Draft Evidence Guides for Professional Accomplishment and Professional Leadership.
Thank you for the opportunity of responding to the Draft Evidence Guides for Professional Accomplishment and Professional Leadership.
The English Teachers’ Association NSW is a cross sectoral professional association of secondary English Teachers committed to stimulating teaching and learning in English and currently
has 2000 members, 270 of who are entire school faculties.
We believe that the Evidence guides are not detailed enough to allow for consistent or indeed fair judgements.
Accomplishment and leadership standards are too narrowly school based and this would exclude some teachers who also work beyond the school for the profession as a whole.
Often schools are unable to provide sufficient opportunities or structures for professional development of all teachers who are interested in progressing through these higher levels of
accreditation. Many teachers turn to their systems, sectors and professional associations to seek professional fulfillment that they need or desire. Furthermore, in our age of technological
revolution, the idea of equating teaching context with a school has become outdated and no longer reflects teacher practice and teacher professional development. Teachers teach, learn and
communicate online across schools, across regions, across the state and beyond. In its current form, the indicators and evidence have been set down in a way that does not capture the rich
and diverse range of activities accomplished professionals and those who are leaders in their field are already undertaking. For example, activities out of school networks (including but
not limited to those offered by professional associations) that are so important to the renewal and growth of the profession on local, regional and state levels are not captured to the extent
they need to be in the draft document. As a result, into the future, the ‘norm’ could become a narrowing of what is expected of our best and brightest teachers.
is not given sufficient emphasis at the higher levels of accreditation. We believe that the gradual diminution of subject centred criteria sends out a message that one can not be a
leader within one’s own discipline and needs to move out of the classroom to achieve this standard. In this aspect of the standards, the movement from ‘Apply and Use’ (Competence 1.2.1)
to ‘exhibit and share’ (Accomplishment 1.3.1) to ‘initiate and lead the development of policies etc. (Leadership 1.4.1) are reasonable enough but when one looks more closely at the
indicators and the suggested evidence the actual engagement with a subject declines dramatically as one moves up the scale. For from the 4 indicators for Professional Competence, subject
knowledge moves right down to 1 suggested piece of evidence at Professional Accomplishment and disappears entirely in Professional Leadership.
We believe that examples of the types of evidence need to be more open to suggest that teachers may meet criteria for the judgement of standards through work done beyond the school
in the wider professional community. For example
2.3.2 Sharing strategies for considering students’ stages of development with colleagues and across faculties/ stages
D - School policies, procedures or practices that reflect the teacher’s contributions on the stages of student development
R - The teacher contributes to stage/faculty/ professional discussions on stages of student development in schools and in wider contexts.
This provides richer indication as to how these standards may be addressed and offers opportunity to acknowledge the already significant work done by teachers in these areas.
The ETA recommends that- school based indicators be reconsidered to remove specific references to school contexts where appropriate and that
- examples of evidence be revisited with a view to broadening the scope of professional accomplishment and leadership to include opportunities for recognition of the significant
activities undertaken in wider professional contexts.
A further concern is that subject knowledge is not given sufficient emphasis at the higher levels of accreditation. We believe that the gradual diminution of subject
centred criteria sends out a message that one can not be a leader within one’s own discipline and needs to move out of the classroom to achieve this standard. In this aspect of the standards,
the movement from ‘Apply and Use’ (Competence 1.2.1) to ‘exhibit and share’ (Accomplishment 1.3.1) to ‘initiate and lead the development of policies etc. (Leadership 1.4.1) are
reasonable enough but when one looks more closely at the indicators and the suggested evidence the actual engagement with a subject declines dramatically as one moves up the scale.
For from the 4 indicators for Professional Competence, subject knowledge moves right down to 1 suggested piece of evidence at Professional Accomplishment and disappears entirely in
Professional Leadership.
We believe that this is not a message to send out to the profession, let alone the community. There has been considerable comment in the past that there is no incentive for good
teachers to remain in the classroom and as recently as last week there was criticism in the national press that teachers are not furthering their knowledge of their own discipline
(Most teachers need 'more study', The Australian 1st Nov 07) but prefer to undertake post graduate learning in the educational theory and practice. This is clearly because this provides
a currently more valued or recognized pathway to promotion. The devaluing of subject knowledge at the higher standards of the profession is a severely retrograde step particularly seen in
light of recent national and international educational research which has emphasised the crucial significance of teacher subject expertise to improved learning outcomes for students, such
as that which has informed the NSW Department of Education and Training’s Quality Teaching document, and national discussions about how to retain experienced and expert teachers in classrooms.
The ETA recommends that the NSWIT review the Evidence Guides for Professional Accomplishment and Professional Leadership to ensure that there is adequate acknowledgement of a
teacher’s work in the classroom and that leadership is not seen as solely the province of education administrators.
There is minimal reference to the development of the kind of reflective practice which should be a mark of the expert practitioner and educational leader.
There is an emphasis on the functional and procedural rather than the reflective and philosophical. More of the evidence should guide teachers to find opportunities to rethink
their approaches and understanding of teaching and learning with a view to improving and building on their own professional praxis.
The ETA recommends that the NSWIT review the Evidence Guides for Professional Accomplishment and Professional Leadership to ensure that there is adequate incentive provided for
teachers to engage in serious reflection on the theories and practice of teaching and learning, thereby raising the standard of their professionalism.
These recommendations may be achieved quite easily by
- the addition of some extra kinds of evidence as in:
1.3.3 Articulating a personal methodology for successful implementation of high quality programs for relevant staff
O - The teacher encourages professional dialogue that promotes collegiality and a shared focus on student learning
R - Active involvement in professional development programs for colleagues in school environment and beyond
1.4.2 Providing pedagogically-sound and research-based advice to other teachers that encourages them to examine their own teaching and learning programs and practices to ensure they continue to be effective
D - The teacher articulates own professional philosophy and facilitates high level thinking and discussion in amongst colleagues
R - The teacher regularly challenges others to examine their teaching and learning programs and practices to ensure they are effective
R - The teacher provides guidance to other teachers where needed on revising teaching and learning programs to ensure they meet the learning needs of all students
- or changing some of the passive verbs such as ‘encourage colleagues’ or those which focus on administration, such as ‘liaises with colleagues’ or maintaining 'lists', to active verbs that demonstrate leading by example
1.4.1 Initiating strategies across a faculty/stage/school to ensure that teachers’ possess a high-level knowledge of the content/discipline(s) taught
R - The teacher leads by example and encourages colleagues to share their content/discipline knowledge through collaborative reviews of teaching and learning programs
R - The teacher leads discussion in faculty/stage/staff meetings to ensure that content-rich learning activities that are included in teaching and learning programs
1.4.3 Ensuring teaching and learning programs are linked to syllabus outcomes and that mandatory curriculum requirements are met
D - Teaching and learning programs of colleagues that show direct links to syllabus outcomes and ensure compliance with mandatory curriculum requirements
D - Action minutes from faculty/stage/staff meetings where the teacher has instigated a review of teaching and learning programs to ensure they comply with mandatory curriculum requirements and embody syllabus outcomes
R - The teacher demonstrates expertise and provides direction to other teachers in their review of teaching and learning programs
* Evidence Guides with some more suggestions as to how this may be done were attached in the original submission.
These are important issues as they go to the heart and substance of the NSWIT standards and the philosophy behind them. The standards should be capturing, supporting but also extending best practice as it currently exists. A partial or inadequate evidence guide has the potential to compromise the integrity of these standards if it is reductive in nature. A better balance between the regulatory function and the aspirational nature of professional standards is required in the document.