impact. |
|
| 6 | 2015 | Interviews with key stakeholders nationally. Triangulation of national and case study data, analysis and preparation of conclusions and submission of final report. | |
Researchers
Associate Professor Janet Clinton
Chief Investigator
Ph: +61 3 9035 3697
Email: jclinton@unimelb.edu.au
Professor Stephen Dinham
Academic Expert
Ph: +61 3 8344 8237
Email: sdinham@unimelb.edu.au
Dr Glenn Savage
Principal Investigator
Ph: +61 3 8344 6305
Email: gcsavage@unimelb.edu.au
Professor Robert Lingard
Academic Expert
Ph: +61 7 3365 7343
Email: r.lingard@uq.edu.au
Ms Anna Dabrowski
Project Manager
Ph: +61 3 9035 4650
Email: anna.dabrowski@unimelb.edu.au
Dr Ghislain Arbour
Principal Investigator
Ph: +61 3 9035 3843
Email: ghislain.arbour@unimelb.edu.au
Dr Amy Gullickson
Principal Investigator
Ph: +61 3 9035 9682
Email: amy.gullickson@unimeb.edu.au
Dr Gerard Calnin
Academic
Ms Ruth Aston
Investigator
Ph: +61 3 9035 8350
Email: ruth.aston@unimelb.edu.au
Funding
This project is funded by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership Limited (AITSL) with funding provided by the Australian Government.
Research Outcomes
Interim Report on Baseline Implementation – 2013 Key Findings
The Evaluation of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers completed two major data collection activities in 2013 – The National Forum and the National Survey. These investigated the perceptions of critical stakeholders on the baseline implementation of the Standards.
Initial analysis of the data collected during the 2013 evaluation activities has been completed by the University of Melbourne evaluation team. The interim report on baseline implementation is now available (4.6 MB).
For more information, visit the AITSL website.
Published Research
6 Insights on what educators think about the standards
Evaluation implementation standards (PDF, 217Kb)
Insights Evaluation of the Implementation of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers
Interim Report on Baseline Implementation 2013 Key Findings (PDF, 4.6Mb)
`Download Research Publications
2014 Interim Report - Key Findings: