tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/teacher-education-ministerial-advisory-group-11185/articlesTeacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group – The Conversation2015-02-12T20:45:25Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/375132015-02-12T20:45:25Z2015-02-12T20:45:25ZChanges to teaching degrees are no guarantee of success for kids<p>The <a href="http://www.studentsfirst.gov.au/teacher-education-ministerial-advisory-group">Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group report released today</a> has much to live up to. After all, there have been <a href="http://theconversation.com/minister-pyne-announces-yet-another-education-review-23470">a couple of dozen reports</a> into teacher education over the past three decades. Is this one better, bigger, different?</p>
<p>The advisory group’s task was to investigate how teacher education in Australia could be improved, given the crucial role a quality teacher plays in achieving high student outcomes. </p>
<p>Their recommendations, which the government has substantially agreed to, all make for sensible reading, though many have been made before. A lot of them are “to do” tasks, which have been assigned to the <a href="http://www.aitsl.edu.au">Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership</a>. </p>
<h2>Overhaul course accreditation</h2>
<p>The first “to do” task is an overhaul of teacher education course accreditation processes and requirements. Teacher education accreditation already involves three different agencies: <a href="http://www.teqsa.gov.au/">TEQSA</a>, the federal agency which oversees accreditation of all university courses, <a href="http://www.aitsl.edu.au/">AITSL</a>, which provides national guidelines on the accreditation of teacher education courses, and each state and territory’s own teacher education accreditation agency.</p>
<p>The recommendation is not, unfortunately, an overhaul of this complicated, cumbersome and disconnected triumvirate, although it is suggested that TEQSA and AITSL could talk more. In fact, the report seemed keen to add a fourth regulatory body to the mix, but the government has decided not to accept that particular recommendation. And so, the “overhaul” is focused on AITSL providing further guidelines to their existing guidelines. </p>
<p>To achieve full course accreditation universities will have to prove their graduates have a positive impact on student learning, and that their employers are happy with them. </p>
<p>A key new guideline will be the requirement that all primary school teachers have a specialist subject, preferably maths, science or a language other than English. They need not teach this subject exclusively, but rather, be an expert in the school for others to consult. </p>
<p>No mention is made of specialists in the arts, health or other humanities, which seems remiss. However, Recommendation 17 is that all primary and secondary teachers should be teachers of literacy, which will require substantial reworking of some secondary education degrees.</p>
<h2>Identify best practice approaches for teacher candidate selection</h2>
<p>ATARs, or university entrance scores, will not be used as the only indicator of suitability for the teaching profession. AITSL has been charged with finding a better selection method.</p>
<p>The argument is made that academic competence alone is not sufficient to identify a good teacher. In the past, personality tests, interviews and essays have been offered as possible measures of suitability, so these will presumably be in the mix of what AITSL investigates. </p>
<p>However, while teacher education courses will not necessarily set minimum ATAR scores for entry, the government will require them to make their selection processes transparent. The aim of this is to instill public confidence in the quality of teacher candidates. Perhaps this transparency requirement in itself may prompt teacher education faculties to raise their ATAR entrance scores – if, of course, their universities are prepared to wear the subsequent drop in revenue.</p>
<p>Not requiring an ATAR still leaves the sticky problem of ensuring that teachers have good personal literacy and numeracy skills. To address this, from 2016, all graduating teacher education students will be required to pass a compulsory literacy and numeracy test. </p>
<p>This online test will check they know their “principle” from their “principal” and their “would ofs” from their “would haves”. While this is excellent news for all who despair of errors in the class newsletter, it won’t necessarily mean those teachers will be any better at teaching reading and writing. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-purpose-of-a-literacy-test-for-teachers-27103">I have argued before</a>, our children need teachers not copy editors. It will take more than a multiple-choice grammar test for teachers to build the literacy teaching skills the report identifies as missing in many graduates.</p>
<h2>The importance of practical experience</h2>
<p>The report claims, as have hundreds of studies before it, pre-service teachers need time in classrooms, with good supervising teachers, doing work that is connected to their university learning. </p>
<p>Currently, teaching students’ time in schools is decreasing, there aren’t enough “good” supervising teachers willing to take pre-service teachers and increasing workloads and decreasing face-to-face time in universities make partnerships with schools ever more challenging. </p>
<p>If this report can reverse each of those situations, teacher educators all over the country will be cheering.</p>
<h2>A national assessment framework for class readiness</h2>
<p>The report recommends both a “rigorous” assessment of class readiness before graduation, and quality mentoring and induction upon employment. The former is already well underway. The latter costs money that employers need to cough up. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-for-teachers/standards/list?c=graduate">The Graduate Standards for teaching</a>, developed by AITSL, provide a detailed description of what a teacher needs to know and do in the classroom in order to graduate. Most teacher education institutions already use these as their assessment framework. </p>
<p>The report recognises good work is happening in teacher education faculties around the country, and the government has directed AITSL to collect these examples of best practice. </p>
<h2>A research focus on teacher education</h2>
<p>Perhaps the most encouraging part of the report is the recognition that teacher education needs to be researched. But research costs money and there is no mention of any funding in the government’s response to the report. Let’s hope AITSL Chair John Hattie managed to secure some funding when he was handed the “to do” list.</p>
<p>So, will teacher education courses change as a result of this report? </p>
<p>Probably. </p>
<p>Will student outcomes improve as a result of this report? </p>
<p>Hard to say, but hopefully there’ll be some real research funding attached to these recommendations and we can find out for sure.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37513/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Misty Adoniou works as a teacher educator at the University of Canberra</span></em></p>The Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group report released today has much to live up to. After all, there have been a couple of dozen reports into teacher education over the past three decades. Is…Misty Adoniou, Senior Lecturer in Language, Literacy and TESL, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/331862014-10-21T01:43:47Z2014-10-21T01:43:47ZA teaching degree can’t prepare you for absolutely everything<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62303/original/c9wmxs6v-1413847156.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Are teaching graduates well enough prepared to enter the classroom?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://one.aap.com.au/#/search/teacher%20stock?q=%7B%22pageSize%22:100,%22pageNumber%22:1%7D">AAP</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.education.gov.au/school-teacher-workforce-data-reports">Two reports</a> released this week highlight that many teaching graduates don’t feel their university studies are sufficient to get them work-ready. A <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/node/36279">report released by ACER</a> (Australian Council for Educational Research) and <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/node/36283">data gathered by Ernst and Young</a> show only half of new primary school teachers think their initial teacher training was helpful in teaching students with a wide range of backgrounds and abilities. </p>
<p>The Conversation spoke with the Sydney Dean of Education at The University of Notre Dame Australia, Margie Maher, to discuss these findings.</p>
<h2>Do you agree that teaching graduates aren’t always prepared for working in the classroom?</h2>
<p>The stringent process of national accreditation of teachers in teacher education courses means that universities are able to produce evidence of quality, and many do a good job in the part they play in that continuum of learning that will continue through each teacher’s professional life.</p>
<p>We all keep learning all the time. I had been teaching for a quarter of a century when in my class came a little boy with Asperger’s syndrome and in addition to that he had physical disabilities. So even with that level of experience and a number of qualifications in special education, I had to learn how to implement strategies to accommodate his specific needs. </p>
<p>In Australia we’ve moved to a philosophy of inclusive education and I applaud this, having been hearing-impaired since childhood myself. I’m really keen that all students should have their learning needs met so they can maximise their potential. </p>
<p>In a four-year teacher course we can teach our students how to think about disability, how to recognise they have to take responsibility for all students and to plan for the diversity of students needs that they’re going to encounter in classes. But we cannot possibly provide them with the specific information for the thousands of disabilities they’re going to potentially encounter. </p>
<p>They need to know what supports there are within the school, within the family, within the department, for them to access so that they’ll be able to meet each child’s needs. At the university level we provide them with the fundamental skills and knowledge which they, with experience, will be able to apply to those situations.</p>
<h2>Do some teaching programs lack real-world experience, or do teachers just require certain capabilities that enable them to be thrown in the deep end?</h2>
<p>It is challenging to know what sort of children the graduates are going to encounter. However, I do think the principles of access and support remain the same. Some teaching programs have a minimum of 80 days in a classroom, or 60 if it’s a graduate entry position, but is this enough? Some universities have more - up to double that number of days.</p>
<p>Depending on how the course is designed, professional experience has the potential to be the pivot around which the theory units at university satellite. But it’s important that the professional experience be a fruitful and productive one for the teacher education student. Consequently it’s important to have sufficient supports in place for them and for the other stakeholders, including the classroom teacher, if you’re going to have prolonged professional experience.</p>
<h2>Are ATARs are a good predictor of the capabilities required by teachers?</h2>
<p>Obviously it’s important for the student to be clever enough to pass the course. However, the elements that are going to make a successful teacher are character qualities such as courage, endurance, compassion and self-sacrifice. I don’t see those reflected anywhere in an ATAR. </p>
<p>We use the ATAR as an indicative predictor of academic success, but we interview all prospective students to ensure they have all the qualities likely to make a great teacher. </p>
<h2>How do we improve teacher education courses?</h2>
<p>In NSW the department has put out a <a href="http://www.nswteachers.nsw.edu.au/great-teaching-inspired-learning/media/professional-experience-framework-questions-and-answers/">framework</a> for high-quality professional experience for NSW schools and I think that’s extremely helpful. It portrays the relationship between the university and schools, between the teacher education students and the supervising teacher, in a positive light with clear parameters and expectations of whose responsibility is what. It’s viewed along the lines of a community of learners, where the teacher education student is portrayed in a positive light rather than perceived as a burden, which can sometimes be the case. </p>
<p>In most teacher education courses you’ll find carefully staged professional experience. In our case our teacher education students spend three full terms in schools. Our graduates tell us that they do feel competent, confident and work-ready to step into the classroom, having been successful for that length of time in three different contexts. And where there is a strong relationship between the schools and the university, it leads to better-prepared graduates.</p>
<p>It’s the quality, not only the quantity of time spent in schools. This will always be subject to financial constraints – sending teacher education students in to schools is an expensive exercise. Universities focused on producing work-ready graduates rather than on turning a profit would probably be more likely to produce the 50% of graduates who did feel work-ready in the survey. </p>
<p>I also think we need to be clear about what being work-ready means. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they are going to be able to cope with every situation they may ever encounter in their professional life. It’s not as though there’s a little box getting filled and at the end of four years we tie the bow and give them the box because now they know everything they’re going to need to know about learning and teaching. Rather, there should be realistic expectations for that beginning teacher and a structured framework for supporting graduates as they step into teaching.</p>
<h2>Would these measures improve retention rates of teachers?</h2>
<p>I’m not sure we can say there’s a causal relationship between work readiness and the attrition rate, but it would be more productive to consider what systems we are putting in place to support beginning teachers, and what level and quality of professional development we’re providing to current staff. I’ve worked elsewhere in the world and Australia might be able to learn from other countries that have a higher retention rate, such as New Zealand possibly.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/33186/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Margie Maher receives funding from organisation. Australian Government Office of Learning and Teaching competitive research grants.</span></em></p>Two reports released this week highlight that many teaching graduates don’t feel their university studies are sufficient to get them work-ready. A report released by ACER (Australian Council for Educational…Margie Maher, Dean of Education, University of Notre Dame AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/284452014-06-26T20:44:32Z2014-06-26T20:44:32ZATAR scores only part of the picture for teaching<p>A common debate has resurfaced over teacher quality and the quality of teacher education in Australia. This time it was started by a leaked draft report into teacher education from the <a href="http://www.aitsl.edu.au/">Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL)</a> which the public can’t expect to see for at least another month. <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/brightest-students-dismiss-teaching-report/story-fn59nlz9-1226963168015">Media reports</a> have all focused on one aspect of the wide-ranging report: teaching students’ ATARs.</p>
<p>A story in <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/universities-set-a-low-bar-on-teaching/story-fnd17met-1226965712060">The Australian</a> claimed that teacher education providers are </p>
<blockquote>
<p>… contributing to the slide in teacher training quality by accepting very low Year 12 marks. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>According to the numbers reported in The Australian, 6.7% of students entering teacher education have ATARs in the bottom third (below 60). However, we don’t have enough information to make any further claims about links between teacher education entry standards and the quality of teaching in schools more generally.</p>
<p>Firstly, the reporting does not separate ATARs by teaching specialisation, and that has implications for how these data are read and what they are being taken to mean. Secondly, there is an assumption that someone with a high ATAR score will make a good teacher (and that someone with a lower ATAR will not). </p>
<p>Behind both of these is an assumption that higher ATARs reflect innate intelligence. But they don’t.</p>
<h2>What lies behind higher/lower ATAR scores?</h2>
<p>ATAR scores are weighted and some secondary school subjects are scaled higher than others. The “hard” sciences (physics/chemistry), mathematics and extension subjects can contribute to higher ATAR scores – if one does well in them. “Softer” practical subjects do not rate as highly and it is quite possible to do exceptionally well in drama or visual arts, for example, but still end up with a low ATAR. </p>
<p>Drama or visual arts may well be that student’s teaching specialisation – so should we deny them entry to the teaching profession, simply because they didn’t do so well at maths? They won’t be teaching it, so do their maths scores matter? </p>
<p>It is also well-known – amongst middle class parents especially – that going to an academically high performing school (and generally one in a high socioeconomic area) will add points to an ATAR simply by being there. The increase is unlikely to be huge, but it could well mean the difference for some. </p>
<p>So did the students with ATARs below 60 entering teacher education in 2013 come from disadvantaged backgrounds and schools that could not add to their scores? Are they planning to specialise in subject areas that tend not to attract higher ATAR weightings? I’d be worried if these students were planning to teach maths or physics but I highly doubt they are.</p>
<h2>Conflating ATAR with intelligence</h2>
<p>Underpinning this debate is the assumption that higher ATARs indicate higher intelligence and that the <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/brightest-students-dismiss-teaching-report/story-fn59nlz9-1226963168015">“brightest students”</a> will make the best teachers. These claims should not go unchallenged.</p>
<p>Anyone who has spent time in universities can tell you the brightest people do not necessarily make the best teachers. It can be exceptionally hard to break down a skill or concept that comes easily to you in order to teach it to somebody else. It is also extremely hard to understand difficulties in learning if you have never experienced them yourself.</p>
<h2>So, what makes a good teacher?</h2>
<p>Subject content knowledge is only part of what makes an effective teacher.
The ability to understand what piece of the puzzle is presenting barriers to learning, how to scaffold student learning to guide students through those barriers, and how to do it in ways that preserve their self-esteem and enthusiasm are equally important.</p>
<p>Too often in my research I see teachers “teach to the middle” – missing the students who need them the most. Often this is accidental and, sometimes, it’s deliberate.</p>
<p>Students who find school work boring or academic learning difficult can be hard work. Teachers are under pressure to “get through the curriculum” more than ever before and some are not averse to expressing their frustration when some students do not learn as quickly or as easily as others.</p>
<p>The students in my research are not blind to this and they deeply resent it. While many switch off and silently fail, some resort to disruption – with a few of those telling the teacher to get f**ked and/or throwing a chair across the room. </p>
<p>When asked what makes a good teacher, most students will acknowledge the importance of subject content knowledge but more important than that is how the teacher teaches, how the teacher treats them, whether they relate learning to their students’ background and ability, and - <em>most of all</em> - whether they make it fun.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/28445/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>A/Prof Linda Graham works in the Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology (QUT). She receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the Financial Markets Foundation for Children. She is the Editor of The Australian Educational Researcher (AER) and is a member of the Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) Executive Committee.</span></em></p>A common debate has resurfaced over teacher quality and the quality of teacher education in Australia. This time it was started by a leaked draft report into teacher education from the Australian Institute…Linda J. Graham, Principal Research Fellow in Education, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.