National Professional Standards for Teachers – Policy or Reality? Lawrence Ingvarson ACER

1. National Professional Standards for Teachers – Policy or Reality?Lawrence IngvarsonACER Australian College of Educators/Flinders University Meeting March 18, 2011

2. Current context: The COAG National Agreement on Quality Teaching Priority areas for reform: • Developing and enhancing the skills and knowledge of teachers and school leaders throughout their careers • Retaining and rewarding quality teachers and school leaders • Improved mobility of the Australian teaching workforce and equitable distribution of quality teachers across schools

3. 9th of February 2011: Minister welcomes the release of new National Professional Standards for Teachers Mr Garrett said “the Standards will drive future reform in the areas of national accreditation of teacher education programs, nationally consistent teacher registration, and the certification of highly accomplished teachers.”

4. At the launch of the new National Standards, Tony Mackay, the Chair of AITSL, announced that: “AITSL will be working in partnership with the various regulatory authorities, teacher unions, and all school sectors, to implement the standards in all jurisdictions. This work will include explaining and elaborating on the standards, providing support materials, providing the processes, and deciding on how judgements are made.”

5. AITSL’s challenge • Developing and implementing a nationally consistent and credible voluntary system for the certification of highly accomplished teachers - what might be involved and how might this be achieved? • AITSL’s challenge is also a challenge for the teaching profession

6. A little history

7. Teaching standards and professional certification: Where have we been? Sir James Darling 1959 Address to Inaugural meeting of ACE Despite its importance, the teaching profession as a whole has never yet had a voice with which to speak. There are innumerable professional associations, at different levels and of different degrees of specialised interest, but there is no organisation to speak for education as a whole in matters of principle, which concern the whole body of those who teach. There are acknowledged leaders in specialized fields, but no leaders of the profession as a whole. There are higher degrees for those with expert knowledge of the techniques of teaching, but there are no ways in which the profession as a whole can be recognised. Thus on the one hand, individuals are denied the position from which they might give leadership, and on the other, the profession as a whole is denied a proper representation in the councils of the nation.”

8. 1973: the Interim Committee for the Australian Schools Commission A mark of a highly skilled occupation is that those entering it should have reached a level of preparation in accordance with standards set by the practitioners themselves, and that the continuing development of members should largely be the responsibility of the profession. In such circumstances, the occupational group itself becomes the point of reference for standards and thus the source of prestige or of condemnation. . . . in Australia teachers as an occupational group have had few opportunities to participate in decision-making. Their organisations have been traditionally more concerned with industrial matters, including those that affect the quality of services offered, than with the development of expertise, which has been seen as primarily the responsibility of the employer. (p. 123)

9. 1998: Senate Inquiry into Status of Teaching , A Class Act “A system of professional recognition for teachers must be established which is based on the achievement of enhanced knowledge and skills and which retains teachers at the front line of student learning. Such knowledge and skills should be identified, classified and assessed according to criteria developed by expert panels drawn from the profession. Education authorities should structure remuneration accordingly.” (p. 7)

10. 2003 National Statement from the Teaching Profession on Teacher Standards, Quality and Professionalism (agreed to by more than twenty teacher associations and unions) A nationally coordinated, rigorous and consistent system should be established to provide recognition to teachers who demonstrate advanced standards….The enterprise bargaining process between employers and unions will be an important mechanism for providing recognition for professional certification. All employing authorities should be encouraged to provide recognition and support for professional certification as the process comes to demonstrate its credibility and its effects on professional learning.

11. National Professional Bodies • Australian Teaching Council (1994-96) • Teaching Australia (NIQTSL) (2003-2008) • Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (2009- ?) (Formed to provide leadership for Commonwealth, state and territory governments in promoting excellence in the profession of teaching)

13. A little theory How is it all supposed to work?

14. A Standards-based Professional Learning and Certification System Main components: • Teaching standards that articulate what teachers should get better at and provide direction for professional development over the long term • Career paths that value teaching and provide substantial incentives and for teachers to attain these standards • An infrastructure for professional learning that enables teachers to gain the knowledge and skill embodied in the teaching standards • A voluntary system of professional certificationbased on valid methods forassessing teacherperformance

15. Emerging Standards-based Professional Certification levels SALARY School leader 2.5x Lead Teacher 2x Highly Accomplished Teacher 1.25x Proficient Teacher (i.e. Registered) x Provisionally registered teacher Teaching Standards Graduation standards Registration standards AT Certification standards LT Certification standards School leadership Standards

16. Certification in Professions • Certification refers to an endorsement by a professional agency that a teacher has attained a designated standard of teaching. • This process should be seen as distinct from the rewards or recognition that an employing authority may choose to give to that certification, if any. Certification is a professional qualification that belongs to the teacher regardless of where they teach.

17. Systems for recognising and financially rewarding accomplished teachers System for identifying accomplished teachers and providing certification of their knowledge and skill An important distinction Responsibility of employing authorities Responsibility of the profession • National professional body • Profession-wide standards • Standards-based performance assessment by trained peers • Portable certification • Voluntary • Recognition of certification may be built into industrial agreements and career pathways • Specific to particular jurisdictions/ employers • Certification not the only basis for performance pay

18. Another important distinction: Two different purposes for teacher evaluation • Performance management (e.g annual performance reviews, bonus schemes): Employer responsibility • Professional certification: Provided by independent national professional body (aims to be recognized by employers)

19. A surprising policy emerges OR, the things you say to get elected

20. ALP Federal Election Policy“Reward Payments for Great Teachers” • AITSL to develop the performance management system (“The Australian Teacher Performance Management Principles and Procedures”) • Performance bonus of $8000 for 10% of teachers each year • Methods; • Lesson observation • Analysis of student performance data (e.g. NAPLAN) • Parental feedback • Teacher qualifications and professional development • $1.25billion over five years • $50million to states and territories “to make necessary changes”

21. Letter to the Minister Does the Government still plan to implement the policy announced just prior to the election called "Reward Payments for Great Teachers"? If so, what will be the relationship between that program, which is a performance management bonus pay system, and the standards-based certification system announced by the Minister today?

22. Dear Mr Ingvarson  Thank you for your email of 9 February 2011 to the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations concerning the Reward Payments for Great Teachers election commitment. On 9 August 2010, the Australian Labour Party (ALP) announced a $1.25 billion election commitment, Reward Payments for Great Teachers, to recognise and reward top performing teachers.  In the 2010-11 Mid Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) process Cabinet advised that the Reward Payments for Great Teachers commitment will be reconsidered in the 2011-12 Budget process. The Reward Payments for Great Teachers election commitment has two elements:
- development of a nationally consistent performance management system, known as the ‘Australian Teacher Performance Management Principles and Procedures’ for roll out into all schools from 2012; and 
- a performance bonus paid once per performance assessment to the top ten percent of teachers, commencing in 2014.  The ‘Australian Teacher Performance Management Principles and Procedures’ will be a nationally consistent performance management framework which is built around the new National Professional Standards for Teachers. I trust this information is of assistance.  Yours sincerely Quality Teaching Branch, Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations

23. Thank you for replying to my query.  However, I do not think you have addressed the second part of my question.  “What is the relationship between the Australian Teacher Performance Management Principles and Procedures (i.e. the Rewards Payments for Great Teachers policy)  and AITSL’s standards based certification system announced by the Minister on Feb 9th?” The two approaches seem to be incompatible.

24. Three essential steps in developing standards for professional certification • Defining what is to be assessed – i.e. what do highly accomplished teachers know and do. (This is what the National Professional Standards for Teachers aim to do; • Developing valid and consistent assessment methods for gathering evidence about what a teacher knows and is able to do in relation to the standards; and • Developing reliable procedures for assessing that evidence and deciding whether a teacher has met the standard. (i.e. performance standards).

25. Developing standards for accomplished teaching Defining good teaching Capturing good teaching Measuring good teaching Content Standards (Capabilities Competencies, etc.) Methods for gathering evidence for assessment • Training assessors • Setting Performance standards (How good is good enough?)

26. Standards are not standards unless it is clear how they can be used to assess performance

27. The decathlon as an analogy for developing a nationally consistent certification system for highly accomplished teachers

28. Who is the World's Greatest Athlete? The decathlon decides • The decathlon is an athletic event consisting of ten track and field events. Events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all. Performance is judged on a points system in each event, not by the position achieved.The decathlon is contested mainly by male athletes, while female athletes contest the heptathlon. • Traditionally, the title of "has been given to the man who wins the decathlon. This began when King Gustav V of Sweden told Jim Thorpe, "You, sir, are the World's Greatest Athlete"

29. Main components of a set of standardsfor great all-round athlete (decathlon) Guiding conception of a great all-round athlete Content standards What constitutes a great all-round athlete? strength speed stamina endurance perseverance • How will we gather evidence? • Day 1 • 100 meters • Long Jump • Shot Put • High Jump • 400 meters • Day 2 • 110 meter hurdles • Discus • Pole Vault • Javelin • 1500 meters • hind it • Performance standards • What level of performance meets the accomplished standard (benchmarks)? • How will we discriminate between levels of performance?

30. Benchmark levels needed to earn 1000, 900, 800, and 700 points in each sport.

31. Applying the analogy to the certification of highly accomplished teachers

32. Developing standards for accomplished teaching Defining good teaching Capturing good teaching Measuring good teaching Content Standards (Capabilities Competencies, etc.) Methods for gathering evidence for assessment • Training assessors • Setting Performance standards (How good is good enough?)

33. Methods for capturing evidence of teaching • samples of students' work over time plus commentary; • video recordings of classroom practice plus commentary; • documentation of accomplishments outside the classroom • Written assessments (of PCK) • Student evaluations of teaching

34. Ensuring reliable assessment against the AITSL standards

35. Examples of portfolio entries for primary teachers 1. Provide evidence of a unit of work, with student writing samples, in which you have developed student’s writing ability over time. 2. Develop an inter-disciplinary theme and provide work samples that show how you engage students in work over time that deepens their understanding of an important idea in science. 3. Provide a videotape and commentary illustrating how you create a climate that supports students’ abilities to understand perspectives other than their own. 4. Provide evidence, through a videotape, written commentary, and student work samples, of how you have help build students’ mathematical understanding.

36. Links between teaching standards and performance assessment tasks Knowledge of subject Ability to plan for effective learning Knowledge of students Portfolio entry: Teaching a major idea in science Ability to reflect insightfully on effectiveness of their teaching Ability to engage students in a sequence of learning activities Ability to assess student progress and provide helpful feedback

37. Just as it is difficult to imagine a decathlon that would gain respect if each country decided on its own events and performance standards, it is difficult to see how a nationally consistent system that provides a widely respected certification to highly accomplished teachers can emerge if each jurisdiction develops its own assessment methods, using AITSL’s standards only as a framework .

38. Issues in planning a national certification system for highly accomplished teachers • Do the standards distinguish between highly accomplished and proficient teaching? • What methods of assessment provide valid evidence of meeting the standards? • How will we gain a representative sample of what a teacher knows and does in relation to the standards? • How will we ensure that the evidence covers all the standards, and in more than one way where possible? • How do we do this without placing an unreasonable burden on teachers? • How do we ensure that assessors are trained to high levels of consistency in interpreting the evidence and making judgments? • Should teachers meet a certain level on every standard, or should they be able to compensate for a poor performance on some standards with a good performance in others?

39. How to ensure AITSL certification “works” • Strengthen involvement of the profession in the operation of the certification system – e.g. standards committees, assessment development teams, assessor training. • Focus on ensuring that the assessment of performance is rigorous i.e. a valid indicator of teacher “excellence” –fundamental • Once this is done, convince employing authorities to give salary recognition to nationally certified teachers to encourage standards-based professional development • Encourage multiple ways to assist teacher professional development toward the standard • Mainstream the certification scheme – make it a condition of eligibility for school leadership positions

40. Example of Portfolio Entry Designing Science Instruction Provide evidence of a unit of work which shows how you link learning activities together to promote students' understanding of one important scientific concept along with the development of one or more related process goals. Choose students who represent different kinds of challenges for you. Choose three instructional activities, related instructional materials, two student responses to each activity, and submit a Written Commentary.

41. Problems with the current Framework

46. National Professional Standards Framework • No clear conception of what good teachers get better at • Confusion between developing expertise and changing roles and promotion – certification • Knowledge domain and Practice domain not clearly distinguished – leading to duplication • Not as yet in a suitable form to be used for developing assessment methods or setting standards – deciding how good is good enough

47. Developing standards Start by describing what counts as quality learning in your teaching field Then ask, “what do teachers need to know and be able to do to enable that kind of learning?” Develop standards with their assessment and professional development purpose in mind

48. Standard 6. Highly accomplished teachersof science engage students in scientific Inquiry • Highly accomplished teachers of science actively involve students in a wide range of scientific investigations . . . . • They both teach and model practices that allow their students to approach knowledge and experiences critically, recognise problems, ask questions and pose solutions. Their teaching reflects both the excitement and challenge of scientific endeavour and its distinctive rigour.

49. Where is the profession in all this?

50. Australian Science Teachers’ Association • National professional standards for highly accomplished teachers of science • March 2002 http://www.asta.edu.au