one-teaching-profession---teacher-registration-in-australia.pdf

One Teaching

Profession: Teacher

Registration in Australia

September 2018

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

One Teaching Profession:

Teacher Registration in Australia

September 2018

The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) was tasked with progressing

the National Review of Teacher Registration, including establishing an Expert Panel. The Review

was led by an independent Expert Panel which brought both national and international expertise

and perspectives. AITSL provided secretariat support for the Review, including coordination and

facilitation of consultation with stakeholders across Australia.

ISBN 978-1-925192-55-1 (print/online)

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The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership was formed to provide national

leadership for the Commonwealth, state and territory governments in promoting excellence in the

profession for teaching and school leadership with funding provided by the Australian Government.

The Hon John Gardner MP

Chair, COAG Education Council

14 September 2018

Dear Ministers

In September 2017, Education Council agreed the Terms of Reference for a National Review of Teacher

Registration primarily focusing on how the 2011 National Framework for Teacher Registration (the

Framework) has been implemented, and the role of teacher registration as a driver for teacher quality.

The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership was tasked with progressing the Review.

The independent Expert Panel appointed to lead the Review included individuals with expertise and

perspectives from across the early childhood and school sectors. It was clear to the Panel that stakeholders

consider that the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers are well embedded and utilised in current

registration processes across the country. Almost universally, teachers, leaders and those who support them,

see the Standards as the right foundation for professional registration.

Since 2011 when the Framework was agreed, we have moved from a country where teacher registration was

not universally implemented to one that is close to having a fully registered teaching profession. A consistent

theme in our consultations has been that teachers want to be considered part of one profession. Australian

teachers and leaders, supported by sectors, employers and teacher regulatory authorities, are proud to be

part of that profession. The status of registration also has a public facing component, giving the community

condence that the learning of children and young people is being guided by high quality professionals.

A signicant opportunity exists to extend the benets of the registration system to all early childhood

teachers. Embedding Teacher Standards in the professional endeavours of early childhood teachers will

support the continuing journey of professionalisation for this critically important sector.

There is scope to further strengthen teacher registration, building on the foundations of the current systems,

within a federated model. Teachers themselves can optimise the benets of registration by focusing on

opportunities for professional growth, investing in the idea of teaching as one profession and valuing their own

status as high quality registered professionals. Professional registration is the hallmark of being a professional.

The Panel has made recommendations that seek to:

• improve teacher quality

• strengthen child safety

• streamline registration processes across Australia.

With the support of all those who play a part in the registration process, we have condence that the

recommendations of this report will provide a way forward to achieve a stronger teaching profession and

better outcomes for children and young people across Australia.

On behalf of the Panel I would like to thank all those who assisted in developing this report. The Panel

undertook a deliberately consultative and iterative process. We visited each jurisdiction, meeting face to-face

with over 140 key stakeholders. We received 94 written submissions, and crucially, heard from over 6,500

teachers and leaders through an online survey. We worked closely with teacher regulatory authorities, sectors,

jurisdictions and professional organisations, sharing and testing our ndings and emerging recommendations

throughout the process.

On this basis, we believe that the recommendations of this report reect a balance of perspectives and give

due regard to the existing strong foundation of teacher registration in this country, as well as identifying

opportunities for further improvement and renement.

The inclusion of all early childhood teachers across the federation in registration will create a unied regulatory

system, further strengthening and promoting teacher quality through the collaborative effort of all teaching

professionals and those who support them.

I want to thank Ms Anita Torr and other members of the AITSL secretariat team who provided the Panel with

great support across all stages of the Review.

On behalf of the Expert Panel, I commend

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia to you.

Yours sincerely,

Chris Wardlaw PSM

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Executive Summary

Introduction

Registration is one of the most important

mechanisms to assure the safety, competency and

quality of a profession. Its design is underpinned by

a clear intent to set and uphold high standards of

professional practice.

Teacher registration is compulsory for all primary

and secondary school teachers in all states and

territories in Australia, and for most early childhood

teachers.

This broad uptake reects our current understanding

of the impact of teaching quality on child and student

outcomes, increased community expectations about

children’s safety and the increased focus on teaching

as a high-value profession.

Teacher registration is a joint endeavour involving

teachers, mentors, leaders, employers, sectors

and jurisdictions all playing an important role and

contributing to the quality of the processes and

outcomes.

Teacher registration in Australia is underpinned by

the National Framework for Teacher Registration

(the Framework) which was agreed by all Education

Ministers in 2011. The Framework embedded the

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers

(Teacher Standards) in registration requirements

across Australia; a signicant step towards teaching

as one profession across the country.

The Teacher Standards provide a foundation to

support teachers and leaders

, school and early

childhood systems, regulators, education authorities

and governments alike. Their purpose is to guide

and strengthen the quality of teaching, while also

providing a framework for career progression and

ongoing high quality professional learning. They are

complementary to and essential for the growth of

the profession and effective registration of teachers

throughout the country.

Teacher registration is managed by teacher

regulatory authorities in each state and territory.

Local policy contexts inuence each jurisdiction’s

current approach to registration, along with

legislative and regulatory differences that drive

operational and administrative arrangements. All

teacher regulatory authorities have practices and

processes that contribute in various ways to the

professionalism, quality and safety of teachers.

However, as a result of the evolution of teacher

registration across jurisdictions, there is variation in

the level of focus on these elements.

The Review

The terms of reference for a National Review of

Teacher Registration (the Review) were agreed

by Education Ministers in September 2017, and

the Review commenced in February 2018 with the

purpose of assessing the ongoing effectiveness of

the current regulatory system including the extent

to which there is consistency within and between

jurisdictions in the way that the Framework is applied.

The Australian Institute for Teaching and School

Leadership (AITSL) was tasked by Education Council

with progressing the Review, including establishing

an Expert Panel (the Panel). Mr Chris Wardlaw PSM

was appointed Chair of the Panel. AITSL provided

secretariat support, including coordination and

facilitation of consultation with stakeholders across

Australia.

The Review considered how the current national

registration Framework is operating, including

all elements of the framework as they relate to

consistency and best practice, as well as challenges

and barriers to successful implementation. The

extent to which the Teacher Standards are used

within regulatory arrangements to drive teacher

quality was also explored.

The suitability requirement of teacher registration

– and more specically measures of t and

proper persons – were considered by the Review

in the context of recommendations of the Royal

Commission into Institutional Responses to Child

Sexual Abuse.

A mapping of current approaches to each of the

elements in the Framework was undertaken in

consultation with teacher regulatory authorities.

This work supported the consultation for the Review

which took place in March, April and May 2018.

During that time, the Panel consulted widely through

a combination of targeted and broad strategies

including consultation with key stakeholders in

each state and territory, a survey of teachers and

principals/directors, and written submissions.

For the purposes of this Report, teachers and leaders is intended to be inclusive of educational leaders across school and early childhood

services, including principals and Directors.

iii

The consultation generated:

• Ninety-four written submissions

• 6,569 responses to an online survey from

teachers and leaders

• Discussions with over 140 stakeholder

organisations

The results of the consultation formed the basis

of an in-depth analysis of the teacher registration

system in Australia as it is currently operating. The

Panel has made seventeen separate but interrelated

recommendations for ongoing regulatory and

operational reform.

The ndings

The Panel found that signicant progress has been

made across all jurisdictions in implementing the

Framework since 2011; in particular, embedding the

Teacher Standards has been successful. The Panel

regard the Framework and the current institutional

arrangements for teacher registration, with state

and territory regulatory authorities responsible

for implementing teacher registration, as the

right foundation for further strengthening teacher

registration in Australia.

Broadly, the Panel’s recommendations indicate a

more consistent approach to the implementation of

teacher registration in the areas where this is relevant

and of value.

A number of broad themes for strengthening

registration emerged during the consultation. Overall,

the Panel found a perception by stakeholders that

there is a general lack of consistency between

jurisdictions in the way that teacher registration

requirements are interpreted and administered. This

is seen by many as a hindrance to workforce mobility

and a risk factor in the potential erosion of entry

standards to the profession.

A second theme encountered by the Panel was

the prevalence of barriers to data sharing between

jurisdictions, creating a signicant administrative

burden for both teachers and regulators, which may

have child safety implications.

A third overarching theme was a desire for the

registration system to be more inclusive. In

particular, the Panel focused on the registration of

early childhood teachers and the relationship that

VET trainers/assessors have with registration. The

changing nature of the workforce and the increased

diversity of modes of employment, especially use

of xed term/casual/relief teaching staff, has also

been noted as a challenge to the inclusiveness of the

registration system.

The Panel explored three key areas in detail in the

course of the Review, including:

1. Improving and reinforcing teacher quality

2. Strengthening children’s safety

3. Streamlining teacher registration processes.

1. Improving and reinforcing

teacher quality

The Panel considered the impact of registration

on teacher quality through an examination of key

stages of a teacher’s career cycle, starting with the

progression from provisional to full registration.

All teachers graduating from accredited initial teacher

education programs are initially granted provisional

registration. To gain full registration, they are required

to demonstrate evidence of performance against the

Procient career stage of the Teacher Standards.

The Panel observed that where the process for moving

to full registration is most effective, it is supported

by an established induction program for graduate

teachers and access to strong mentoring relationships

including opportunities for the mentor and the early

career teacher to focus on development. However,

challenges exist for teachers in circumstances where

access to mentors was not readily available.

The Panel recommends that teacher employers

maintain responsibility and strengthen their role in

providing access for early career teachers to high

quality induction and mentoring, to support their

transition into the workplace and the profession

(Recommendation 1).

The Panel also examined the processes for

assessment of evidence against the Teacher

Standards at the Procient career stage. The Panel

heard that there is variation in the processes used

and evidence expected of teachers, depending on

a teacher’s place of employment and/or the sector

or jurisdiction in which the process is undertaken.

The Panel found that this negatively affects both

condence in the consistency of outcomes and the

standard required to gain full registration. Addressing

this will better support opportunities for the growth

of the profession.

The Panel recommends that a national strategy

be developed and implemented to ensure national

consistency in the judgements made about whether

teachers meet the Procient career stage of the

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers,

in the provisional to full registration process

(Recommendation 2).

The Panel considered registration renewal as a key

element in ensuring continued teacher quality over

a teacher’s career cycle. Registration renewal offers

the regulatory authority - and in effect the profession

- an opportunity to assess whether the individual

continues to meet the necessary requirements for

teaching.

The continued focus on the performance and

development of fully registered teachers is critical

to drive quality and improve student outcomes.

The Panel found that ensuring a teacher’s practice

continues to meet the Procient career stage of the

Teacher Standards is best determined at the school/

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

service level, while it is most appropriate for the

registration process to focus on professional learning

requirements.

The Panel found that the required number of hours

of professional learning for renewal of registration

(equivalent to 20 hours per year) continues to

be appropriate, and that a key principle of the

understanding of the teacher as a professional is

that they take responsibility for their professional

development, in partnership with their employer.

Within this broad principle, the Panel identied

opportunities to enhance the efcacy of professional

learning.

For professional learning to be effective, it needs

to be selected based on need and relevance, lead

to a change in knowledge and understanding

by teachers, inuence their practice and lead to

improved outcomes for learners, through reection

on learning and explicitly linking professional learning

to performance and development.

The Panel found that discipline-specic learning

should be an integral part of a teacher’s overall

professional learning, but that mandating a set

number of hours of discipline-specic professional

learning or introducing accreditation of that learning

nation-wide could lead to signicant unintended

consequences.

The Panel also heard that teachers need exibility to

focus on the Teacher Standards most appropriate

to their needs, as identied in performance and

development.

The Panel recommends that in relation to

professional learning, the 2011 National Framework

for Teacher Registration be amended to:

• require that along with a record of Teacher

Standards-referenced professional learning,

teachers include reections on this learning

and its application

• explicitly specify that maintenance of

prociency against the Teacher Standards

includes up-to-date discipline-specic

knowledge and skills relevant to their

deployment and the curriculum they are

expected to teach

• explicitly state the option available for

jurisdiction-based requirements to be applied

in the professional learning undertaken by

teachers

• acknowledge that teachers will focus on

areas in the Teacher Standards identied in

their performance and development process.

(Recommendation 3).

The Panel also considered the national process of

teacher certication at the Highly Accomplished

and Lead career stages. The Panel heard that

recording teachers’ certication status in registration

processes supports the status, identity, career

progress and use of the expertise of highly

accomplished and lead teachers (HALTs).

The Panel recommends that teacher regulatory

authorities be required to record the Highly

Accomplished and Lead status of nationally

certied teachers in teachers’ registration records

(Recommendation 4).

The registration of early childhood teachers was an

area of focus for the Panel.

When the 2011 National Framework for Teacher

Registration was developed, it was silent on its

application to early childhood teachers. The

Framework was applied to early childhood teachers

in jurisdictions according to the registration

arrangements that were already in place for

the sector.

Since the agreement of the Framework, a number

of jurisdictions have extended teacher registration

to include all early childhood teachers, albeit with

different models of registration. Across Australia,

the majority of early childhood teachers are now

registered. However, some jurisdictions only register

early childhood teachers employed in school settings.

This means that some early childhood teachers are

not part of the registered profession of teaching.

The mobility of early childhood teachers across

jurisdictions is impacted by these different

jurisdictional approaches. This important cohort of

the teaching profession is currently inconsistently

recognised.

The Panel heard strong support for teacher

registration to be extended to early childhood

teachers in all settings, across all jurisdictions.

Employers of early childhood teachers are supportive

of registration across the workforce, implemented in a

way that is sensitive to the needs of the sector.

The Panel recommends that all early childhood teachers

in Australia, regardless of their employment setting,

be required to be registered by teacher regulatory

authorities, under a consistent national approach

(Recommendation 5).

The Panel formed the view that including all early

childhood teachers in registration arrangements

would support the continued professionalisation of

the early childhood teacher workforce, particularly

through engagement with the Teacher Standards.

However, the language used in the Teacher

Standards is not inclusive of early childhood

teachers’ practice and employment settings, and

the Panel found grounds for them to be amended.

The Panel does not intend for these amendments

to question the construct or intended content of the

Teacher Standards. The Panel notes that the Teacher

Standards are not under review and stakeholder

consultation did not demonstrate signicant demand

for them to be reviewed.

The Panel recommends that the Teacher

Standards be amended to ensure their relevance

and applicability to early childhood teachers

(Recommendation 6).

The Panel considered the issue of alternative

authorisation to teach, which is the provision, in

clearly dened circumstances for a person who

does not meet the qualication requirements

of registration to teach. The Panel heard from

stakeholders that this is a necessary mechanism

to deal with local workforce shortages. The exible

approach that alternative authorisation provides

is valued, particularly in supporting schools and

services in remote, rural and regional areas to ensure

that all classes are staffed to meet the specic

expertise needed to support the learning needs of

children and young people.

Given the diversity of approaches to alternative

authorisation to teach in different jurisdictions, the

Panel saw value in teacher regulatory authorities

sharing practice, with a view to developing a shared

understanding of good practice in this area. There

is an opportunity to align the focus on alternative

authorisation to teach with the work occurring in the

Australian Teacher Workforce Data Strategy.

The Panel recommends that a national evidence base

on alternative authorisation to teach be established,

which captures data about the number and type

of alternative authorisations granted over time

(Recommendation 7).

The Panel also explored the transition of pre-

service teachers into the profession. The Panel

identied potential benets for strong interaction

and integration between pre-service teachers and

teacher regulatory authorities and employers.

The Panel found that there are strong benets in

providing opportunities for pre-service teachers

to engage with regulatory authorities early in their

initial teacher education program. This is supported

by stakeholders, who particularly emphasised the

value of building pre-service teachers’ professional

identity.

The Panel recommends that strategies to strengthen

relationships between pre-service teachers and

teacher regulatory authorities early in initial teacher

education programs be developed and implemented,

with a focus on the Australian Professional Standards

for Teachers and registration requirements

(Recommendation 8).

2. Strengthening children’s safety

The Panel believes that as a profession, teachers

operating on the universal platform of education are

critical advocates for and protectors of children’s

safety. The Royal Commission into Institutional

Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended

changes to current practice in the information

gathered and shared between teacher regulatory

authorities. In its ndings, the Royal Commission

highlighted the gaps and risks that exist in the current

teacher registration information arrangements.

Recommendations were made for regulatory

authorities to collect consistent information and

improve the processes for sharing information.

The Panel heard clear support from stakeholders for

prioritising the safety of the child and implementing

the recommendations from the Royal Commission.

Teacher regulatory authorities recognise that reform

is now required to strengthen the safety of the child

and many jurisdictions are currently considering their

legislation to identify areas for change.

The Royal Commission recommended that teacher

regulatory authorities collect consistent information

about registered teachers, and share it with other

jurisdictions under dened arrangements.

Currently, there are a number of barriers to the

information sharing arrangements envisaged by the

Royal Commission. Efcient information sharing can

be hindered by inconsistent collection and recording

of data and nomenclature in relation to teacher

registration. Even if information is shared, it must be

reinterpreted by different jurisdictions.

The Panel supports more consistent collection and

sharing of information. This approach will mean that

decisions will be more accurate and enable greater

intelligence about risks and potential issues at a

national level, supporting both children’s safety and

teacher mobility.

Teacher regulatory authorities and government

agencies identied that the sharing of teacher

employment and any other sensitive information

is limited by legislation, other provisions governing

teacher registration, and other local laws.

The Panel recommends that jurisdictions amend

legislation and/or policies to require teacher

regulatory authorities to share information with other

teacher regulatory authorities to strengthen children’s

safety and improve teacher workforce mobility

(Recommendation 9).

Each teacher regulatory authority has an established

database to capture teacher registration information.

When information is exchanged between jurisdictions

it relies on an individual to manually access and

provide the information. In most cases this approach

works well. However where anomalies arise and

a search for different or additional information

is required, timeliness and the accuracy of the

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

information shared between teacher regulatory

authorities can be impacted.

The Panel heard from stakeholders that a system

that allowed the teacher regulatory authorities to

have immediate access to information about all

registered teachers in Australia would signicantly

improve the exchange of information between teacher

regulatory authorities. A range of technical solutions

to efciently exchange information were considered,

including a national register. The Panel decided that

further investigation is required to determine the most

efcient and effective solution.

Then Panel recommends that an automated

national information sharing platform and system

be developed and implemented to streamline the

sharing of teacher registration information, in real

time, between teacher regulatory authorities to

strengthen teacher workforce mobility, recognition

and children’s safety (Recommendation 10).

Suitability is one of eight elements within the National

Framework for teacher registration. It aims to ensure

the safety of children and determine the propriety

and suitability of a teacher to teach children and

young people. The Royal Commission highlighted

the need for teacher registration to protect children

from sexual abuse in schools, with the suitability

requirements for teacher registration a key lever for

achieving this.

All teacher regulatory authorities have common

principles that drive their approach to suitability to

teach and what is determined to be ‘t and proper’.

Each teacher regulatory authority has policies and

arrangements in place to assess, administer and

record the suitability of the teacher. These include

national criminal history checks and Working with

Children Checks.

However, there are legislative and regulatory

differences across jurisdictions that drive operational

and administrative arrangements. In addition, the

investigation and decision-making processes may

compound the differences in policies, leading to

diverse outcomes.

The Panel heard strong messages that ensuring all

registered teachers are suitable to teach is a key

area of public interest and contributes to community

condence in the profession. To match widespread

recognition of a national teaching profession, there

is stakeholder interest in a national approach to

determine what being a suitable member of the

profession encompasses.

The Panel recommends that a national policy on

suitability to teach, including considerations of ‘t and

proper’, be developed and implemented by all teacher

regulatory authorities or other relevant bodies, using

current instruments/statements as a starting point

(Recommendation 11).

3. Streamlining teacher

registration processes

The Panel considered a range of factors that

contribute to the efciency of registration and the

related issue of workforce mobility. The major areas

identied as potentially creating barriers and/or

warranting improvement were mutual recognition,

English language prociency and the delivery of

vocational education and training (VET) to secondary

school students.

The Panel considered the issue of mutual

recognition.

Teachers are required to register with the teacher

regulatory authority responsible for the jurisdiction

in which they teach, and to seek a new registration

if they move to a different jurisdiction. Currently a

system of ‘mutual recognition’ allows for recognition

of teachers’ registration across jurisdictions to

support teacher mobility. Mutual recognition aims

to minimise administrative burden and reduce

barriers to the movement of teachers between

jurisdictions, while still ensuring that teachers meet

local registration requirements, with child safety

and conrming that a teacher meets suitability

requirements a key consideration.

All teacher regulatory authorities currently

implement mutual recognition. However, many

teachers, leaders and employers reported that they

were dissatised with the process of being granted

registration in a new jurisdiction.

Difculties described by teachers and employers

were most acutely felt by those teachers living

and working near a border, or those wishing to

work across two or more jurisdictions (particularly

those who regularly crossed borders as casual

teachers). The Panel heard reports that registration

arrangements are a disincentive for short term

engagement across jurisdictions. This has

implications for workforce supply and demand

across the system.

The Panel recommends that jurisdictions commit

to improve mutual recognition processes between

teacher regulatory authorities to achieve timely,

accurate and rigorous outcomes when teachers

move between jurisdictions and contribute to

recognition of one profession (Recommendation 12).

The Panel also supports work towards teacher

registration becoming fully transferrable across

jurisdictions under a licence or mutual registration

scheme. However, there is insufcient alignment

of registration policy settings, legislation and

information sharing arrangements to implement

such a scheme in the short term. The Panel supports

work towards this goal commencing now.

vii

The Panel recommends that a plan be developed to

enable teacher registration to be fully transferable

between jurisdictions and for teachers working

across jurisdictions (Recommendation 13).

The Panel heard that all regulatory authorities

implement English language prociency requirements

under the Framework. However, the availability,

consistency and reliability of assessments of English

language prociency that reect the communication

demands of the teaching profession are problematic.

The Panel recommends that an updated national

approach to English language prociency

assessments for the purpose of teacher registration

be developed and implemented (Recommendation

14).

The Panel considered the delivery of VET in

secondary schools in the context of teacher

registration.

VET is an important part of senior secondary school

education in Australia. Qualied VET trainers/

assessors are required for the delivery of all VET

units and qualications.

VET is delivered to secondary students in a variety of

ways across jurisdictions. Many schools use a mix of

different models to meet the needs of their student

cohort. Different models are delivered by a range of

school stafng arrangements and reect the local

context.

In many jurisdictions where teachers with VET

qualications are not available to meet workforce

demand, alternative authorisation to teach is used to

employ qualied VET trainers/assessors to deliver

VET on school sites.

The Panel heard that there are challenges

for registered teachers seeking to gain VET

qualications, and for VET trainers/assessors

seeking teaching qualications. Maintaining dual

qualications (teacher registration and VET trainer/

assessor qualications) is seen as burdensome.

The Panel recommends that work be undertaken

to implement greater alignment between teacher

registration and VET qualications for teachers who

hold or seek dual teaching and VET qualications

(Recommendation 15).

The Panel recommends that teacher employers,

teacher regulatory authorities and initial teacher

education providers collaborate to develop pathway

programs to teaching qualications that recognise

the VET qualications, prior learning and the

experience of the VET trainer/assessor and make

these available to VET trainers/assessors employed

in schools under alternative authorisation to teach

arrangements (Recommendation 16).

The Panel considers it opportune to explore broader

policy settings that guide VET delivered to secondary

students, including the purposes that underpin VET

for school students. The challenges associated with

the workforce are symptoms of larger system issues

that cannot be resolved through changing stafng

arrangements.

The Panel recommends that consideration of the

workforce challenges and complexities under the

current arrangements for VET delivered to senior

secondary students be included in the review into

the senior secondary curriculum recommended in

Through Growth to Achievement: Report of the

Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in

Australian Schools (Recommendation 17).

The way forward

As a package, the Panel’s recommendations

represent a signicant national reform agenda with

actions to improve teacher registration in Australia.

Through changes to teacher registration policies and

processes, the recommendations aim to improve

and reinforce teacher quality, strengthen children’s

safety and improve the consistency and efciency of

teacher registration processes across Australia.

At all stages in implementation of the

recommendations, the engagement of the teaching

profession is critical if the benets of universal

processes and outcomes of professional registration

are to be realised.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

viii

Recommendations

Recommendation 1

Teacher employers maintain responsibility and

strengthen their role in providing access for early

career teachers to high quality induction and

mentoring, to support their transition into the

workplace and the profession.

Recommendation 2

Develop and implement a national strategy to ensure

national consistency in the judgements made about

whether teachers meet the Procient career stage of

the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers,

in the provisional-to-full registration process

Recommendation 3

To support professional learning, amend the 2011

National Framework for Teacher Registration to:

• require that along with a record of standards-

referenced professional learning, teachers

include reections on this learning and its

application

• explicitly specify that maintenance of

prociency against the Australian Professional

Standards for Teachers includes up-to-date

discipline-specic knowledge and skills relevant

to their deployment and the curriculum they are

expected to teach

• explicitly state the option available for

jurisdiction-based requirements to be applied

in the professional learning undertaken by

teachers

• acknowledge that teachers will focus on areas

in the Australian Professional Standards for

Teachers identied in their performance and

development process.

Recommendation 4

Record the Highly Accomplished and Lead status of

nationally certied teachers in teachers’ registration

records.

Recommendation 5

Require all early childhood teachers in Australia,

regardless of their employment setting, to be

registered by teacher regulatory authorities, under a

consistent national approach.

Recommendation 6

Amend the Australian Professional Standards for

Teachers to ensure their relevance and applicability

to early childhood teachers.

Recommendation 7

Establish a national evidence base on alternative

authorisation to teach, capturing data about the

number and type of alternative authorisations

granted over time.

Recommendation 8

Develop and implement strategies to strengthen

relationships between pre-service teachers and

teacher regulatory authorities early in initial

teacher education programs, with a focus on the

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers and

registration requirements.

Recommendation 9

Amend legislation and/or policies to require teacher

regulatory authorities to share information between

teacher regulatory authorities to strengthen

children’s safety and improve teacher workforce

mobility.

Recommendation 10

Develop and implement an automated national

information sharing platform and system that

streamlines the sharing of teacher registration

information, in real time, between teacher regulatory

authorities to strengthen teacher workforce mobility,

recognition, and children’s safety.

Recommendation 11

Develop a national policy on suitability to teach,

including considerations of ‘t and proper’ to be

implemented by all teacher regulatory authorities or

other relevant bodies, using current instruments/

statements as a starting point.

Recommendation 12

Commit to improve mutual recognition processes

between teacher regulatory authorities to achieve

timely, accurate and rigorous outcomes when

teachers move between jurisdictions and contribute

to recognition of one profession.

Recommendation 13

Develop a plan to enable teacher registration to

be fully transferable between jurisdictions and for

teachers working across jurisdictions.

Recommendation 14

Develop and implement an updated national

approach to English language prociency

assessments for the purpose of teacher registration.

Recommendation 15

Undertake work to implement greater alignment

between teacher registration and VET qualications

for teachers who hold or seek dual teaching and VET

qualications.

Recommendation 16

Teacher employers, teacher regulatory authorities

and initial teacher education providers collaborate

to develop pathway programs to teaching

qualications that recognise the VET qualications,

prior learning and the experience of the VET trainer/

assessor and make these available to VET trainer/

assessors employed in schools under alternative

authorisation to teach arrangements.

Recommendation 17

Include consideration of the workforce challenges

and complexities under the current arrangements

for VET delivered to senior secondary students in

the review into the senior secondary curriculum

recommended in Through Growth to Achievement:

Report of the Review to Achieve Educational

Excellence in Australian Schools.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

FROM: CURRENT STATE

TO: FUTURE STATE

The 2011 Framework for Teacher Registration has been largely implemented, but some gaps

exist and there are opportunities to strengthen beyond minimum levels of agreement.

A strengthened registration Framework based on higher standards of consistency that builds

support for one teaching profession.

Improving and reinforcing teacher quality

Many teachers and leaders view registration processes as compliance driven more than

they see it as a driver of quality.

Teachers view registration as an opportunity for professional growth and a hallmark of

being a professional.

Teachers moving from provisional to full registration work through a variety of

approaches. The consistency of outcomes across jurisdictions is unclear.

There is condence that every teacher who gains full registration has met the national

benchmark of the Procient career stage.

Registration processes and requirements perceived by many teachers as separate from

performance and development and professional learning needs of teachers.

Registration processes and outcomes strongly aligned with school/service level

performance and development and professional learning linked to the Teacher Standards.

There is a view from teachers that the registration requirements for professional

learning are compliance-focused and provide limited support for connecting learning

to practice.

There is clarity about the role of teachers, school leaders and employers. They work

together to ensure professional learning is based on need and has strong connections

with the roles and expectations of teachers. Emphasis is placed on the evaluation of the

professional learning to support the translation of learning to a change in the knowledge,

behaviours and actions of teachers.

Teacher registration is applied to most, but not all early childhood teachers

across Australia.

All early childhood teachers are part of one profession of teaching in Australia. Updated

Teacher Standards are used by all teachers across Australia.

Strengthening children’s safety Strengthening children’s safety

Teacher regulatory authorities collect information about teachers to t local needs, using

local nomenclature. Information is shared with other jurisdictions manually, when the

need is identied.

Consistent information is collected by all teacher regulatory authorities on registered

teachers. Information is shared in real-time between teacher regulatory authorities.

Information gaps are closed and risks to children’s safety minimised.

Teachers in each state and territory are checked for suitability to teach, under broadly

similar principles. However, different mechanisms are used, and different details

scrutinised.

All teachers in Australia are held to the same high standards of suitability to teach.

Streamlining teacher registration processes across Australia Streamlining teacher registration processes across Australia

Teacher mobility is enabled by mutual recognition, however this process can be onerous

for teachers.

Teachers can move seamlessly between jurisdictions, with teacher regulatory authorities

condent that national suitability requirements are met.

Challenges exist for registered teachers and qualied VET trainers/assessors in gaining

and maintaining qualications.

Barriers for staff delivering VET in secondary schools are minimised and the demand for

qualications is based on curriculum and learning needs of secondary students rather

than the site of delivery.

FROM: CURRENT STATE

TO: FUTURE STATE

The 2011 Framework for Teacher Registration has been largely implemented, but some gaps

exist and there are opportunities to strengthen beyond minimum levels of agreement.

A strengthened registration Framework based on higher standards of consistency that builds

support for one teaching profession.

Improving and reinforcing teacher quality

Many teachers and leaders view registration processes as compliance driven more than

they see it as a driver of quality.

Teachers view registration as an opportunity for professional growth and a hallmark of

being a professional.

Teachers moving from provisional to full registration work through a variety of

approaches. The consistency of outcomes across jurisdictions is unclear.

There is condence that every teacher who gains full registration has met the national

benchmark of the Procient career stage.

Registration processes and requirements perceived by many teachers as separate from

performance and development and professional learning needs of teachers.

Registration processes and outcomes strongly aligned with school/service level

performance and development and professional learning linked to the Teacher Standards.

There is a view from teachers that the registration requirements for professional

learning are compliance-focused and provide limited support for connecting learning

to practice.

There is clarity about the role of teachers, school leaders and employers. They work

together to ensure professional learning is based on need and has strong connections

with the roles and expectations of teachers. Emphasis is placed on the evaluation of the

professional learning to support the translation of learning to a change in the knowledge,

behaviours and actions of teachers.

Teacher registration is applied to most, but not all early childhood teachers

across Australia.

All early childhood teachers are part of one profession of teaching in Australia. Updated

Teacher Standards are used by all teachers across Australia.

Strengthening children’s safety Strengthening children’s safety

Teacher regulatory authorities collect information about teachers to t local needs, using

local nomenclature. Information is shared with other jurisdictions manually, when the

need is identied.

Consistent information is collected by all teacher regulatory authorities on registered

teachers. Information is shared in real-time between teacher regulatory authorities.

Information gaps are closed and risks to children’s safety minimised.

Teachers in each state and territory are checked for suitability to teach, under broadly

similar principles. However, different mechanisms are used, and different details

scrutinised.

All teachers in Australia are held to the same high standards of suitability to teach.

Streamlining teacher registration processes across Australia Streamlining teacher registration processes across Australia

Teacher mobility is enabled by mutual recognition, however this process can be onerous

for teachers.

Teachers can move seamlessly between jurisdictions, with teacher regulatory authorities

condent that national suitability requirements are met.

Challenges exist for registered teachers and qualied VET trainers/assessors in gaining

and maintaining qualications.

Barriers for staff delivering VET in secondary schools are minimised and the demand for

qualications is based on curriculum and learning needs of secondary students rather

than the site of delivery.

Executive Summary ii

Recommendations viii

Future State x

1. Teacher Registration in Australia 2

1.1 The purpose and value of teacher registration 2

1.2 Goals of Australian school and early childhood education 4

1.3 The current context of teacher registration in Australia 6

1.4 Elements of the Framework 7

1.5 Additions to the Framework 9

1.6 Institutional arrangements 10

1.7 The report and recommendations 10

2. Improving and reinforcing teacher quality 12

2.1 Provisional to full registration 12

2.2 Renewal of registration 16

2.3 Early childhood teachers 23

2.4 Alternative authorisation to teach 29

2.5 Entry to the profession 32

3.Strengthening children’s safety 34

3.1 Information sharing 34

3.2 Streamlining processes for information sharing 37

3.3. Nationally consistent policy for suitability 38

4.Streamlining teacher registration processes across Australia 42

4.1 Teacher mobility and mutual recognition 42

 4.2Englishlanguageprociency      46

4.3 VET alignment 47

5. Progressing the recommendations 52

Appendices

Appendix A Terms of Reference for a National Review of 54

Teacher Registration

Appendix B 2011 National Framework for Teacher Registration 55

Appendix C Review Process and Panel’s Working Principles 57

Appendix D Expert Panel 59

Appendix E Consultation Meetings 64

Appendix F Submissions 67

Appendix G National Review of Teacher Registration — Online Survey 68

Appendix H Glossary 80

Appendix I References 82

Appendix J Mapping Teacher Regulatory Authorities’ Suitability Policies 84

Contents

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Teacher Registration in Australia

The registration of teachers in Australia is fairly new

compared to other professions, such as those in the

health sector. Its relatively recent nationwide uptake

reects our current understanding of the impact of

teaching quality, increased community expectations

about children’s safety and the greater focus on

teaching as a profession.

1.1 The purpose and value

of teacher registration

Registration is one of the most important

mechanisms to assure the safety, competence

and quality of the teaching profession. Its design

is underpinned by a clear intent to set and uphold

standards of professional practice.

Professional registration is commonly administered

by a statutory authority that determines and

enforces the requirements to obtain and maintain

registration. It is particularly important where

members of the profession have a direct impact

on individuals and communities.

There are three primary reasons why registration

is important to a profession and the community

it serves:

1. Maintaining professionalism

2. Setting standards of quality

3. Ensuring the safety and protection of

the community.

Registration of the teaching profession is

administered by teacher regulatory authorities within

each state and territory. While the requirements

and processes can differ between jurisdictions, all

teacher regulatory authorities have responsibility for:

• registering teaching professionals

• maintaining a public register

• applying the Australian Professional Standards

for Teachers (Teacher Standards)

• inuencing regulatory outcomes for teachers.

All jurisdictions have acknowledged the importance

of regulating the teaching profession by mandating

registration of all teachers, however this has evolved

at a different pace across the country. Queensland

was the rst jurisdiction to introduce mandatory

registration for teachers in 1975.

The Australian

Capital Territory implemented teacher registration

with the establishment of the Teacher Quality

Institute in 2011.

In New South Wales, teacher

registration did not apply to all teachers until 2018.

All teacher regulatory authorities in Australia have

practices and processes that contribute in various

ways to the professionalism, quality and safety of

teachers. However, as a result of the evolution of

teacher registration across jurisdictions, there is

variation in the level of focus on these three elements.

Registration is considered the hallmark of a

profession and professional standards are

considered attributes of a profession and feature

prominently in the notion of a professional identity.

Teacher registration is of critical benet to teachers

in supporting their agency as professionals and their

professional recognition, both by their peers and by

the community.

Professionalism

Compulsory teacher registration contributes to the

professionalisation of the teaching workforce. All

teachers must meet a certain standard of education,

experience and personal characteristics to become

part of the teaching profession. These standards

must be maintained across the course of a teacher’s

career through a continual registration renewal

process. Teacher registration:

• provides certainty to employers and the

community that every teacher has undertaken

a prescribed level of training and professional

learning

• creates an obligation to those in the teaching

profession to uphold the standards of their

profession and prepare the next generation

of teachers to maintain the same standards

Early childhood teachers are subject to different teacher registration requirements depending on the jurisdiction they work in.

Refer to Section 2.3.

KPMG, The Teacher Registration Mapping Project, March 2018 commissioned by AITSL secretariat and prepared for the

Expert Panel unpublished.

Queensland College of Teachers 2018 https://www.qct.edu.au/about/background viewed 2018.

Teacher Quality Institute 2018 https://www.tqi.act.edu.au/ viewed 2018.

New South Wales Education Standards Authority 2018 http://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/ home viewed 2018.

• contributes to the integrity of the profession

by conferring a moral weight and sense of

common purpose that governs the behaviour

of individuals who identify as a teacher. This

has contributed to the recognition of teaching

as one profession across Australia.

Professionalisation also benets individual teachers.

Through registration, teachers are more likely

to identify as a member of a broader group of

professionals. This sense of belonging reinforces

the individual’s obligation to uphold the same level

of professionalism as their peers, resulting in a

degree of self-regulation by individuals who do

not want their peers to behave in a way that might

devalue the profession.

It is, however, ultimately up to the teacher regulatory

authorities to maintain the professional standards of

teachers by enforcing expectations of professional

conduct and behaviour.

Teacher quality

The quality of teachers contributes signicantly to

learner outcomes and has been shown as an important

predictor of children and student’s success.

Teacher registration is a unifying mechanism to

ensure a certain level of quality is consistently met

by all teachers across the course of their career,

in collaboration with their peers and employer.

Teacher regulation authorities enforce the agreed

standards for quality established in the Teacher

Standards. Teacher registration processes support

teachers to understand what is expected of them

as a member of the teaching profession, and gives

assurances to the community that teachers meet

quality standards. This establishes a shared level

of expectation across the profession regardless of

employment setting.

Teacher registration sets a consistent expectation

of career progression and continuous improvement

by dening development pathways and the level of

quality associated with each of them. This contributes

to quality across all stages of a teacher’s career.

Another mechanism for ensuring consistent quality

throughout a teacher’s career is registration renewal.

Requirements vary across jurisdictions but generally

mandate that teachers demonstrate:

• participation in professional learning

• a certain number of days practising as

a teacher

• continued suitability to teach.

Registration does not diminish an employer’s

responsibility to ensure and improve the quality of

their teaching staff, including providing support for

their growth so that they can meet the expectations

outlined in the Teacher Standards. Rather, it is

a complementary and reinforcing relationship.

Employers are generally closer to individual teachers

and have more levers at their disposal to support

the development of teacher quality; while regulators

set a standard of quality that all registered teachers

have to meet. Employers are also responsible for

the advancement of their teachers across the entire

quality continuum.

Children’s safety

Regulation of the teaching profession through

registration is vital to ensure the safety and

protection of children, young people and the

community. Teachers have direct engagement

and impact on children. As a profession, teachers

operating on the universal platform of education are

critical advocates for and protectors of children’s

safety. The special role of teachers in the community

means that they are conferred with a high level of

trust and responsibility. An unsafe teacher can cause

substantial and irreparable harm to children. To

ensure that trust is maintained, the community must

be condent that certain standards of behaviour and

professional conduct are met to protect the safety

of their children. This places a strong obligation

on teacher regulatory authorities to ensure that

individuals in the teaching profession are safe and

trustworthy.

Teacher regulatory authorities ensure the safety

of the teachers they register by enforcing suitability

and character standards. Before teachers are

granted registration, they must undergo relevant

criminal history checks to conrm their suitability

as a teacher. Once registered and throughout

the duration of their career, teacher regulatory

authorities can also impose sanctions or withdraw

a teacher’s registration if they do not meet the

required standards of personal and professional

behaviour. Most teacher regulatory authorities

are directly responsible for undertaking disciplinary

processes and all are empowered to take regulatory

action on teachers who do not meet the standard,

such as placing a condition on or cancelling their

registration.

Disciplinary processes deter inappropriate behaviour

that can impact a student’s safety and ensure that

individuals who are unt to teach are removed from

the classroom, thereby protecting the student and

broader community.

The benet of teacher registration to teachers,

students and the community is signicant and

essential to the professionalisation and quality

of teachers and the safety of students. This is

particularly relevant in light of the ndings and

recommendations of the Final Report: Royal

Commission into Institutional Responses to

Child Sexual Abuse (the Royal Commission).

Hattie, J 2003, Teachers Make a Difference. What is the research evidence? Pg.3 prepared for the Australian Council for Educational

Research, October 2003.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

1.2 Goals of Australian school

and early childhood education

Teacher registration is one of many factors that

contribute to the broad goals of education in

Australia.

As identied in the Melbourne Declaration, all

stakeholders in the education system are committed

to ensuring that:

1. Australian schooling and early childhood

education promote equity and excellence

2. All young Australians become:

• successful learners

• condent and creative individuals

• active and informed citizens

The Melbourne Declaration identies ‘supporting

quality teaching and school leadership’ and

‘strengthening early childhood education’ as key

foundations to achieve these goals.

Registration is seen as an important factor

contributing to the lifting and maintaining of teaching

quality as evidenced by references in a number of key

reports, such as:

• Through Growth to Achievement: Report of the

Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in

Australian Schools;

• Optimising STEM Industry-School

Partnerships: Inspiring Australia’s Next

Generation;

• Lifting our Game: Report of the Review to

Achieve Excellence in Australian Schools

Through Early Childhood Interventions;

• the Independent Review into Regional, Rural

and Remote Education; and

• the Final Report of the Royal Commission into

Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Registration supports and interacts with key stages

of the teacher career lifecycle as well as with other

national and local frameworks, policies and processes.

Ministerial Council on Education Working Group: Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals

for Young Australians, Dec 2008, http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/National_Declaration_on_the_Educational_Goals_

for_Young_Australians.pdf viewed 2018.

Note that the Australian Teacher Workforce Data Strategy data is de-identied and does not capture data or information about sanctions,

investigations, conduct or discipline matters and could not be used to transfer information about individuals between jurisdictions.

Table 1: Recommendations mapped against key reports, policies and career lifecycle stages

National Review of Teacher Registration: Recommendations

Teacher career lifecycle 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Attract

• • • • • • • • • •

Train

• • • • • • •

Place

• • • • • • • • • •

Retain

• • • • • • • • • • •

Develop

• • • • • • • • •

Recognise

• • • • •

National policies/initiatives 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers

• • • • • • • • • • •

Australian Professional Standard for Principals

• • • • • • • •

Accreditation of ITE programs in Australia:

Standards and Procedures

• • • • •

National Framework for Teacher Registration

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Australian Charter for Professional Learning of

Teachers and School Leaders

• • • • •

Australian Teacher Performance and

Development Framework

• • • • • • •

Certication of Highly Accomplished and Lead

Teachers in Australia

• • • • •

Australian Teacher Workforce Data Strategy

• • • •

Graduate to Procient: Australian guidelines for

teacher induction into the profession

• • • • • •

Teacher registration alone doesn’t drive workforce

reform. Nor does it drive an individual teacher’s

professional learning and development pathway.

However, in concert with other policy settings

and stakeholders, it should provide the regulatory

framework to support and enable teachers to

meet standards and develop in their careers, while

assuring the profession and the public of the quality

and safety of Australia’s teachers.

Over the course of the Review, the Expert Panel

(the Panel) heard from stakeholders and viewed

evidence that teacher registration is most effective

and valued where strong integration exists between

the regulatory framework and school/early

childhood practice and policy, particularly in the

implementation of the Teacher Standards. In some

of the examples given, there was strong alignment

between professional performance and development

processes and professional learning designed to

grow the expertise of teachers. This integration was

underpinned by strong relationships and clearly

dened roles between the key stakeholders.

These include:

• teachers

• the relevant State or Territory Minister

• the teacher regulatory authority

• the employing sectors

• principals/education leaders and approved

providers

• mentors

• higher education institutions

• unions

• other authorised regulatory bodies, such as

Australian Children’s Education and Care

Quality Agency (ACECQA) and agencies

responsible for working with children and

criminal history checks.

The Panel found evidence of a perception among

stakeholders of a dichotomy between quality and

compliance; that is, a view that regulation can only

focus on one at the expense of the other. In fact, the two

continuums (quality and compliance) can and should

operate in parallel and support each other to meet the

objectives of regulation in the teaching profession.

While there is limited data available about the

effectiveness of teacher registration approaches

and mechanisms, the elements that comprise

registration are supported by extensive knowledge

about the impact of teaching on learner outcomes.

These well-researched elements include a set of

teacher standards

, a focus on effective teaching

practice

, continuous development

12 13

and best-

practice safety requirements.

National Review of Teacher Registration: Recommendations

National Reports 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Optimising STEM Industry-School

Partnerships: Inspiring Australia’s Next

Generation - STEM Partnerships Forum

• • •

Through Growth to achievement: Report of

the review to achieve educational excellence

in Australian schools

• • • • • •

Independent Review into Regional, Rural and

Remote Education

• • • • • • •

Lifting Our Game: Report of the Review to

achieve educational excellence in Australian

schools through early childhood interventions

• • •

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses

to Child Sexual Abuse

• • • •

Action Now: Classroom Ready Teachers –

Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group

• •

Clinton, J, Dinham, S, Savage, G, Aston, R, Dabrowski, A, Gullickson, A, Calnin, G, and Arbour, G 2015, Evaluation of the Implementation

of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers: Final Report, Centre for Program Evaluation, The University of Melbourne,

December 2015.

Hattie, J 2003, Teachers Make a Difference: What is the research evidence? Australian Council for Education Research Annual

Conference on: Building Teacher Quality, ACER, Camberwell, Victoria, October 2003,

Cordingley, P, Higgins, S, Greany, T, Buckler, N, Coles-Jordan, D, Crisp, B, Saunders, L and Coe, R, 2015, Developing Great Teaching:

Lessons from the international reviews into effective professional development, Teacher Development Trust, London.

Kennedy, M, 2016, How Does Professional Development Improve Teaching? Review of Educational Research, vol. 86, no. 4, pp.945-980,

National Review of Teacher Registration: Recommendations (continued)

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

The Australian Professional

Standards for Teachers

The Australian Professional Standards for

Teachers are a public statement of the key

elements of quality teaching. They articulate

what teachers are expected to know and be able

to do at four career stages: Graduate, Procient,

Highly Accomplished and Lead.

An extensive validation process involving almost

6,000 teachers ensured that each descriptor

was shaped by the profession.

The Australian Professional Standards for

Teachers were endorsed by the Ministerial

Council for Education, Early Childhood

Development and Youth Affairs (MCEECDYA –

now the Education Council) in December 2010.

They were implemented across all Australian

jurisdictions in 2013.

1.3 The current context of

teacher registration in Australia

Constitutional responsibility for teacher registration

sits with states and territories. Teacher registration

arrangements reect the local context and aim to

support the needs of the jurisdiction. Registration

is currently at different stages across jurisdictions,

reecting the time of establishment of registration

and the uptake of the 2011 National Framework

for Teacher Registration (the Framework, refer

Appendix B). Some jurisdictions also have change

processes and reviews in play.

In 2011

, Education Ministers agreed to a nationally

consistent framework for teacher registration, to

be implemented in states and territories by 2013.

The Framework includes eight elements that outline

requirements for teacher qualications and quality,

ongoing development and suitability to teach.

Jurisdictions agreed that teaching quality should be

embedded in teacher registration—realised through

the Teacher Standards—shortly after they were

endorsed in December 2010. The commitment by

state and territory Ministers also conrmed the view

that teachers in Australia are part of one profession.

The terms of reference for the Review ask the Panel

to consider how the current national registration

framework is operating, including consideration

of all elements of the Framework in terms of

implementation, consistency, best practice and

challenges and barriers; and to recommend

improvements to the arrangements for teacher

registration in Australia.

In this context, the Panel has considered the eight

elements of the Framework in relation to:

• the overall success of the Framework

• how each element of the Framework is being

implemented across jurisdictions

• whether the elements of the Framework

require improvement

• whether any additions are needed to the

Framework

• whether the institutional arrangements

for implementing the Framework are t

for purpose.

A summary of the Panel’s assessment of the eight

elements follows. Further exploration of the areas

identied for improvement is found in Part 2 of this

report.

Overall, the Panel found that since its endorsement

by Education Ministers in 2011, signicant progress

has been achieved by the teacher regulatory

authorities, both individually, collectively and in

collaboration with jurisdictions, sectors, leaders and

teachers, in implementing the Framework. In most

jurisdictions, all eight elements of the Framework are

being applied.

The most signicant achievement of the Framework

has been the embedding of the Teacher Standards as

a key part of teacher registration across Australia.

The Panel recognises that the Framework is high-

level rather than prescriptive about how the elements

are achieved. It does not, for example, set an agenda

for consistency of processes for registration.

Local interpretation of the Framework has allowed

jurisdictions to develop approaches based on

different starting points and respond to contextual

needs in implementation.

In other areas of the application of the Teacher

Standards, jurisdictions have taken a more consistent

approach, in particular in relation to initial teacher

education accreditation and the national certication

process for Highly Accomplished and Lead teachers.

These developments will help build condence within

and external to the profession that the relevant

standards are being maintained, regardless of

context or jurisdiction. There is an opportunity to take

a similar approach through registration, particularly

with provisional to full registration and assessment of

the Procient career stage.

Broadly, the Panel’s recommendations indicate a

more consistent approach to the implementation

of teacher registration in the areas where this is

relevant and of value.

Further information can be accessed at www.aitsl.edu.au.

This occurred prior to the establishment of the National Quality Framework for early childhood teachers, which commenced in January 2012.

1.4 Elements of the Framework

All jurisdictions have implemented the Framework

for their registered teachers. It is noted that while

NSW rst introduced teacher accreditation for some

teachers in 2005 and implemented the Framework

for those teachers who were accredited at that time,

teacher accreditation was not mandatory for all

teachers in NSW until January 2018.

Element 1: Initial period of registration

All jurisdictions have an initial period of registration

and a dened process for moving from provisional to

full based on an assessment of evidence against the

Procient career stage of the Teacher Standards.

However, the Panel found that:

• All jurisdictions except one meet the

expectation that the initial period of

registration is limited to ve years.

• There is variation in the implementation of

processes for and assessment of evidence

against the Procient career stage to move

to full registration, as well as variation in the

approaches taken to auditing judgements.

• While the Framework allows for diverse

approaches, a more consistent approach

is warranted to ensure condence that a

teacher’s demonstrated prociency in one

setting is comparable to another

As noted above, the 2011 Framework sets the

maximum period for initial registration at ve years,

with provision for renewal on a case-by-case basis.

The Tasmanian Teachers Registration Board has

implemented all of the aspects of the initial period

of registration set out in the Framework, with the

exception of the provision for renewal.

The adoption of the Teacher Standards in Tasmania

has been by agreement, rather than legislative

change. There is therefore no legislation to compel

teachers to move to full registration.

Under the

requirements currently applied in Tasmania, all

provisionally registered teachers may renew their

provisional registration, undermining the regulatory

requirement for teachers to demonstrate their

prociency within ve years. Thirty per cent of

Tasmanian teachers are provisionally registered.

While the Framework allows for teachers to renew

their provisional registration, this is intended to be on

a case-by-case basis, rather than an option for the

workforce at large.

In consultations, the Panel heard that the Teachers

Registration Board and teacher employers in

Tasmania want teachers to move from provisional to

full registration and to demonstrate their prociency

against the Teacher Standards, and are using

alternative levers to effect change.

The Tasmanian Department of Education has

implemented workforce strategies to incentivise full

registration, including requiring full registration for

teachers moving into promotion positions, to access

certain pay increments

and to full the role of

principal. Signicant work has been undertaken by

the Teachers Registration Board in collaboration with

the Department to encourage and support teachers

to engage with the provisional to full process,

including the development of resources such as

videos and online modules, the formation of a group

of retired principals to support those progressing to

full registration, and auditing portfolios of evidence.

These initiatives have resulted in an upswing of the

number of teachers engaging with the provisional

to full process, In consultations the Teachers.

Registration Board reported a 400 per cent increase

in applications for full registration in 2017.

The Panel recognises and supports the work

undertaken to create demand amongst teachers

to move to full registration. The full benets of

registration as a driver for teacher quality could be

realised by extending this requirement to all teachers

through the registration framework.

Element 2: Fixed period of registration

Jurisdictions implement the xed period of

registration within different timeframes. The

Framework provides for exibility in the length of the

xed period of registration, up to a maximum of ve

years. The requirements for professional practice

and professional development are implemented

proportionally to the length of that period.

Section 14 Teachers Registration Act 2000 (TAS), https://www.legislation.tas.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2000-098 viewed 2018.

Teacher Registration Board (TAS) Annual Report 2016-2017.

Department of Education, Salary Scales implemented 12 July 2018, https://documentcentre.education.tas.gov.au/Documents/

Salary%20Scales.pdf viewed 2018.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Table 2: Length of xed period of registration for each

jurisdiction

Jurisdiction Length of xed period

ACT

1 year

NSW

5 years (or 7 years for part-

time and casual teachers)

Northern Territory

5 years

Queensland

5 year renewal (annual update

for professional practice and

professional learning)

South Australia

3 years

Tasmania

5 years

Victoria

1 year

Western Australia

5 years

The Panel heard that this exibility around the

length of the renewal period supports local contexts

and arrangements, and supported continued

exibility. However, the Panel identied areas of the

professional learning requirements that should be

updated to better support high quality professional

learning that impacts on practice.

Element 3: Alternative authorisation

to teach

The Framework gives discretion for teacher

regulatory authorities to implement alternative

authorisation to teach according to jurisdictional

need, in line with local policy settings. Implementation

of alternative authorisation to teach occurs within the

broad parameters of this element. The Panel found

that local exibility could be complemented by a

better national understanding of how this category of

registration is deployed. This includes how it ts into

broader workforce planning and provides motivation

for engagement of staff with the expertise to support

leaders and teachers to create high quality learning

opportunities for children and students.

Element 4: Sanctions (including

discipline and de-registration)

Sanctions are applied by teacher regulatory

authorities or other recognised authorities according

to jurisdictional policy and legislation.

This element of the Framework references the

sharing of information regarding discipline and

de-registration. The Panel has identied a broad

need to signicantly expand the information sharing

arrangements between teacher regulatory authorities.

Element 5: Suitability

The suitability element requires teacher regulatory

authorities to conrm the suitability of teachers,

both to work with children and practice as a teacher,

through national criminal history checks. All teacher

regulatory authorities require registered teachers to

undertake a working with children check, usually part

of a jurisdiction-wide process. In some jurisdictions,

the working with children check is part of a national

criminal history check. In others, a national criminal

history check is required in addition to the working

with children check.

The Panel heard that in practice, most jurisdictions

exceed the requirements of this element.

The Panel recommends that this element be

signicantly amended to include a nationally

consistent policy on suitability that has a broader

scope than the policies currently implemented.

Element 6: Qualications

The Panel heard that all teacher regulatory

authorities implement the element as written and

that all jurisdictions accept any teaching qualication

accredited under the Accreditation of Initial Teacher

Education in Australia: Standards and Procedures.

The Panel was satised that this element remains

appropriate.

Element 7: English language prociency

While all teacher regulatory authorities implement this

element of the Framework, the Panel heard that the

availability of English language prociency tests has

changed and requires further investigation. There will

be a need to update this element of the Framework.

Element 8: Mutual recognition

The mutual recognition process is currently in

place in all jurisdictions - with NSW joining in

2018. However, the Panel considered evidence

that indicates that not all jurisdictions recognise

the registration of every other jurisdiction’s

registered teachers under the Trans-Tasman Mutual

Recognition Act (Cth) 1997. For example, teachers

from NSW cannot currently seek mutual recognition

in Victoria, Tasmania and ACT. This may be a

transitional issue for NSW following their full adoption

of teacher accreditation in 2018.

Issues were also identied concerning the mutual

recognition of registered early childhood teachers.

The mutual recognition element of the Framework

supports the release of information between

jurisdictions in relation to mutual recognition

applications. The Panel found a need to strengthen

information sharing across the board, including to

support mutual recognition.

KPMG, The Teacher Registration Mapping Project, March 2018 commissioned by AITSL secretariat and prepared for the Expert

Panel unpublished.

The recommendations of this report are designed

to build on the 2011 Framework. Where elements

of the current Framework have not yet been fully

implemented, the Panel believes that urgent action

should be taken.

1.5 Additions to the Framework

The Panel formed the view that it is important for

teacher registration to enable and support broader

teacher workforce change.

In addition to the elements of the 2011 Framework,

the Panel considered what broader changes had

occurred for education and teachers since the

Framework was agreed and whether any important

aspects of registration were missing.

The registration of early childhood teachers is not

specically referred to in the Framework. Since 2011,

signicant reforms impacting the early childhood

teacher workforce have been implemented across

Australia. In 2011, only South Australia registered

all early childhood teachers, with some others

registering school-based early childhood teachers

only. Victoria, NSW and Western Australia now

The Panel recommends that a nationally consistent

approach to early childhood teacher registration

be developed and implemented to support the

continued professional recognition and development

of early childhood teachers. This approach, once

agreed, will need to be captured in the Framework.

As is already the case in some jurisdictions, all

elements of teacher registration and the Framework

would apply to registered early childhood teachers,

as well as any implications arising from progressing

the wider recommendations of this Report.

The Panel also heard from stakeholders that the

changing nature of the Australian teaching workforce

has resulted in an increasing number of teachers

being employed as casual/relief teachers or on

contracts, particularly at the beginning of their

careers. Approximately 1 in 6 teachers work on a

casual basis, either as a casual relief teacher or on a

non-ongoing contract.

Processes and policies for teacher registration,

particularly those that relate to moving from

provisional to full registration, have largely been

developed with full-time permanent teachers in

mind. While the Panel does not propose a specic

amendment to the Framework, registration should

reect the needs of the workforce it serves. The

Panel encourages teacher regulatory authorities

to work with the profession to design and embed

strategies to support casual and contract teachers.

Related challenges exist for educational leaders

(including Directors and principals) who may not be

teaching during the registration renewal cycle.

The Panel also heard from stakeholders who

supported broadening the functions of teacher

regulatory authorities to include registration of

different categories of staff who contribute to the

education of Australian children and students;

for example, early childhood educators, teaching

assistants and other education support staff. At

any time in schools and services across Australia

many skilled coaches, instructors and specialist staff

are supporting the delivery of school curriculum

and early childhood learning. This dynamic use

of educators and support staff reects the move

towards more porous boundaries between schools,

services, community, industry and those adults

supporting learners.

Arguments for such an approach emphasise the

contributions that various groups of staff make

to education outcomes, particularly in non-traditional

schools and services. It may also be a mechanism

to ensure that stringent suitability requirements

are applied to paraprofessional staff (in addition

to current requirements applied by the school/

ACECQA).

The Welsh teacher regulatory authority has

commenced registering the diverse groups that make

up the education workforce, in addition to teachers.

The authority now registers over 75,000 education

professionals in one professional body, including

support staff, youth workers and work-based learning

practitioners, into one professional body.

The Panel was not convinced that it is necessary

to implement a broadened registration approach

in Australia at this time. However, developments

in education should be carefully monitored and

registration approaches adapted as necessary.

Should such an approach be taken in the future,

very clear denitions of the scope of practice of

each registered group would be required in order to

preserve the dened role of the teacher.

At a state and territory level, teacher regulatory

authorities operate within a context of local reforms

and changes. The National Framework for Teacher

Registration in Australia should be periodically

reviewed to ensure that it keeps pace with

developments in education.

McKenzie, Phillip; Weldon, Paul R.; Rowley, Glenn; Murphy, Martin; and McMillan, Julie, 2014, Staff in Australia’s schools 2013: Main report

on the survey, https://research.acer.edu.au/tll_misc/20 viewed 2018.

Education Workforce Council, Wales at https://www.ewc.wales/site/index.php/en/registration/applying-for-registration.html viewed 2018.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

1.6 Institutional arrangements

The Panel considered whether the institutional

arrangements for implementing the Framework

continue to be t for purpose.

State and territory teacher regulatory authorities

have responsibility for teacher registration under

state and territory legislation. The Panel heard mixed

perspectives from stakeholders on this issue. Many

valued the local contextual approach taken by state

and territory regulatory authorities and expressed

the view that that these organisations are located at

the right position in the education system.

Other stakeholders questioned the need for eight

institutions undertaking similar roles. This was

particularly highlighted by teachers moving between

jurisdictions, who observed that the reasons for

differences can be difcult to understand, while the

different processes can be difcult to navigate. In

particular, many teachers responding to the survey

called for a national regulator and national registration.

The Panel formed the view that, were teacher

registration being implemented for the rst time in

Australia in 2018, it would be logical for a profession

using a common set of professional standards to

be developed under a common framework by a

single body. However, given the institutional history

and legislative basis in state and territory law for

teacher registration, the Panel formed the view that

there was no substantial case for reform that could

not be delivered within the current institutional

arrangements, and that these should be maintained.

Teachers in Australia are part of one profession and

there is an impetus for state and territory regulatory

authorities to better reect this in their regulatory

approaches. Underpinning this should be a common

vision of teacher regulatory authorities’ role and

purpose within the federation.

The Panel found that while some functions overlap and

shared work is undertaken on specic issues, there is a

disconnect between the driving purpose of regulators,

with some tightly focused on compliance and others

more focused on teacher quality. Achieving a more

cohesive approach will strengthen the regulatory

framework applied to teachers in Australia and at the

same time build teachers’ ownership of registration as

a hallmark of being a professional.

The Panel has made a series of specic

recommendations to improve teacher registration,

many of which form part of a drive towards greater

national consistency. In addition to implementing

these specic actions, the Panel urges regulators

to work towards a common vision to support the

Australian teaching profession.

1.7 The report and

recommendations

The Panel has considered improvements to

teacher registration in Australia, taking into

account legislative, regulatory, administrative and

resourcing contexts. To gain a deeper understanding

of these contexts, the Panel commissioned a

detailed mapping of teacher regulatory authorities’

registration functions. This work formed a valuable

foundation for the Panel’s work and would not have

been possible without the constructive engagement

of the teacher regulatory authorities.

The Panel used a highly consultative approach,

meeting with representatives of 142 organisations in

all states and territories, considering 94 submissions

and surveying over 6,500 teachers, school leaders,

principals and Directors. The draft recommendations

developed by the Panel were tested for impact with

key stakeholders.

A driving purpose of the Review was to consider how

teacher registration supports teacher quality and

how this could be strengthened. The rst tranche of

recommendations is designed to strengthen teacher

quality, with a particular focus on the Procient

career stage and early childhood teachers.

The second group of recommendations focus on

another key role of teacher registration: protecting

children’s safety. While the Panel believes that as

a profession, teachers operating on the universal

platform of education are critical advocates for

and protectors of children’s safety, the Royal

Commission has highlighted some important gaps

that teacher regulatory authorities must act to close.

Finally, there are a series of recommendations that

seek to streamline registration processes and support

the concept of one Australian teaching profession.

The Panel is aware that some recommendations

will require change from the status quo in terms

of policy, practice and/or legislation. Where the

Panel has made recommendations of this scope,

they are based on careful consideration of the risks

that will be mitigated or the value that will ow from

implementing these changes.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Education sectors and governments in Australia are

committed to providing a high-quality education

for young people across the country, with teacher

quality at the forefront of this commitment.

The Terms of Reference for the Review emphasised

quality teaching, the Teacher Standards and the

role that registration plays in driving quality teaching

through the Teacher Standards, with a particular

focus on the Procient career stage and early

childhood teachers.

The Review also sought input from stakeholders on

how the renewal process both supports and drives

ongoing improvement and professional development

for teachers, and how a focus on quality teaching

could be enhanced through the registration renewal

process.

In particular, stakeholders were asked to comment

on the following areas:

• How has the embedding of the Teacher

Standards in the Framework supported

teacher quality? In particular, how have

the Teacher Standards inuenced the way

in which teachers move from provisional

to full registration and through renewal of

registration?

• How could current teacher registration

arrangements be improved to strengthen

both teacher registration implementation and

teacher quality? Are the eight elements of the

2011 Framework relevant and appropriate?

• How could a nationally consistent approach to

teacher registration support and improve the

quality of early childhood teaching in school

and non-school settings?

Guided by stakeholder responses, the Panel

identied a number of key areas where teacher

quality could be improved or reinforced.

2.1 Provisional to

full registration

Demonstrating prociency

Graduate teachers are initially granted provisional

registration. To gain full registration, they are required

to demonstrate evidence of performance against the

Procient career stage of the Teacher Standards. The

process of demonstrating prociency is undertaken

in the rst years of a beginning teacher’s career,

as they are establishing themselves as a teaching

professional. The process is a quality assurance

mechanism that conrms the teacher is able to apply

what they have learnt and practised in their initial

teacher education program in the workplace.

The 2011 Framework notes that the process for

achieving teacher registration needs to be exible to

accommodate different contexts and experiences.

Each jurisdiction uses its own processes to transition

teachers from provisional to full registration, with

corresponding evidence requirements that differ

across jurisdictions. However, it is common to

all jurisdictions that the assessment of evidence

and recommendation that a teacher has met the

Procient career stage is made by a leader at, or

close to, the school or early childhood service where

the teacher works.

Responsibility for the transition of the teacher from

provisional to full registration therefore requires the

contribution and resources of multiple players within

the system. The transition process includes a strong

role for a professional mentor, as the provisionally

registered teacher develops their practice and

gathers evidence against the Teacher Standards.

Good practice and engagement with the Teacher

Standards through this process can have a positive

ow-on effect to other staff members.

Improving and reinforcing teacher quality

Roles and responsibilities:

provisional to full

Beginning teacher — Teacher agency and

ownership is the key to growth in capacity and

meeting the Teacher Standards. The beginning

teacher gathers evidence drawn from their

teaching practice. Resources including evidence

guides are a critical support

Mentor teacher — supports and guides the

beginning teacher and requires their own

capability building ahead of a mentoring role

Leader — considers evidence and makes

judgement or recommendation for teacher’s

progression to full registration against

the Teacher Standards. Judgement or

recommendation provided to the teacher

regulatory authority

Employer — supports beginning teacher, mentor

teacher and leader to engage in the process

Teacher regulatory authority — designs the

process and makes resources/evidence guides

available for all parties, supports teachers who

have challenges nding mentors etc, considers

the recommendations and grants full registration,

conducts quality assurance activities on

evidence provided.

Supporting the transition process

The Panel observed that where the process for

moving to full registration is most effective, it is

supported by:

• an established induction program for graduate

teachers

• access to strong mentoring relationships

underpinned by high quality professional

learning for both beginning teachers and

mentors

• opportunity for the mentor and for the early

career teacher to focus on development,

including the reection on evidence for the

transition to the Procient career stage

Building mentoring capacity

across Victoria

The Effective Mentoring Program comprises

of a two-day professional learning program

developed and delivered as a partnership

between Victorian Institute of Teachers (VIT)

and the Department of Education and Training.

The program is open to teachers fully registered

with VIT and teaching in government, Catholic

and independent schools and in early childhood

services. It is a blend of the skills and knowledge

fundamental to mentoring and knowledge about

the VIT process to move from provisional to full

registration. Participants explore the practice

of mentoring and how mentoring can support

beginning teachers to improve their teaching

practice, guiding and supporting a provisionally

registered teachers, via an evidence inquiry

process, through to (full) registration.

Stakeholders emphasised the importance of

the mentor in providing high quality pedagogical

leadership in the provisional to full registration

process. However, challenges were identied for

teachers in circumstances where access to mentors

was not readily available. This is particularly the case

where teachers are employed on a casual or part-time

basis, work in single teacher settings, and/or work in

rural or remote locations. The difculty in accessing

mentors is exacerbated in the early childhood sector,

where the early childhood teacher is often the only

qualied teacher working at the setting.

New and more readily available models of accessing

mentoring support and undertaking the provisional

to full registration process will be needed for the early

childhood sector.

Employers have a responsibility to ensure that

induction and mentoring is provided to graduate

teachers, whether in a school, early childhood service

or across networks.

The 2016 AITSL Stakeholder Survey

asked school

leaders about the provision of formal induction

for early career teachers. Early career teachers

themselves were also asked about whether they

received formal induction. The results show that 70

per cent of school leaders (n=2665) indicated that

early career teachers had received formal induction,

while 48 per cent of early career teachers (n=212)

indicated that they had received formal induction.

While employers have primary responsibility, teacher

regulatory authorities should support these teachers

to transition from provisional to full registration by

Victorian Institute of Teachers, Effective Mentoring Program https://www.vit.vic.edu.au/registered-teacher/how-to-train-as-a-teacher-

mentor viewed 2018.

The 2016 AITSL Stakeholder Survey dened school leader as including school principals, deputy/assistant principals and other school

leaders. Early career teacher was dened as a teacher with up to ve years’ teaching experience.

AITSL 2016 Stakeholder Survey.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

providing a safety net that links early career teachers

with appropriately qualied mentors and a leader to

assure, within the school, or early childhood service

the transition to full registration has been made.

In addition, the Panel heard that the provisional

to full registration process can be more effective

when aligned to and integrated with other processes

that the beginning teacher is working through, which

may include induction, probation and performance

and development.

Progressing from provisional to full

registration in the ACT

For most graduate teachers in the ACT, the

transition to full registration happens in their rst

year of employment.

The ACT Teacher Quality Institute (TQI) has

worked closely with schools and employers to

integrate the provisional to full process with

other key processes that occur in the rst year,

including probation.

With the support of the school-based

Professional Guidance Panel that is formed

early in employment, and the TQI’s information

sessions and evidence workshops, the

overwhelming majority of ACT teachers

successfully transition to full registration in the

rst school year.

The ACT credits the deep knowledge of the

Teacher Standards that has been developed

in ACT schools with the success.

– ACT Government submission to the Review

May 2018.

To further align parts of the teacher career

development cycle, the Panel identied potential for

the Teaching Performance Assessment that is now a

requirement in initial teacher education programs to

be utilised in the induction period and built on for the

provisional to full process.

Consistent judgements

Since the 2011 Framework was implemented, there

has been a strong focus on the Graduate, Highly

Accomplished and Lead career stages of the Teacher

Standards, with robust national processes developed

to make assessments of evidence to support

key career progressions for Australian teachers.

These processes have increasingly included effort

to understand and support the consistency of

assessments across jurisdictions.

• Meeting the Graduate career stage is a

requirement for graduation from a nationally

accredited initial teacher education program. It

is assessed through the Teaching Performance

Assessment and other assessment in initial

teacher education programs.

• Meeting the Highly Accomplished and Lead

career stages are requirements for national

teacher certication. They are assessed

through the national certication process.

Highly Accomplished and Lead career

stages - National Certication

The certication of Highly Accomplished and

Lead teachers is driven by State and Territory

Certifying Authorities, using a nationally agreed

process. Trained assessors evaluate the

practice of teacher applicants against the Highly

Accomplished or Lead career stages of the

Teacher Standards.

To ensure that decisions being made in national

teacher certication are rigorous, valid, reliable

and consistent at a national level, the Certifying

Authorities’ Network has endorsed a standard

setting methodology that is being implemented

in 2018.

The pairwise methodology pairs assessors

from across jurisdictions to individually and

then jointly assess portfolios of evidence.

A broader group of assessors then evaluate the

outcomes and develop a scale of the assessed

portfolios to identify a ‘cut point’ on the scale.

The standard setting process will enable the

production of resources to support current

and future assessors across all jurisdictions to

make clearer decisions about borderline cases

on each level of judgement.

Processes for the assessment of evidence at the

Procient career stage are designed and monitored

by the state and territory teacher regulatory

authorities. There is no data currently available to

indicate whether or not there is consistency in the

judgements made about evidence at the Procient

career stage within and across jurisdictions. The

Panel heard that there is signicant variation in the

processes used and evidence expected of teachers,

depending on a teacher’s place of employment and/

or the sector or jurisdiction in which the process is

undertaken. There is currently no formal mechanism

in place to demonstrate that the processes

implemented across jurisdictions are comparable

in the outcomes they deliver. The Panel found that

this negatively affects both public condence in the

consistency of outcomes and the standard required

to gain full registration and move from Graduate to

Procient, and to remain in the profession.

Given this variation, there is a need to ensure that

the nationally agreed Teacher Standards are applied

in a way that produces consistent outcomes at the

point that teachers are accepted as full members of

the profession.

Further information can be accessed from www.aitsl.edu.au.

Graduate career stage - teaching

performance assessment

The Accreditation of Initial Teacher Education

Programs in Australia: Standards and

Procedures requires that all pre-service teachers

successfully complete a rigorous assessment

(teaching performance assessment) in the nal

year of their study that covers the breadth of

teaching practices and ensures they meet the

Graduate career stage of the Teacher Standards.

Each Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA)

that is used by an initial teacher education

provider must be valid, reliable and have

evidence to support the passing standard.

The intent of these requirements is to set

the framework for a consistently rigorous

approach to ensuring that all graduates will have

demonstrated successful performance against

the Graduate Teacher Standards, regardless of

where they have studied.

As there is no single TPA mandated for use in

Australia, effort to ensure that there is national

consistency between and within TPAs is a

priority. A national expert advisory group has

been established to provide advice on the

development.

To underpin a consistent approach, stakeholders

called for consistent articulation of the expected

standard of prociency to support graduate

teachers, mentors and leaders who make

judgements about evidence. Some jurisdictions have

developed evidence guides which could be built upon

to share experience for national use.

This will potentially lead to higher levels of teacher

agency and ownership for the move to full

registration.

Recommendation 1

Teacher employers maintain responsibility and

strengthen their role in providing access for early

career teachers to high quality induction and

mentoring, to support their transition into the

workplace and the profession.

Recommendation 2

Develop and implement a national strategy to

ensure national consistency in the judgements

made about whether teachers meet the

Procient career stage of the Australian

Professional Standards for Teachers, in the

provisional to full registration process.

This should include:

• agreement on the roles of different actors

in the system, with a primary focus on

building teacher agency and ownership in

the processes and outcomes of teacher

registration

• a national standard setting process to

establish national agreement on what it means

to meet the Procient career stage

• ongoing mechanisms to monitor the rigour

and consistency of judgements made in

the provisional to full registration process,

including sharing and reviewing samples of

decisions with other jurisdictions as a basis for

comparison

• benchmarking of the processes (including

the evidence expected to be presented) used

across jurisdictions for provisional to full

registration

• guidance for school/service-based staff

(including mentors) in assessing evidence and

making judgements that result in a nationally

consistent understanding of the Teacher

Standards at the Procient career stage.

Commencing implementation of this

recommendation should be an immediate

priority, along with the national strategy to outline

the schedule of activities, which will require

collaborative effort.

Further information can be accessed from www.aitsl.edu.au.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

2.2 Renewal of registration

Ensuring suitability and quality is

maintained throughout a teacher’s career

Entry to registration requires a level of quality

and quantity of teaching practice, in addition to

suitability requirements. Registration renewal offers

the regulatory authority - and in effect the profession

- an opportunity to assess whether the individual

continues to meet the necessary requirements

for teaching.

Over time, changes in expectations and knowledge

about effective practice lead to an increased risk that

the previous assessment of prociency is no longer

as valid or reliable.

To maintain registration in line with the Framework,

teachers must renew every ve years at a minimum.

Several jurisdictions have opted for a shorter renewal

period including some with annual registration cycles.

The current Framework prescribes at a minimum,

a declaration by the teacher that:

• suitability is maintained

• recency of professional practice requirements

have been met (100 days over 5 years, or

equivalent)

• prociency against the Teacher Standards has

been maintained

• hours of professional learning, referenced to

the Teacher Standards, can be demonstrated

(100 hours over 5 years, or equivalent).

During the registration renewal cycle other measures

also ensure that teacher suitability is met. As is the

practice in jurisdictions, real-time data alerts from

other agencies (e.g. police) ensure that teacher

regulatory authorities have current data to inform

an individual’s suitability to teach (refer to Section

3.3: Suitability).

Those who are registered are assumed by teacher

regulatory authorities to be operating at the

Procient career stage of the Teacher Standards.

In effect, completion of the required hours of

professional learning is used as a proxy measure

for maintenance of prociency. This focus on

professional learning as an indicator of continued

prociency is common across other regulated

professions, including chartered accountants,

the legal profession and all registered health

professions.

A more direct consideration of the ongoing

prociency of teachers at the point of renewing

registration across Australia is beyond the scope

of the registration system, as currently congured.

However, the legislative basis for some teacher

regulatory authorities allows for a focus on quality

and this has been developed and used in different

ways across the education system.

The Final Report: Evaluation of the Implementation

of the Australian Professional Standards for

Teachers (2016) was a three-year evaluation

(2013-2015) on the implementation of the Teacher

Standards. The report revealed that teachers have a

good degree of knowledge of the Teacher Standards,

with knowledge levels higher in early career teachers.

The evaluation also revealed that teachers were

signicantly more likely to use the Teacher Standards

to focus on development rather than complete

activities of a compliance nature.

These ndings are encouraging. However the Panel

believes that further emphasis on teaching quality

in teacher registration can be achieved through a

greater focus on and alignment with other national

frameworks, agreed by Education Ministers since

2011. These include the Australian Performance and

Development Framework, the Australian Charter for

the Professional Learning of Teachers and School

Leaders, Certification of Highly Accomplished and

Lead Teachers and the National Quality Framework.

Assessing teaching quality

for renewal of registration

The continued focus of fully registered teachers on

their performance and development is critical to

drive quality and improve student outcomes.

The Panel heard from several stakeholders on the

need to strengthen the assessment of continued

prociency at the point of renewal of registration.

This included a view that teachers should be required

to provide evidence of their teaching practice,

through portfolios and/or classroom observation/

assessment, in a similar process to the provisional

to full registration process, or certication at Highly

Accomplished and Lead career stages.

Some stakeholders expressed concern that

increasing the requirements of assessment to renew

registration would require signicant resourcing

(for the teacher, school, service, employer and

regulator) while yielding little added benet. The

credibility of a jurisdiction-wide assessment of

teaching quality by a regulatory authority as part of

renewal was seen as questionable by many, given

the distance of the regulatory body to the practice

of the teacher, compared with leaders and peers at

their school/service. Those surveyed as part of this

review ranked “Maintaining prociency against the

Chartered Accountants, https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/~/media/corporate/allles/document/professional-resources/practice-

management/summary-pas-regulations-aus.pdf?la=en. Legal Services Council, http://www.legalservicescouncil.org.au/. Australian

Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, http://www.ahpra.gov.au/About-AHPRA/What-We-Do/Legislation.aspx viewed 2018.

Australian Institute for Teachers and School Leadership https://www.aitsl.edu.au/tools-resources/resource/nal-report-evaluation-of-

the-australian-professional-standards-for-teachers viewed 2018.

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers”

as the least important aspect of registration.

The

Panel noted that there is an opportunity to consider

how the comparison of judgements made within

the provisional to full registration process will help

future improvements in the process for renewing

registration (as referenced in Recommendation 2).

The Panel found that ensuring a teacher’s practice

continues to meet the Procient career stage of

the Teacher Standards is best determined at the

school/service level. A school/educational leader or

employer is able to contact their regulatory authority

if they have evidence that an individual is consistently

performing below the practice described in the

Procient career stage and/or they believe that a

teacher’s registration should not be renewed or

conditions should be imposed on their registration.

The Australian Teacher Performance

and Development Framework

The Australian Teacher Performance and

Development Framework describes the

characteristics of an effective performance and

development cycle, including the elements of the

cycle that are essential for success and should

be implemented in all Australian schools. The

essential elements are that:

1. All teachers have a set of documented and

regularly reviewed goals related to both

performance and development, and ways of

measuring progress towards them, which

are agreed with the principal or delegate.

2. All teachers are supported in working

towards their goals, including through

access to high quality professional learning.

3. Evidence used to reect on and evaluate

teacher performance, including through the

full review described below, should come

from multiple sources and include as a

minimum: data showing impact on student

outcomes; information based on direct

observation of teaching; and evidence of

collaboration with colleagues.

4. All teachers receive regular formal and

informal feedback on their performance and

development. This includes a formal review

against their performance and development

goals at least annually, with verbal and

written feedback being provided to the

teacher.

The Panel strongly endorses the Australian Teacher

Performance and Development Framework

(2012), agreed by Education Council, and expects

that all employers will conduct thorough annual

performance reviews using the appropriate career

stage of the Teacher Standards.

Stakeholder views on professional

learning as a driver for maintaining

and enhancing teaching quality

The Panel found that the core requirements of

professional learning, as described in the Framework,

are being followed by jurisdictions. However, a range

of practices have been adopted by teacher regulatory

authorities in how professional learning is recorded

and monitored.

High quality professional learning to support

maintenance of a teacher’s skills and knowledge was

broadly accepted as a fundamental part of renewal

of registration. The current stipulation of 100 hours

of professional learning over ve years (or pro-rata

equivalent) broadly aligns with other professions,

including nursing and psychology.

The Panel heard from several stakeholders

that teachers were largely exceeding the time

requirement in their professional learning reporting.

In the ACT, teachers generally record well in excess

of the required 20 hours of professional learning

annually.

However, in a recent South Australian

audit of professional learning completed by teachers,

questions were raised on the quality of the learning

undertaken, and an apparent lack of connection to

actual teacher need.

The Panel noted that there are several ways to

address concerns around the quality of professional

learning choices, such as evidence-based guidance

and endorsements, with the ACT and NSW

implementing professional learning accreditation

schemes. This forms part of the professional learning

requirements teachers in those jurisdictions must

meet to maintain registration.

National Review of Teacher Registration Online Survey May 2018, refer Appendix G: Online survey results.

Further information can be accessed from www.aitsl.edu.au.

Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency,

http://www.ahpra.gov.au/About-AHPRA/What-We-Do/Legislation.aspx viewed 2018.

Teacher Quality Institute, ACT submission to the Review, March 2018.

Teachers Registration Board South Australia, https://www.trb.sa.edu.au/registration viewed 2018.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Accredited Professional Learning in

New South Wales

The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA)

accredits professional learning at both the

individual course level or at a broader provider

level. For teachers maintaining at Procient

Teacher, the 100 hours of professional learning

must include a minimum of 50 hours of NESA

Registered professional learning. Providers must

align their professional learning offering with one

or more of the three career stages (Procient,

Highly Accomplished or Lead) outlined in the

Teacher Standards.

Applicants must provide:

• a representative sample of courses

that shows how every course is aligned

to the Teacher Standards through the

nomination of appropriate standard

descriptors at the relevant teacher career

stage

• information on what teachers will gain

from the professional learning

• details on the research base for the

professional learning including evidence

of best practice and the expertise that

exists within the teaching profession.

NESA requires teachers to answer a number

of evaluation questions about the professional

learning before it can be accepted towards their

hours of professional learning for renewal of

registration purposes. From 2017 NESA has

also focused on encouraging schools to become

endorsed providers of professional learning for

their teachers.

Accredited professional learning in

the Australian Capital Territory

As part of the requirements for renewal of

registration in the ACT, teachers must undertake

and reect on a minimum of 20 hours of

professional learning each year with a minimum

of ve hours of ACT Teacher Quality Institute

(TQI) Accredited professional learning programs.

TQI accredits individual instances of professional

learning rather than a provider and recently

has strongly encouraged schools in the ACT to

accredit the professional learning that they offer

within their school for teachers.

To be approved as Accredited professional

learning, a provider’s proposed professional

learning is assessed against how well it meets

the below criteria:

• Alignment to the Teacher Standards or

the Australian Professional Standard for

Principals (Principal Standard)

• Relevant to student learning, school/

system priorities and draws on current

research and adult learning principles

• Supports professional collaboration,

teacher and leader agency and reection

with peers and experts.

• Promote teacher and leader innovation

and inform future practice, prompt

research and broadening of repertoire

Providers must submit a brief outline of the

professional learning’s goals, research base,

alignment with the Teacher Standards or

Principal Standard, evidence of adult learning

principles, how it facilitates collaboration and

teacher reection and the expected learning

outcomes for participants, and impact on student

outcomes.

Further information can be accessed from www.educationstandards.nsw.edu.au.

Further information can be accessed from www.tqi.act.edu.au.

McKenzie, P, Weldon, PR, Rowley, G, Murphy, M, and McMillan, J, 2014, Staff in Australia’s schools 2013: Main report on the survey.

https://research.acer.edu.au/tll_misc/20 viewed 2018.

Finkel, A. Dr et al, 2018, Optimising STEM Industry-School Partnerships: Inspiring Australia’s Next Generation, Recommendation 3. April 2018

page 14.

Gonski D, AC et al.2018, Through Growth to Achievement: Report of the Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools,

March 2018, page xiv.

Australian Primary Principals Association submission to the Review, May 2018.

The need for discipline-specic professional

learning was a theme raised in several submissions

and consultations. The Panel heard concerns that

teachers may not have the necessary support to

maintain contemporary discipline-specic knowledge

and skills, in particular in elds such as science and

technology that have a rapidly changing evidence

base. This issue is seen to be compounded by

teachers teaching out-of-eld or discipline. While

there is no current and comprehensive national data

on teachers who teach outside of their main discipline,

studies suggest it is an issue.

This aligned with

feedback received during consultation for this Review.

This concern around discipline-specic professional

learning formed a central theme in a recent Science,

Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)

review led by Dr Alan Finkel, Optimising STEM

Industry-School Partnerships: Inspiring Australia’s

Next Generation (the STEM Report). The report

recommended that “Education Council should

develop minimum national requirements for teacher

professional learning, a proportion of which should

include relevant, discipline specific professional

learning from an accredited provider that must be

satisfied in order to retain ongoing registration as

a primary or secondary teacher.”

This view was also shared by several teacher

associations.

As a professional teachers’ association, we believe

that a requirement to undertake professional learning

each year in the disciplines in which you are currently

teaching is the only way to improve teacher quality,

student engagement and learning outcomes, and

raise the esteem in which teachers are held by the

community.

— History Teachers’ Association of Victoria, submission

Another issue raised in consultation was the ability

of jurisdictions to use regulation to require teachers

to undertake professional learning within a specic

area of local education need. For example, the

Victorian Institute of Teaching implemented a

time-limited requirement for all teachers to engage

with professional learning to support students with

special needs. This requirement reected a state-

wide focus on developing capacity in this area. This

option is valued by jurisdictions and employers

and the Panel agreed it should be retained.

In contrast to calls for greater oversight and

stipulation of the type of professional learning

undertaken, there were also strong views from

stakeholders about the need for teachers to direct

their own learning needs. These views align with

the Australian Teacher Performance and

Development Framework, which recommends

teachers select professional learning according

to their career stage and developmental needs.

This approach is supported by recommendation

13 of Through Growth to Achievement: Report of

the Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in

Australian Schools (Excellence Review), which

states that there is a need to: “Create a continuously

improving profession through the provision of

high-quality professional learning for teachers;

appropriate to their career stage, development

needs and the changes rapidly occurring in

society.”

Teacher registration appears to rely too much

on ‘certification’ of professional development and

needs to be more flexible about the value of daily

and interactive professional learning.

—

Online survey response

In addition, several submissions argued that

requirements around professional learning should

not negatively impact labour markets. The Australian

Primary Principals Association submission

highlighted that professional learning requirements

can reduce the willingness of experienced teachers

to engage in casual/relief work after they retire from

full time employment.

This potential negative effect

aligned with recommendations in the Independent

Review into Rural, Remote and Regional Education

to develop nationally consistent teacher registration

renewal requirements, which fully recognise the

diversity of these contexts and conditions. This review

noted that onerous conditions around renewal of

registration can lead to casual/relief teachers (which

many non-metropolitan schools/services heavily

rely on) opting out of teacher registration and the

profession.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Embedding the Teacher Standards

in professional learning to improve

and ensure quality

The Panel agreed that the current (equivalent)

requirements of 20 hours of professional learning

per year was a reasonable request for most teachers.

However, the Panel was not convinced that additional

hours would result in improved outcomes. Indeed,

there is little to suggest that such requirements can

be any more than a proxy for the expectations that

the profession has about high quality learning. The

Panel also noted that any requirements needed to be

attainable for those outside of full-time employment

or in settings that made access to professional

learning more difcult (e.g. rural/remote settings).

The Panel found that discipline-specic learning

should be an integral part of a teacher’s overall

professional learning as it helps to ensure that

teachers’ subject knowledge can keep pace with

changes in research, context and practice. Discipline-

specic learning is particularly critical for teachers

teaching out-of-eld subjects.

However, the Panel believes that mandating a set

number of hours of discipline-specic professional

learning or introducing accreditation of that learning

nation-wide could lead to signicant unintended

consequences. These could include compliance

driving professional learning choices and an undue

emphasis on professional learning external to the

school/early childhood service context that can be

more easily accredited. Maintaining practice at the

Procient career stage includes Standard 2 (Know

the content and how to teach it). Responsibility for

professional learning to ensure this Standard is being

met is primarily the responsibility of the teacher to

manage, although the role of their employer in this is

also important.

Illustrative scenario:

professonal learning

Teacher A completed a PhD in Microbiology

last year and works part time teaching Year 11

Biology at a secondary school. In professional

discussions with her principal, she has identied

planning and assessment as key areas to focus

on in her professional learning for the year. This

learning would complement her existing depth

of knowledge in the discipline area. As part of

her annual renewal of teacher registration, she

must document at least 20 hours of professional

learning, aligned to the Teacher Standards.

If there were national mandates on discipline-

specic knowledge professional learning,

Teacher A would potentially engage in

professional learning that she did not need, at

the expense of the learning she did need.

The recently published Excellence Review identied

the value of high quality professional learning. The

Excellence Review recommended that teachers are

provided with high quality professional learning and

the conditions and culture to enable and encourage

more professional collaboration, observation,

feedback and mentoring among teachers. The report

also noted the Education Council endorsed

Australian Charter for the Professional Learning of

Teachers and School Leaders (2012) which the Panel

supports as helping inform practice in this area.

The Australian Charter for the

Professional Learning of Teachers

and School Leaders:

• afrms the importance of learning in

improving the professional knowledge,

practice and engagement of all

teachers and school leaders to achieve

improvement in student outcomes

• articulates the expectation that all

teachers and school leaders actively

engage in professional learning throughout

their careers

• describes the characteristics of a high

quality professional learning culture and

of effective professional learning, to assist

teachers, school leaders and those who

support them to get the most from their

professional learning.

The Charter states that professional learning

will be most effective when it is relevant,

collaborative and future focused, and when it

supports teachers to reect on, question and

consciously improve their practice.

For professional learning to be effective, it needs to

be selected based on need and relevance, lead to a

change in knowledge and understanding by teachers,

inuence their practice and lead to improved

outcomes for learners. Recording the inputs of

professional learning (i.e. hours undertaken) cannot,

on its own, support the process of converting

learning to outcomes. Rather, teachers and leaders

should follow a conscious cycle of professional

learning, as illustrated in Figure 1, drawing on the

principles of quality professional learning at every

step. This will help to maximise the impact of

professional learning on teaching practice and

learner outcomes.

Further information can bee accessed from www.aitsl.edu.au.

Increased reection and evaluation on the

professional learning undertaken, as seen in

several jurisdictions and supported by evidence

about professional learning

, will help realise the

investment made in learning. Evaluations provide

sound, useful and sufciently reliable information

that can be used to make considered decisions about

ongoing professional learning and its impact.

This level of reection will also support the further

embedding of the Teachers Standards within

teacher registration and lessen teacher perceptions

that current practices of simply aligning learning

to the Teacher Standards are supercial and

compliance-driven. The Panel encourages regulatory

authorities to adopt or maintain mechanisms that

support teachers to deeply engage with the Teacher

Standards when recording the professional learning

they undertake.

Further, the Panel encourages employers to create or

maintain systems that enable this reection to occur

as part of the performance and development process.

Figure 1: Conditions and processes to support high quality professional learning.

Select and undertake

professional learning

The professional learning that is chosen

needs to be t for purpose and display

the characteristics in the Australian

Charter for the Professional Learning of

Teachers and School Leaders. Teachers

and school leaders need to consider

when identifying professional learning

that it is relevant, collaborative and

evidence-based.

Identify learning need

Before selecting professional learning

to be undertaken, teachers and

school leaders need to consider what

the teachers’ professional learning

needs are and how this relates to

school improvement goals and other

processes. School leaders play a

key role in building a professional

learning community in their school

which is focused on the continuous

improvement of teaching practice.

Apply learning

Opportunities need to be provided

to teachers to apply the learnings

from professional learning in their

classrooms. A culture of learning is

crucial for this step to be successful.

Collaboration to reect on and rene

practice, and share expertise, is a key

element of this step.

Evaluate impact

Throughout the process, teachers and

school leaders need to monitor the

impact of the professional learning on

teacher practice, student outcomes

and whole-school measures. It is

important that evaluation ndings are

used to inform next steps and ongoing

professional learning needs.

Conditions required

to support high quality

professional learning

e.g. Leadership, trust, time and

resourcing; alignment with

performance development plans

Draft AITSL, High Quality Professional Learning School Leader Framework – unpublished 2018.

Guskey T, R Evaluating professional development, 2002, Corwin, Thousand Oaks CA,

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Embedding all career stages of the

Teacher Standards in Registration

The Panel found that most jurisdictions

are

currently implementing the national process of

teacher certication at the Highly Accomplished and

Lead career stages. HALT certication’s value in

helping to dene teaching quality, embedding the

Teacher Standards in practice, raising the status of

teachers and shaping the teaching workforce was

raised in much of the consultation. The links between

teacher registration and HALT certication were

widely acknowledged by stakeholders as being

obvious and important to highlight.

National Certication: Highly

Accomplished and Lead career stages

Certication of HALTs was endorsed by

Education Ministers in 2012. The national

policy and process, implemented by States and

Territories choosing to participate, supports the

recognition and promotion of quality teaching

and provides an opportunity to leverage the

expertise of our best teachers. It is based on the

Teacher Standards, is student-improvement

focused, development driven, credible and

evidence based. The process includes a

pre-assessment to determine eligibility,

submission of evidence against the relevant

career stage of the Teacher Standards and an

observation of practice.

The Panel noted that not all jurisdictions/sectors

have implemented HALT certication, but that

teachers, schools, services and systems have used

and assessed against the higher career stages

without adopting national teacher certication.

In jurisdictions where national certication of HALTs is

implemented, the Panel heard that there was value in

recording teachers’ certication status in registration

processes, supporting its portability across

jurisdictions. This approach was seen to support the

status, identity, career progression and use of the

expertise of HALT teachers. The Panel found that

alignment of registration records across the breadth

of career stages is a valuable approach and, where

relevant, registration should recognise the HALT

status of those certied using national certication.

Recommendation 3

To support professional learning, amend

the 2011 National Framework for Teacher

Registration to:

• require that along with a record of Teacher

Standards-referenced professional

learning, teachers include reections on

this learning and its application

• explicitly specify that maintenance of

prociency against the Teacher Standards

includes up-to-date discipline-specic

knowledge and skills relevant to their

deployment and the curriculum they are

expected to teach

• explicitly state the option available for

jurisdiction-based requirements to be

applied in the professional learning

undertaken by teachers

• acknowledge that teachers will focus on

areas in the Teacher Standards identied

in their performance and development

process.

Recommendation 4

Require teacher regulatory authorities to record

the Highly Accomplished and Lead status

of nationally certied teachers in teachers’

registration records.

Implementing these recommendations should

be medium term priorities.

National Teacher Certication is currently offered in six States/Territories: ACT – all sectors; South Australia – all sectors; New South

Wales – all sectors; Northern Territory – all sectors; Western Australia – Independent sector; Queensland – all sectors.

Further information can be accessed from www.aitsl.edu.au.

2.3 Early childhood teachers

Reform in the early childhood sector

The importance of the early years of a child’s

development is well understood and widely

acknowledged. We know that during the early years,

children develop the key skills required for learning

and life outcomes, including skills to solve problems,

think, communicate, control their emotions and

form relationships.

There is substantial evidence

available showing that early childhood education has

a direct impact on educational outcomes at school

and beyond, with an emphasis on the interaction

between educator and child as the single most

important determinant of quality in early childhood

education. Thus the quality of the workforce is

essential to the quality of the system.

The early childhood sector in Australia has

undergone signicant reform in the past decade

to ensure that children can access early childhood

education and care that meets quality standards

and is delivered by appropriately qualied people

All jurisdictions have worked together to implement

the reforms and have made signicant investment in

the reform agenda.

The National Law and Regulations have had

particular implications for the early childhood

teacher workforce, with progressive requirements

for increased qualications, an increased number of

early childhood teachers, and improved educator-

to-child ratios. ACECQA has responsibility under the

national law for approving the qualications of early

childhood teachers in nationally approved services.

Between 2011 and 2016, the number of early

childhood teachers grew by 48 per cent.

The increased professionalisation, growth and

recognition of the early childhood teacher workforce

have been important outcomes of the reforms.

The next phase of the reforms is the requirement

from 2020 that centre-based services with 60

children or more under school age have an additional

early childhood teacher or ‘other suitably qualied

person’ in the service.

Early childhood sector reform

The National Quality Framework (NQF) is an

integrated and unied national quality and

regulatory system for early childhood education

and care that is enabled by a national law and

regulations. The NQF includes:

• The National Quality Standard (NQS)

– sets benchmarks for quality early

childhood education and care and requires

approved providers to ensure educational

programs for children are delivered

in accordance with approved learning

frameworks (e.g. the Early Years

Learning Framework)

• The National Law and Regulations –

sets the ‘system’ quality through such

elements as educator-to-child ratios and

assessment and rating against the NQS

• Regulatory authorities in states and

territories that administer the NQF

• A national independent authority –

the Australian Children’s Education and

Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) –

that oversees the implementation and

administration of the Framework including

determining qualications held by Early

Childhood Teachers.

Britto, P. R. Early moments matter for every child, 2017, New York, NY: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Pg. 9. from

https://www.unicef.org/media/les/UNICEF_Early_Moments_Matter_for_Every_Child_report.pdf viewed 2018.

Victorian Department of Education and Training & the Queensland Department of Education and Training, 2016, The E4Kids study:

Assessing the Effectiveness of Australian early childhood education and care programs, prepared by Professor Collette Tayler

Melbourne Graduate School of Education, pg 6 https://education.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_le/0004/2310907/E4Kids-

Report-3.0_WEB.pdf viewed 2018.

Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2017, October 23. Media release: Community and personal service workers on the rise from

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mediareleasesbyReleaseDate/03B07F4B9599CBAECA2581D3001504D1?

OpenDocument viewed 2018.

ACECQA, from https://www.acecqa.gov.au/qualications/requirements/children-preschool-age-or-under viewed 2018.

Further information can be accessed from www.acecqa.gov.au.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Early childhood teacher registration

When the 2011 Framework was developed, it was

silent on its application to early childhood teachers.

The Framework was applied to early childhood

teachers in jurisdictions according to the registration

arrangements that were already in place for the sector.

Since the agreement of the Framework, a number

of jurisdictions have extended teacher registration

to include all early childhood teachers, albeit with

different models of registration.

Across Australia, the majority of early childhood

teachers are now registered. However, some

jurisdictions only register early childhood teachers

employed in school settings. This means that

some early childhood teachers are not part of the

registered profession of teaching.

The mobility of early childhood teachers across

jurisdictions is impacted by these different

approaches. This also means inconsistent

recognition of early childhood teachers as an

important cohort in the teaching profession.

Teacher registration required in

which settings

Qualication

requirement

Registration model

South

Australia

All early childhood teachers,

regardless of setting

4 year qualication Single register

Western

Australia

All early childhood teachers in

nationally recognised services

4 year qualication or

equivalent

Single register

New South

Wales

All early childhood teachers in

nationally recognised services

Any qualication

approved by ACECQA

Single register

Victoria

All early childhood teachers in

nationally recognised services

Any qualication

approved by ACECQA

Separate division of the

Queensland

Early childhood teachers in the school-

sector (including 4-year-old preschool

services attached to schools)

Voluntary registration available to

teachers in some out of school settings

4 year qualication Single register

Australian

Capital

Territory

Early childhood teachers in the school-

sector (including 4-year-old preschool

services attached to schools)

4 year qualication Single register

Northern

Territory

Early childhood teachers in the

school-sector (including 3 or 4-year-

old preschool services attached to

schools).

Voluntary provisional registration for

early childhood teachers in long day

care

4 year qualication Single register

Tasmania

Early childhood teachers in the school-

sector (including 4-year-old preschool

services attached to schools)

4 year qualication Single register

Table 3: Current jurisdictional arrangements for early childhood teachers.

KPMG, The Teacher Registration Mapping Project, March 2018 commissioned by AITSL secretariat and prepared for the Expert Panel

unpublished.

See section 15(a) of the Teacher Registration Act (WA) 2012.

Provisionally registered early childhood teacher must be delivering an education program to children in the year immediately before

the preparatory year for one whole year (dened as 200 days) and meet the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Procient

Stage). Only teaching experience gained after the date on which provisional registration in Queensland was granted is acceptable. The

experience must have been completed no more than ve years prior to initiating an application for full registration.

The early childhood teacher

workforce: context

The context of the early childhood workforce is a key

consideration in teacher registration. The NQF means

the sector is highly regulated, with early childhood

teachers heavily engaged and contributing to meeting

the accountability framework for the National Quality

Standard. As noted above, the reforms to the sector

are still in the process of being embedded and are

reaching new stages of implementation (including the

2020 second teacher requirement).

The Panel heard that an ongoing supply of qualied

early childhood teachers is a signicant concern

for employers in the sector. Stakeholders indicated

that overseas qualied early childhood teachers,

including those with three year qualications

assessed by ACECQA as equivalent to ACECQA’s

approved qualications, are an important part of the

management of workforce shortages.

The structure of the early childhood sector, the

diversity within the sector and the differences from

the school sector need to be considered in relation

to teacher registration, particularly the provisional to

full registration process.

The Panel heard that many early childhood teachers

work in stand-alone early childhood services. In most

jurisdictions, the process of moving from provisional

to full registration relies on a professional mentoring

relationship with a colleague and the judgement

of a suitably qualied early childhood teacher or

educational leader. The structure of many early

childhood services means that access to mentoring

and an experienced educational leader is not possible

for all teachers. Early childhood teachers often work

in services without qualied teacher colleagues who

can provide support and mentorship at the service.

This may be due to the size of the service (e.g. a

stand-alone preschool where the only other qualied

early childhood teacher who could make a judgement

about a teacher’s prociency is the Director), or the

nature of the service (e.g. a long day care service

where the early career teacher may be the only

qualied teacher employed).

Figure 2: Education and care services approved

under the National Quality Framework.

Figure 3: Approved providers offering services:

number of services per provider.



% of

Services

Long day care: 47%

Outside of school

hours care: 28%

Preschool/

Kindergarden: 20%

Family day

care: 5%



% of

Providers

One service: 82%

Between 2–24

services: 17%

25 or more

services: 1%

Not all services fall under the National Quality Framework, for example preschools in Tasmania and Western Australia. Source: ACECQA.

NQF Snapshot Q2 2018. Sydney, NSW: ACECQA, https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/les/2018-08/NQFSnapshot_Q22018.PDF

viewed 2018.

Ibid.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

As in the schooling sector, the challenges of moving

from provisional to full registration are exacerbated

for casual, part-time and rural and remote early

childhood teachers. These teachers are essential

to the sector and their development towards the

Procient career stage is critical.

The arrangements for provisional to full registration

have been largely developed in reference to

structures within the school sector. Applying these

arrangements to all early childhood sector delivery

models can be challenging because of the structure

of the services and the lack of time and funding to

attend professional learning.

Early childhood teachers employed on a casual

basis and who work for several employers find the

current accreditation [registration] requirements

difficult to navigate. Providing additional support

and streamlined structures for casual teachers

will help encourage them to stay in the profession.

Casual teachers are a valuable and essential

resource for early childhood centres.

—

KU Children’s Services, submission

Jurisdictions that have recently mandated early

childhood teacher registration are currently working

through these challenges and are able to demonstrate

some innovative examples of services working

together to support the provisional to full process.

Mentoring South Australian

Early Childhood Teachers to

reach (full) Registration

Gowrie South Australia, with support from the

Community Children’s Centres South Australia

and the Teachers Registration Board, have been

offering a mentoring project to support teachers

in early childhood settings when their Directors

are not teachers. The groups meet nine times to

contextualise and unpack the Teacher Standards

in terms of Early Education and Care, be

supported in creating a portfolio of evidence and

to reect critically with a network of other early

childhood teachers. Directors join the group at

the beginning and end to understand their role

in the process. Teachers have reported that

they have felt more condent and professionally

supported through the project and have been

successful in gaining their (full) Registration.

– Sourced from Teacher Registration Board,

South Australia.

The Lifting our Game report emphasised the need

for both quality and stability in the early childhood

workforce. The Report recommended a national

workforce strategy be developed, including a focus on:

• the consistency and applicability of workforce

registration and professional standards

• workforce attraction, stability and retention,

including medium and long-term career paths

• the status of the profession.

The Panel understands that this report is currently

being considered by governments and has not yet

been endorsed.

Stakeholder views of early childhood

teacher registration

The Panel heard strong support for teacher

registration to be extended to early childhood

teachers in all settings, across all jurisdictions.

The Panel also heard strong views from early

childhood teachers that they want to be recognised

along with other teachers through registration. Early

childhood teachers consider registration as a mark of

status and recognition that teachers of early childhood

education are a critical part of the education sector.

Many emphasised that they did not want separate

registration approaches from primary and secondary

teachers to apply, preferring the use of the Teacher

Standards and inclusion on a common register. Many

stakeholders highlighted that primary and secondary

teachers are registered together, with the employer

responsible for determining whether a teacher is

appropriately qualied to undertake a particular role.

The Panel noted that the approach that Victoria

has taken to register early childhood teachers on a

separate division of the register is driven by different

qualication requirements for the registration of early

childhood teachers and school-based teachers.

The current situation in some jurisdictions - where

early childhood teachers who are not employed in

schools settings are not required to be registered -

risks devaluing the work of teachers in these services.

As an ECE teacher who has worked for 20+ years,

and gained proficient registration it was extremely

disappointing to move to an interstate service and

not have my proficient registration recognised.

It seems ridiculous that I now need put a halt

to my post-graduate studies to concentrate on

working towards proficiency. There should be an

agreement between states- especially when I can

live in one state and work in another- when the

registration should be recognised.

— Online survey response

Pascoe, S. AM and Brennan D. Professor, 2017, Lifting our game: Report of the review to achieve educational excellence in Australian

schools through early childhood interventions. Recommendation 10, Dec 2017 Pg. 85.

Mobility issues for early childhood teachers were

raised as a common concern where registration

requirements are different between jurisdictions.

Employers of early childhood teachers were

supportive of registration across the workforce.

They emphasised to the panel that changes to early

childhood teacher registration arrangements must

not create additional barriers to people entering and

being retained in the workforce.

Use of the Australian Professional

Standards for Teachers

One of the key components of teacher registration

is engagement with the Teachers Standards, in

particular the demonstration of standards set out in

the Procient career stage.

The Panel heard strong support for the use of the

Teacher Standards for early childhood teacher

registration. However, the Teacher Standards were

not perceived as accessible and relevant for all early

childhood teachers, particularly those working in

non-school settings. Amendments to the Teacher

Standards to ensure they are inclusive of early

childhood teachers’ work is important to support

a registration approach that includes early

childhood teachers.

The value of engagement with the Teacher Standards

was highlighted to the Panel in submissions from the

early childhood sector, both in terms of benets to

teachers’ practice and development and recognition

of the profession.

Member organisations that have engaged with

the Standards and used them to inform the

professional development program for their

teachers have found this has resulted in a marked

increase in inquiry based learning for teachers,

noting that practitioner inquiry increases

engagement in learning and improves teaching

quality and outcomes for learning. We have found

that embedding the Standards in our professional

development program has been critical to building

early childhood teachers’ professional knowledge

and their ongoing professional growth.

— Early Learning and Care Council of Australia submission

However, stakeholders noted that the Teacher

Standards are not written in language that is inclusive

of early childhood teachers. When the Teacher

Standards were developed in 2010, they were written

for a school-based audience. The reforms to the

early childhood sector that have occurred since 2012

heighten the need for the Teacher Standards to be

relevant to the early childhood teacher workforce.

In 2012 AITSL and ACECQA undertook a study by

SiMERR National Research Centre

which found that

the content of the Teacher Standards was broadly

relevant to early childhood teachers, but the language

needed further work. This aligns with feedback from

stakeholders, who strongly supported the use of the

Teacher Standards for early childhood teachers.

Victoria and Western Australia have taken proactive

local approaches to the issue, developing versions of

the Teacher Standards with slightly amended wording

to be inclusive of early childhood teaching practices

and settings. NSW has produced an evidence guide

to support early childhood teachers to condently

interpret the Procient Teacher Standards and apply

them to their context. There is an opportunity to build

on these approaches at a national level.

Moving forward with registration

for early childhood teachers

across Australia

The Panel heard overwhelmingly that as qualied

education professionals, early childhood teachers are

part of the teaching profession in Australia. The Panel

believes that including all early childhood teachers in

registration arrangements will support the continued

professionalisation of the early childhood teacher

workforce, particularly through engagement with the

Teacher Standards. It will also support recognition of

the early childhood sector as an integral part of the

Australian education landscape.

The Panel also heard that early childhood

teachers are already engaged in a highly regulated

environment through the NQF. The registration

processes for early childhood teachers need to

be cognisant of these demands and the evidence

already being used in the NQF by state and territory

based regulators of service providers in the sector.

The early childhood teacher role in creating a

learning environment and delivering a high quality

educational program to young children is central

to the quality assessment of the service.

It is therefore timely to apply teacher registration

to all early childhood teachers in Australia and

recognise early childhood teachers as part of the

teaching profession.

The Panel recommends that a nationally consistent

approach to early childhood teacher registration

be designed collaboratively and implemented by

each jurisdiction.

SiMERR National Research Centre, 2012 Consultation on the application of the National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST) to

teachers working in Early Childhood Education and Care services: Report to AITSL and ACECQA, unpublished.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

The approach should include:

• a registration model that includes early

childhood teachers on the same register as all

other teachers

• a consistent, appropriate and proportionate

approach to early childhood teacher

qualication requirements for registration, that

recognises qualications approved by ACECQA

• appropriate models for the process of

transition from provisional to full registration

that clearly identify roles and responsibilities

of employers, regulatory authorities, teachers,

leaders and mentors in each service type

• strategies to support early childhood teachers

to access appropriately qualied mentors.

The approach should ensure that those already

practicing as early childhood teachers are not

disadvantaged.

This reform presents an opportunity for registration

approaches to be realigned so that they are inclusive

of the whole teaching profession, from early childhood

to senior secondary. The design of the approach

should be sensitive to the early childhood workforce

context and include careful consideration of:

• the early childhood regulatory framework and

the NQS that already exist

• the structures of different early childhood

services (i.e. long day care, community

preschools, child-parent centres, preschools

attached to a school and standalone

preschools) and the broader context and

policy settings

• current workforce challenges, including

continued reform and teacher shortages.

To realise the approach, key stakeholders, including

ACECQA, teacher regulatory authorities and AITSL,

should come together to:

• determine the national approach, including

engagement with employers, approved

providers, educational leaders and teachers

• develop an implementation plan, including

timeframes and transitional arrangements.

The implementation of the approach will necessarily

be differentiated and transitional to reect the

different starting points across jurisdictions.

A national approach to registering early childhood

teachers will lead to the inclusion of all early

childhood teachers in the Australian Teacher

Workforce Data Strategy. This will enable a

national picture of the workforce to be developed,

which will be an important tool in managing

workforce shortages.

To support the full engagement of early childhood

teachers in registration, the Teacher Standards

should be amended to be inclusive of the early

childhood sector. The Panel does not intend for these

amendments to question the construct or intended

content of the Teacher Standards. The Panel notes

that the Teacher Standards are not under review

and stakeholder consultation did not demonstrate

signicant demand for them to be reviewed. AITSL,

in consultation with ACECQA, teacher regulatory

authorities, the early childhood sector and the

profession, should amend the language and context

of the Standard to ensure their applicability to early

childhood teachers.

Recommendations in this area follow two streams

of related but independent activities: including early

childhood teachers in registration arrangements and

amending the Teacher Standards.

The Panel understands that the acceptance

of the early childhood teacher registration

recommendations will involve a ow-on to all

the other recommendations resulting from the

commitment to the principle of registration through

a national approach.

Recommendation 5

Require all early childhood teachers in Australia,

regardless of their employment setting, to be

registered by teacher regulatory authorities,

under a consistent national approach.

The approach should consider:

• the unique and diverse nature of early

childhood settings, including stand alone,

single teacher services, and those in rural and

remote communities

• a consistent, appropriate and proportionate

approach to early childhood teacher

qualication requirements for registration

that recognises qualications approved by

ACECQA

• the operation of the National Quality

Framework and National Quality Standard for

early childhood teachers in approved services

• the need to support the national workforce

strategy, including recognition of the ongoing

shortage of, and increasing demand for, early

childhood teachers in Australia; and the need

to avoid the creation of unnecessary barriers

to entry

• the need for early childhood teachers to have

access to high quality mentoring to facilitate

their transition from provisional to full

registration

• strategies to ensure access to affordable, high

quality professional learning.

KPMG, The Teacher Registration Mapping Project, March 2018, commissioned by AITSL secretariat and prepared for

the Expert Panel unpublished .

To support this approach, Education Council

should establish a working group to develop a

national approach and implementation plan.

Commencing implementation of this

recommendation should be an immediate priority.

Recommendation 6

Amend the Australian Professional Standards

for Teachers to ensure their relevance and

applicability to early childhood teachers.

To support this approach, AITSL should amend

the Teacher Standards at an appropriate time

in consultation with the early childhood sector.

This will help strengthen the connection between

teaching quality and registration for early

childhood teachers.

Implementing this recommendation should be a

short term priority.

2.4 Alternative authorisation

to teach

Use of alternative authorisation to teach

The Framework includes alternative authorisation to

teach as one of the eight elements.

Alternative authorisation to teach allows for

provision, in clearly dened circumstances, under

specied conditions, for a person who does not meet

the qualication requirements of teacher registration

to teach. In including this category in the Framework,

Education Council was endorsing the principle of

the teacher being a trained, qualied professional.

At the same time, Education Council acknowledged

the practical hurdles in achieving this in every

circumstance.

Jurisdictions use a range of different terms to refer

to alternative authorisation locally.

Table 4: Alternative Authorisation to Teach terminology

Alternative Authorisation to Teach

terminology

New South Wales

Conditional

accreditation

Western Australia

Limited registration

Tasmania

Limited authority to

teach

South Australia

Special authority

Queensland, Victoria

Permission to teach

Australian Capital

Territory

Permit to teach

Northern Territory

Authorisation to employ

an unregistered person

as a teacher

Western Australia

Limited registration

The Framework species two categories where

alternative authorisation may be applied:

1. To address workforce shortages, where a

qualied and registered teacher is not available.

2. To provide pathways to registration for

individuals who are working toward an

accredited initial teacher education qualication,

within a specied period of time.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

The Framework makes it very clear that the use

of alternative authorisation is at a jurisdiction’s

discretion. There is no requirement to implement

either of the two categories and the extent to which

they are utilised is determined by local legislation

and policy. All teacher regulatory authorities have

provision for the use of alternative authorisation in

some capacity, with implementation varying across

jurisdictions according to local policy.

In most cases, an application for alternative

authorisation to teach must be initiated by a school/

early childhood service, which must demonstrate

that a vacancy exists and provide evidence that

no registered teacher is available to undertake the

position.

Many jurisdictions use the rst category (workforce

shortages) to engage people to provide specialised

content that is not available within the teaching

workforce; for example, vocational education and

training (see also Section 4), instrumental music

or languages. Alternative authorisation to teach is

usually tied to the school/service, and is time limited.

Some jurisdictions offer alternative authorisation to

teach as a pathway to gaining provisional teacher

registration. Policy, requirements and arrangements

in this category differ amongst the jurisdictions and

are applied in varying ways.

Teaching Indigenous languages

in the Northern Territory

There is a strong focus on the teaching and

learning of Indigenous languages in Northern

Territory schools and preschools. The Territory

is one of the most linguistically diverse areas in

the world.

Alternative authorisation to teach (Authorisation

to employ an unregistered person as a teacher

in the Northern Territory) can be used to

ensure that schools and preschools can deliver

languages to children and students.

If a school is unable to recruit a qualied teacher

with the language skills that the school needs,

they can apply to employ someone with these

skills through an Authorisation.

A person granted an Authorisation works

within a tightly specied scope of practice

within the school. The same suitability

requirements applied to teachers are applied

to authorised persons.

This enables highly skilled language speakers

to share their highly specialised knowledge with

children and students, keeping language and

culture alive and accessible.

– Sourced from Teacher Registration Board,

Northern Territory.

Stakeholder views on alternative

authorisation to teach

Two key themes emerged from consultation

with stakeholders on alternative authorisation to

teach. The rst was the view that it is a necessary

mechanism to deal with local workforce shortages.

The exible approach that alternative authorisation

provides was valued, particularly in supporting

schools and early childhood services in remote, rural

and regional areas to ensure that all classes were

staffed.

Further, in jurisdictions where the pathway to

registration category is applied, it was considered

a valuable way to enable exibility to meet evolving

workforce demands. Some stakeholders called for

even greater exibility in engaging people under

alternative authorisation to teach arrangements,

as well as better clarity about the opportunities and

limitations.

The alternate view presented by other stakeholders

was that they were concerned about unqualied

people holding teaching positions, and thought that it

risked the high standards of entry to the profession.

Local policies for local needs

The diversity of approaches across jurisdictions

in implementing alternative authorisation to teach

meant that the Panel was only able to form broad

views in this area.

In general terms, the Panel supports the continuation

of the category that allows for exibility to meet local

workforce needs.

The Panel could see strength in approaches where:

• the scope of practice of people engaged under

alternative authorisation was well dened

• the policy set a clear expectation that the

alternative authorisation arrangements were

time limited, but were long enough to support

motivation and engagement with a pathway to

a full qualication

• support for gaining a full qualication was

provided at the school, regulatory authority

and sector/system level

• bespoke professional learning opportunities

were part of the support for those granted

alternative authorisation to teach.

Given the diversity of approaches to alternative

authorisation to teach, the Panel saw value in teacher

regulatory authorities sharing practice, with a view to

developing a shared understanding of good practice

in this area.

Links to workforce strategy

The Panel formed the view that the use of alternative

authorisation to teach is linked to broader workforce

supply and demand issues and should be considered

in this context.

While alternative authorisation to teach is

implemented according to state and territory policies

in response to local needs, the Panel found that there

could be value in understanding the extent of the use

of alternative authorisation to teach, in the context of

teacher workforce supply and demand. This would

assist and support teacher regulatory authorities

and jurisdictions with evidence-based planning of the

teacher workforce.

Currently, the Australian Teacher Workforce Data

Strategy is being developed. This Strategy will

capture staff engaged under alternative authorisation

to teach and will help to clarify the scale of teacher

workforce issues at the local level and how they play

out nationally.

In addition, there is an opportunity to consider

alternative authorisation to teach through the

national teacher workforce strategy recommended

by the Excellence Review.

It is critical that this focus on innovation be

supported by data, research and evidence.

Research and evidence of what has, or has

not, worked is key to informing the design of

innovations and to ensuring they have the greatest

chance of improving student outcomes. Just as

important is the reliability of data on the impact

of innovations so further research and evidence

can inform future innovations. This data, research

and evidence needs to be in the hands of decision-

makers at all levels of education.

Recommendation 7

Establish a national evidence base on alternative

authorisation to teach, capturing data about the

number and type of alternative authorisations

granted over time.

To support this work:

• Education Council should include

consideration of alternative authorisation

to teach in the scope of the national teacher

workforce strategy recommended by the

Excellence Review

• Teacher regulatory authorities should

share information about how regulatory

approaches support the implementation of

alternative authorisation to teach, for the

purposes of learning and developing a shared

understanding of good practice.

Implementing this recommendation should be

a medium term priority.

Gonski D, AC et al, 2018, Through Growth to Achievement: Report of the Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools,

March 2018, pg 99.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

2.5 Entry to the profession

The terms of reference for the Review include

consideration of “the transition of initial teacher

education students into the profession as

they are seeking registration and employment;

and [examination of] any impediments to

pre-registration”.

As a means of developing pre-service teachers’

professional identity and capturing better data,

the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group

(TEMAG) Report Action Now: Classroom Ready

Teachers recommended in 2014 that “higher

education providers pre-register all entrants to

initial teacher education programs, on a nationally

consistent basis”.

This recommendation has not yet been pursued

through the reforms originating from the TEMAG

recommendations.

Engagement with pre-service teachers

The Panel has explored the transition of pre-

service teachers into the profession. The Panel

identied potential benets for strong interaction

and integration between pre-service teachers and

teacher regulatory authorities and employers.

Benets can include:

• developing the professional identity of pre-

service teachers

• developing a better understanding of

registration requirements and professional

expectations

• contributing to children’s safety

• better data capture of a pre-service teacher’s

qualications and employment intentions

• strengthened connections between teacher

regulatory authorities and initial teacher

education providers.

Higher education providers currently engage in a

variety of ways with teacher regulatory authorities at

an institutional level, as well as enabling engagement

between pre-service teachers and teacher regulatory

authorities during initial teacher education.

Stakeholders noted a range of different ways in which

engagement occurs:

• All pre-service teachers are required to

undertake a Working with Children Check prior

to undertaking professional experience.

• Some teacher regulatory authorities require

pre-service teachers to formally engage

with them to conrm they have undertaken

the appropriate checks prior to undertaking

professional experience.

Understanding ethics in Tasmania

The Tasmanian Teachers Registration Board and

the University of Tasmania have an established

relationship.

All pre-service teachers are required to undergo

a determination of good character before

they start their rst professional experience

placement.

To further build the relationship with pre-service

teachers, the Registrar takes on a role as a guest

lecturer in the Ethics subject within the Master

of Teaching. This engagement provides an

opportunity for the pre-service teachers to learn

more about the role of the Teachers Registration

Board along the professional continuum. Pre-

service teachers develop knowledge about

expectations of professional responsibilities and

the professional boundaries of teachers. This ts

in with their growing professional identity.

In addition, the Manager Professional Standards

speaks regularly to pre-service teachers at the

University about the Teacher Standards, the

role of the Teachers Registration Board and the

teaching profession.

Sourced from Teachers Registration Board,

Tasmania.

• Teacher regulatory authorities often provide

information sessions about registration and

seeking employment to pre-service teachers

as they near the end of their studies.

• Some teacher regulatory authorities give

pre-service teachers the option of registering

shortly before graduation.

• Professional identity is a strong focus of

professional experience placements.

• Some employers have existing arrangements

with local universities that help them

understand the likely supply of graduates in

the jurisdiction.

• The Australian Teacher Workforce Data

Strategy is expected to provide valuable data

about students undertaking initial teacher

education.

Formal engagement with the regulatory authority

often occurs towards the end of the initial teacher

education program, when the need to register is

imminent. The Panel found that there are strong

benets in providing opportunities for pre-service

teachers to engage with regulatory authorities

early in their program. This was supported by

stakeholders, who particularly emphasised the value

of building pre-service teachers’ professional identity.

Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG) Report, 2014, Action Now: Classroom Ready Teachers, 2014, pg 47.

Pre-registration

The Panel tested the idea of pre-registration (i.e.

teacher regulatory authorities formally capturing

pre-service teachers through a type of registration

during their initial teacher education program).

Research into regulatory arrangements in other

professions indicates that pre-registration is utilised

in health professions such as nursing, midwifery

and psychology for student placements with a focus

on patient safety.

There were mixed views about

whether it was necessary to pursue pre-registration

as the model to achieve the benets identied above.

In particular, stakeholders raised concerns about the

cost of pre-registration and challenges that could

arise if it was expected that pre-service teachers

were required to pay fees. Cross subsidisation of

costs to register pre-service teachers using fees

gathered from registered teachers was also seen

as problematic.

While the Panel can see clear benets to pre-

registration, there was insufcient evidence and

appetite from stakeholders to recommend it as a

nationally consistent approach at this stage.

The Panel is aware that the Queensland College of

Teachers is undertaking consultation and examining

processes for the pre-registration of pre-service

teachers. The Panel supports these approaches and

believes that it will be important for all jurisdictions to

watch and learn from them. In the interim, the Panel

recommends that across all jurisdictions, the

relationship between teacher regulatory authorities

and pre-service teachers be strengthened to support

the transition of graduates into the profession.

Recommendation 8

Develop and implement strategies to strengthen

relationships between pre-service teachers and

teacher regulatory authorities early in initial

teacher education programs, with a focus on the

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers

and registration requirements.

To support this, teacher regulatory authorities

and initial teacher education providers should

undertake structured early engagement with

pre-service teachers. Approaches to achieve this

could include the pre-registration of pre-service

teachers.

Implementing this recommendation should be a

medium term priority.

Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, https://www.ahpra.gov.au/About-AHPRA/What-We-Do/Legislation.aspx viewed 2018.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Strengthening children’s safety

To achieve the goals of education, learners must

be safe. The Royal Commission into Institutional

Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has put a spotlight

on the role that institutions, including schools and

early childhood services, play in keeping children

safe from harm. In particular, protecting children

from sexual abuse, and reporting instances of child

sexual abuse is a function that teachers, schools and

communities have a moral and statutory obligation

to undertake. Teachers are often the rst to identify

and report signs of abuse and play a critical role in

protecting children. Teacher regulatory authorities

have particular responsibilities to ensure that

teachers meet the requirements for registration and

working with children, and they have a leading role in

taking immediate action if a teacher is found to be

a perpetrator of abuse.

All Australian Governments have committed

to progressing the Royal Commission’s

recommendations. In its ndings, the Royal

Commission highlighted the gaps and risks that

exist in the current teacher registration information

arrangements and made recommendations

for regulatory authorities to collect consistent

information and improve the processes for sharing

information.

In the consultation for the Review, stakeholders

were asked:

• How do regulatory authorities ensure the t

and proper person requirement of registered

teachers?

• How can teacher registration processes

support a nationally consistent approach

to satisfying the t and proper person

requirement of registered teachers, at the

point of registration and throughout their

teaching career?

3.1 Information sharing

Information sharing is important to protect

children in institutions from child sexual abuse.

Information sharing between institutions with

responsibilities for children’s safety and wellbeing,

and between those institutions and relevant

professionals, is necessary to identify, prevent

and respond to incidents and risks of child sexual

abuse.

Current practice

The Panel noted that teacher regulatory authorities

work together to share information about registered

teachers as necessary, within the limits of their

legislation, policy and operational capacity, in order

to protect children and provide information about

teachers moving between jurisdictions. In most

cases this works well, but processes are not dened

or automated and some gaps exist. Assuring the

safety of our children is the imperative to close the

gaps to improve the system.

State and territory legislation that governs the

teacher regulatory authorities describes the

collection and sharing of information in terms of:

• the purpose of collecting information

• the type of information to be collected for

registration

• what information can be shared

• what other legislation intersects with the

teacher regulation legislation for the purposes

of collecting, recording and sharing teacher

registration information.

Each teacher regulatory authority has a secure

database that stores teacher registration

information to help ensure child safety according to

their legislation, policy and/or broader government

guidelines. Some teacher regulatory authorities

make information about registered teachers

available on their public register.

Goodwill and strong collaboration exists between

the teacher regulatory authorities in sharing relevant

information. The current informal structures and

processes work well in most cases. The exchange

of information is usually managed in the form of an

email, phone conversation and/or exchange of letters.

Hon. Justice McCellan P AM et al, 2018, Final Report: The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse,

March 2018.

There are circumstances where current informal

information sharing arrangements may be

inadequate, for example:

• The information recorded in the jurisdictions

may vary and is therefore difcult to compare.

• A jurisdiction may not be aware of which

other jurisdictions hold relevant information;

information can only be shared when a

request is made.

• Information on complex and sensitive matters

may need to be sourced from another

authorised body.

Where jurisdictions have a Memorandum of

Understanding in place underpinning the informal

arrangements, the process of information sharing

operates more effectively.

Responding to the Royal Commission

into Institutional Responses to

Child Sexual Abuse

The Royal Commission recommended changes to

current practice in the information gathered and

shared between teacher regulatory authorities.

The recommendations emphasised that Education

Council should consider the need for:

• nationally consistent state and territory

legislative requirements about the types of

information recorded on teacher registers

• nationally consistent provisions in

state and territory teacher registration

laws/administrative arrangements for

information sharing under an information

exchange scheme.

The Royal Commission highlighted the gaps

and risks that exist in the current teacher

registration information arrangements and made

recommendations for regulatory authorities to

collect consistent information and improve the

processes for sharing information.

Information sharing between regulators is

important for teachers moving between jurisdictions.

An improved system between states and territories

will both manage risks and enable better teacher

mobility. The Panel heard clear support from

stakeholders during the consultation process for

prioritising the safety of the child and implementing

the recommendations from the Royal Commission.

Many teacher regulatory authorities recognise that

reform is now required to strengthen the safety of

the child and most are currently considering their

legislation to identify areas for change.

Teacher registers, and the state and territory laws

that underpin them, are a key mechanism for

sharing information about teachers who may pose

a risk of child sexual abuse. The registers capture

and provide a platform to share information about

teachers, including across jurisdictions. These

existing mechanisms may be enhanced to better

capture and share information about teachers

relevant to risks of child sexual abuse.

The Panel found that there are benets to collecting

consistent information about registered teachers

and sharing it under dened arrangements. This

approach will mean that decisions will be more

accurate and will enable greater intelligence

about risks and potential issues at a national level,

supporting both children’s safety and teacher

mobility. There is an opportunity for the teacher

regulatory authorities to meet the expectations from

the recommendations of the Royal Commission and

ensure their current arrangements are t for purpose.

Barriers to information sharing

The Panel heard that there are a number of barriers

to the information sharing arrangements envisaged

by the Royal Commission. Efcient information

sharing can be hindered by inconsistent collection

and recording of data and nomenclature in relation

to teacher registration. Even if information is shared,

it must be reinterpreted by different jurisdictions.

Teacher regulatory authorities and government

agencies identied that the sharing of teacher

employment and any other sensitive information

is limited by legislation, other provisions governing

teacher registration, and other local laws. While

all jurisdictions have some form of legislative or

administrative arrangements to enable information

sharing to protect children and enable teacher

mobility, these arrangements are limited in a number

of ways.

The efficacy of registers as information sharing

mechanisms about teachers who may pose risks

to students’ safety depends on what information

is recorded on the registers, and who may

access this information. There are significant

inconsistencies across state and territory laws in

these respects, and regarding information sharing

by state and territory registration authorities more

generally.

Hon. Justice McCellan P AM et al, 2018, Final Report: The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse,

March 2018.

Hon. Justice McClellan P AM et al, The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, March 2018, Volume 8.

https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/recordkeeping-and-information-sharing viewed 2018.

Hon. Justice McCellan P AM et al, 2018, Final Report: The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse,

March 2018.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

The judgements made by teacher regulatory

authorities on sanctions and conditions - in

particular cancelling registration, de-registration

and/or suspending registration - are applied in

accordance with the legislation in a given jurisdiction.

The nomenclature of terms, legal denitions and

judgment may not align with another jurisdiction

when exchanging information in this area. This

situation creates difculty for the teacher when the

receiving teacher regulatory authority is required to

make a decision about the registration status and a

different outcome results.

Opportunity to improve

information sharing

Collecting and recording consistent data is an

important foundation that supports information

sharing arrangements. An enhanced and consistent

approach to recording information will improve

the efciency, accuracy and completeness of the

information that is to be exchanged. Clear and robust

information sharing arrangements will make a strong

contribution to overcoming many of the current

barriers. They will also minimise risks.

Better information sharing among jurisdictions,

particularly regarding ‘suitability to teach’

assessment…A first step might be to reach

national agreement on the adoption by all TRAs of

the ten pre-conditions for the success of a teacher

regulator identified in the report of the Review

of the Victorian Institute of Teaching (December

2017).

— Queensland College of Teachers,

submission

The Panel urges jurisdictions and teacher regulatory

authorities to consider whether an external advisor

should be engaged to support the planning and

implementation of an improved information sharing

system. An Ombudsman, privacy commissioner

or other body that provides an accountability

mechanism and oversight for an information sharing

scheme could play this role. Such authorities could

be useful to support teacher regulatory authorities

to establish governance arrangements on complex

information sharing matters.

The Royal Commission considers that improved,

and nationally consistent, capture of information

on teacher registers would provide a stronger

platform for information sharing about teachers.

Provisions regarding registration authorities

sharing information about teachers should be

consistent across jurisdictions, and improved to

facilitate more effective information sharing about

child sexual abuse.

Recommendation 9

Amend legislation and/or policies to require

teacher regulatory authorities to share

information between teacher regulatory

authorities to strengthen children’s safety

and improve teacher workforce mobility.

To ensure the success of an improved information

sharing scheme between jurisdictions,

arrangements should require teacher regulatory

authorities to:

• collect and record consistent data with

respect to a teacher’s registration and

employment (former and current)

• make information on teacher registers

available to other teacher regulatory

authorities, relevant authorising bodies and

teacher employers

• align nomenclature within legislation and

polices to support the implementation of

Recommendation 10.

• exchange information on enforcement,

investigation and sanction activities related to

teacher registration with relevant authorising

bodies (e.g. regulatory authorities, teacher

employers, enforcement agencies)

• notify authorising bodies of matters that

relate to the safety of children, including:

○ disciplinary actions, such as conditions

or restrictions on, suspension of, and

cancellation of registration, including

with notication of grounds

○ investigations into conduct, or into

allegations or complaints

○ ndings or outcomes of investigations,

where allegations have been

substantiated

○ resignation or dismissal from

employment

○ any other relevant information such as

decisions and appellant outcomes from

Civil Administrative Tribunals and other

relevant regulatory agencies

• provide for privacy and security standards

and/or rules for exchanging teacher

information to ensure safeguards are in place

to protect teachers’ personal information.

To support this:

• Teacher regulatory authorities should agree

consistent national information to share.

• Where required, jurisdictions should amend

legislation or policy to enable nationally

consistent information sharing protocols.

Implementing this recommendation should be an

immediate priority.

Hon. Justice McClellan P AM et al, 2018, Final Report: The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, March

2018, Volume 8. https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/recordkeeping-and-information-sharing viewed 2018.

3.2 Streamlining processes

for information sharing

Each teacher regulatory authority has an established

database to capture teacher registration information.

When information is exchanged between

jurisdictions it relies on an individual to manually

access and provide the information. In most cases

this approach works well however where anomalies

arise and a search for different or additional

information is required, timeliness and the accuracy

of the information that is shared between teacher

regulatory authorities can be impacted. The lack of

a national technical solution for information sharing

between the teacher regulatory authorities has been

highlighted by the Royal Commission and some state

Ombudsmen.

A near real-time system of checking teacher

registration information that interacts with the

existing information systems of teacher regulatory

authorities nationwide will signicantly improve

information sharing and support child safety.

It will also aid the mobility of the teachers

between jurisdictions.

In most jurisdictions there is work underway to

share information with other government or

non-government agencies through automated

systems.

These arrangements have been

established to prioritise the safety of the child.

The Royal Commission’s recommendations, along

with raised public expectations, have brought to the

forefront the need for an automated information

sharing system across jurisdictions. Such a system

would enable more consistent and complete

information to be shared between teacher regulatory

authorities in a timely manner and allow risks to be

managed more efciently.

A seamless and efcient approach

Recommendation 9 of this report is designed to

enable more consistent and complete information

to be shared between regulatory authorities. To

make optimal use of the information, the processes

for sharing information should be automated and

streamlined, providing access to other jurisdictions’

information as it is updated. It is acknowledged

that regulatory authorities have different starting

points in the use of information and communications

technology (ICT) to support regulatory processes

and outputs. The platform and system would need to

allow current teacher registration information held by

each teacher regulatory authority to be accessed by

every other teacher regulatory authority.

The Panel heard from stakeholders that a system

that allowed teacher regulatory authorities to have

immediate access to information about all registered

teachers in Australia would signicantly improve

the exchange of information between teacher

regulatory authorities. A range of technical solutions

to efciently exchange information were considered,

including a national register. The Panel decided that

further investigation is required to determine the

most efcient and effective solution.

The solution should be scalable to allow for

implementation to incrementally include further

categories of related information and to adapt

to changes over time.

The Panel recommend that further information

be sought to determine the best approach to an

automated information sharing system. This could

include an understanding of:

• the different ICT systems that exist amongst

the teacher regulatory authorities

• the current information sharing arrangements

between teacher regulatory authorities

• the options for an automated information

sharing system between teacher regulatory

authorities

• the costs and benets of each option.

Under any solution progressed, data sharing

protocols, operational standards and business

rules would be implemented that address the

provisions of relevant privacy legislation to ensure

that teacher registration information was

appropriately safeguarded.

Recommendation 10

Develop and implement an automated national

information sharing platform and system

that streamlines the sharing of teacher

registration information, in real time, between

teacher regulatory authorities to strengthen

teacher workforce mobility, recognition and

children’s safety.

To support this, Education Council should

commission a business case that describes

options for achieving national information sharing.

Options explored should include a national register

and interoperability arrangements between

teacher regulatory authorities. All options explored

should include data security controls.

Implementing this recommendation should be

a medium term priority.

Hon. Justice McClellan P AM et al, 2018, Final Report: The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, March

2018, Volume 8. https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/recordkeeping-and-information-sharing viewed 2018.

Australian Government, Business.gov.au, https://www.business.gov.au/assistance/business-research-and-innovation-initiative/sharing-

of-information-nationally-to-ensure-child-safety viewed 2018.

Department of Social Services, Australian Government, Protecting Australia’s Children, https://www.dss.gov.au/our-responsibilities/

families-and-children/programs-services/protecting-australias-children viewed 2018.

Hon. Justice McClellan P AM et al, 2018, Final Report: The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, March

2018, Volume 8. https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/recordkeeping-and-information-sharing viewed 2018.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

3.3. Nationally consistent

policy for suitability

The importance of suitability

Suitability is one of eight elements within the

Framework. It aims to ensure the safety of the

child and determine the propriety and suitability

of a teacher. Suitability is important to:

• ensure public trust and condence

• maintain the credibility of the profession

• ensure the competence and capability

of a teacher.

The Royal Commission highlighted the need for

teacher registration to protect children from sexual

abuse in schools, with the suitability requirements

for teacher registration a key lever for achieving this.

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG)

should consider strengthening teacher registration

requirements to better protect children from sexual

abuse in schools. In particular, COAG should review

minimum national requirements for assessing the

suitability of teachers, and conducting disciplinary

investigations.

The term ‘t and proper’ is commonly used in

many professions to assess a person’s good

character and suitability to belong to the profession.

‘Fit and proper’ and ‘suitability’ are terms used

interchangeably, but may have different specic

meanings in particular jurisdictions.

Implementation of the suitability

requirement across jurisdictions

Teacher regulatory authorities have polices and

arrangements in place to assess, administer and

record the suitability of the teacher (refer Appendix

J). All jurisdictions implement the suitability element

of the Framework within their own local context.

Different precedents from tribunal or court outcomes

and legislative requirements among the jurisdictions

have a direct impact on how suitability is dened by

each of the teacher regulatory authorities. This also

has a ow-on effect in other areas of the registration

process, in particular, impacting mutual recognition

and the renewal of registration process.

Checks

One key component of meeting the suitability

requirement is a Working with Children Check.

This may also be accompanied by a national criminal

history check. All jurisdictions, other than Victoria,

make it mandatory to complete a Working with

Children Check. In some of these jurisdictions the

Working with Children Check is combined with the

disclosable outcomes from a national criminal history

check. In this case, a teacher would not be required

to complete both checks. In Victoria registered

teachers are not required to have a Working with

Children Check. Safety to work with children is

assessed on the basis of a national and state police

record checking. The scope of the checks and the

process used to undertake them are prescribed by

a jurisdiction’s legal framework, usually part of a

broader jurisdictional approach for all people working

with children. This means Working with Children

Checks are usually undertaken by agencies outside

of the teacher regulatory authority.

The Panel noted the different arrangements

for Working with Children Check and national

criminal history checks used by teacher regulatory

authorities. Teachers who make an application for

mutual recognition are required to repeat checks

in new jurisdictions. The Panel strongly endorsed

the recommendations of the Royal Commission for

making these processes more nationally consistent,

and noted work currently underway in this area.

Other relevant information

In addition to checks, the suitability policies of most

teacher regulatory authorities take into account

other relevant information in order to determine the

applicant’s suitability for registration. Legislation,

case law and/or policy in each jurisdiction draws

out additional and specic requirements with which

teachers are obliged to comply.

The relevant information sought by the teacher

regulatory authorities generally falls within the

following four broad areas:

1. Sufcient moral integrity and rectitude

of character

2. Mental and physical capacity

3. Requisite knowledge and skills

4. Good character

There are signicant differences between

jurisdictions in the relevant information sought to

conrm suitability, the processes for gathering the

information and the standards of conduct expected

of teachers.

Hon. Justice McCellan P AM et al, 2018, Final Report: The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse,

Recommendation 13.8, March 2018.

Victorian Legal Services Board, Fit and Proper Person Policy http://www.lsbc.vic.gov.au/documents/RRP_017_Fit_&_Proper_Person_

Policy_V2_ (Dec_11).pdf viewed 2018.

Rectitude is a quality or attitude that is shown by people who behave honestly and morally according to accepted standards.

Sobey v Commercial and Private Agents Board (1979) 22 SASR 70 at 76, at http://www.austlii.edu.au viewed 2018.

Teachers Registration Board South Australia – Induction for SA Board members - Jan 2017.

Mental health and competence

Only a few jurisdictions’ suitability policies explicitly

cover mental health and competence. This was an

issue raised extensively by teacher employers who

reported that they were increasingly aware of issues

among staff and were seeking ways to support them.

The Panel noted that employers felt supported

where a teacher regulatory authority had a clear

denition of suitability, supporting legislation, policy

and guidelines to address matters pertaining to the

mental health and competence of a teacher.

Frequency of the suitability requirement

A conrmation that a teacher meets the suitability

requirements is usually activated when a teacher:

• registers for the rst time as a graduate

(initial period of registration)

• renews their registration (xed period of

registration)

• applies for mutual recognition with another

jurisdiction.

For most teachers the renewal of registration is the

trigger for conrmation of the suitability requirement.

Under the Framework, the xed period of registration

can be up to ve years, while some jurisdictions have

shorter xed periods of registration.

Regulatory authorities have the legislative

authorisation to investigate unprofessional conduct

or incapacity immediately when complaints or

reports are made about currently registered

teachers. Employers are also required to report the

dismissal or resignation of a teacher in response to

allegations of professional misconduct. Investigation

does not have to wait until the point of registration

renewal. In addition, most jurisdictions now have

active monitoring of registered teachers, meaning

that information from the police is updated in real

time, and regulatory authorities are able to take

appropriate action immediately.

Codes of conduct

In support of the suitability requirements described

above, some teacher regulatory authorities have in

place a code of conduct, code of ethics or a professional

boundaries policy. In addition, many employers at the

school, sector or the public service level have codes of

conduct that are applied to teachers.

Decision making and investigations

There are different processes and different

thresholds for undertaking investigations and making

decisions about assessment of suitability and

conduct matters that come to the attention of the

teacher regulatory authority. These are largely driven

by the jurisdictional administrative arrangements,

legislation and case law. The different approaches

to investigations and decision making, coupled with

jurisdictional specic suitability policies, may lead to

variance in outcomes.

The Royal Commission highlighted these

inconsistencies and the associated risks.

Salter v Victorian Institute of Teaching

(Review and Regulation) [2015]

VCAT 2045

The following factors are relevant to considering

a person’s tness and suitability to hold

registration (this case consolidates many of

the settled legal principles from other cases in

different jurisdictions):

• The nature and seriousness of the

conduct;

• Whether the conduct can be satisfactorily

explained as an error of judgment rather

than a defect of character;

• The intrinsic seriousness of the conduct

and its relevance to the profession;

• Any motivation which may have given rise

to the conduct;

• Underlying qualities of character shown by

other conduct;

• The passage of time between the conduct

and the application for registration;

• The candour and insight of the applicant;

• The steps taken by the applicant toward

reforming his character and behaviour;

and

• The view of others within the profession

toward the applicant being registered.

Stakeholders’ feedback

about suitability

There was a variety of views and understanding

of what ‘suitability to teach’ and ‘t and proper’

encompass

• Greater clarity and more specic details

are required to understand suitability and

t and proper.

• Teacher regulatory authorities and

employers experience restrictive

legal frameworks and administrative

arrangements within their jurisdictions.

These can hinder a seamless and

consistent process for a teacher to be able

to move to another jurisdiction.

• Legislation, judgements and disclosure

outcomes related to national criminal

history checks varied across the

jurisdictions and impacted on teacher

mobility.

• Employers are seeking greater assistance

from teacher regulatory authorities with

matters relating to managing mental

health issues of a teacher.

– Sourced from consultation forums.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Towards national consistency

All teacher regulatory authorities have common

principles that drive their approach to suitability to

teach and what is determined to be ‘t and proper’.

However, there are legislative and regulatory

differences across jurisdictions that drive operational

and administrative arrangements. In addition, the

investigation and decision-making processes may

compound the differences in policies, leading to

diverse outcomes.

These differences present challenges in achieving

nationally consistent approaches that would support

the recommendations of the Royal Commission

and enable teacher mobility. In practice, teachers

are held to account for their suitability differently

across jurisdictions. The differences imply that the

risks that teacher regulatory authorities are willing

to accept in relation to teacher suitability are varied.

This becomes particularly evident when mutual

recognition is activated. In most circumstances,

teacher regulatory authorities are obliged to trust

the judgement of another authority about a teacher’s

suitability when a teacher enters their jurisdiction

under mutual recognition, even if different

requirements are in place. In other circumstances,

particularly where criminal offences have been

committed, a different policy may mean that a

teacher can hold registration in one jurisdiction,

but not another.

The Panel heard strong messages that ensuring

all registered teachers are suitable to teach,

including considerations of whether teachers

are t and proper, is a key area of public interest

and contributes to community condence in the

profession. To match widespread recognition of a

national teaching profession, there was stakeholder

interest in a national approach to determine

what being a suitable member of the profession

encompasses. The recommendations of the

Royal Commission align with this focus.

Illustrative example

A teacher from jurisdiction A applies under

mutual recognition process for teacher

registration in jurisdiction B. The applicant

makes a statutory declaration that (s)he is

not the subject of a disciplinary proceeding in

jurisdiction A. When jurisdiction B checks with

jurisdiction A, it is discovered that the teacher is

the subject of an investigation that has not been

resolved. Jurisdiction B has 2 options:

1. The applicant has made a false statutory

declaration (Trans-Tasman Mutual

Recognition Act s21 (1)) and therefore

jurisdiction B has the power to decline the

registration of the applicant; or

2. The investigation by jurisdiction A must be

completed and the conditions of registration

this jurisdiction imposes will be mirrored

in the registration of jurisdiction B (Trans-

Tasman Mutual Recognition Act s20 (5))

The reason jurisdiction B is not able to

investigate is because it does not have the

investigative powers legislated to act in

jurisdiction A.

Hon. Justice McClellan P AM et al, 2018, Final Report: The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, March

2018, Volume 8. https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/recordkeeping-and-information-sharing viewed 2018.

In the best interests of the child

The Panel strongly endorsed the recommendations

of the Royal Commission for improving the policies

and practices related to the suitability requirement.

They noted that work is currently underway at

different levels within the jurisdictions to progress

the recommendations of the Royal Commission.

Cases highlighted through the Royal Commission

emphasised that the primary goal is “to maintain the

best interests of the child”

when teacher regulatory

authorities are assessing and administering the

suitability requirement for a teacher to be registered.

There was consensus from stakeholders that it

was in the best interest of the child to embed the

Child Safe Standards into the policy and decision-

making process for suitability to teach. A national

policy for suitability that is seamless and includes an

efcient exchange of relevant information between

the teacher regulatory authorities and/or other

authorised bodies will contribute to the safety of the

child at the highest standard and primarily address

any potential risk.

The Royal Commission recommended that the

‘Unacceptable Risk Test’ that was developed in the

Family Court where there are allegations of abuse of

children should be used as a threshold for all teacher

regulatory authorities when making decisions about

suitability to teach.

Opportunity to establish a nationally

consistent policy for suitability

The Panel found that there is a signicant

opportunity to develop a nationally consistent policy

for suitability that is implemented by all jurisdictions

and enabled by legislation.

A national policy for suitability would:

• allow teacher regulatory authorities to apply

consistent judgements to decisions about the

suitability of a teacher

• limit the barriers in relation to teacher mobility

without compromising the safety of the child

• assist teacher regulatory authorities and

employers to understand their roles and

responsibilities in implementing the policy

• allow teacher regulatory authorities and

employers to take a proactive approach to

potential risks.

The Panel acknowledges the local legislative and

policy context that inuences jurisdictions’ current

approaches. Legislation should support and enable

the implementation of a national policy on suitability.

A nationally consistent suitability policy would be

implemented by jurisdictions under their current

institutional arrangements.

Code of conduct

While some stakeholders called for a national code

of conduct to be developed, the Panel was not

convinced of the value of a national code. However,

the Panel noted that an aspirational statement of the

expected ethics and behaviours that a teacher should

demonstrate, regardless of setting, could be included

in any future amendments of the Teacher Standards.

The development of such a statement would be a

valuable public-facing expression of recognition of

the value of the profession of teachers.

Recommendation 11

Develop a national policy on suitability to teach,

including considerations of ‘t and proper’, to be

implemented by all teacher regulatory authorities

or other relevant bodies, using current

instruments/statements as a starting point.

The policy should include:

• guidelines to assist teacher regulatory

authorities and employers and other

relevant bodies to understand their roles and

responsibilities in executing the activities,

investigations and decisions related to

suitability

• alignment of the requirements of t and

proper assessments under the National

Quality Framework, the Royal Commission

and the National Framework for Teacher

Registration

• criteria and procedures for competence and

mental health issues

• consideration of how to ensure that

teachers are continuing to meet suitability

requirements during their xed period of

registration.

Legislation should support and enable the

implementation of a national policy on suitability.

To support this, Education Council should

establish/nominate a working group.

Implementing this recommendation should be

a medium term priority.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Streamlining teacher registration

processes across Australia

Since the implementation of the Framework began

in 2013, there have been many examples of effective

and consistent implementation of the registration

arrangements. However, areas have also been

identied where there is scope for streamlining and

improving processes.

The Review considered a range of factors that

contribute to the efciency of registration and the

related issue of workforce mobility. The major areas

identied as potentially creating barriers and/or

warranting improvement were mutual recognition,

English language prociency and the delivery

of Vocational Education and Training (VET) to

secondary school students.

Broadly, these three areas highlight the changing

nature of the teacher workforce, which is becoming

increasingly international, mobile and exible. The

extent to which the registration system supports

teachers employed outside traditional classroom

settings was considered by the Review in this

context.

The movement of teachers across state and territory

borders in Australia is becoming increasingly

common in the teaching workforce. In support of

this, there are now mutual recognition processes

in place across all jurisdictions. The Review sought

input on how effectively current mutual recognition

processes are working; whether barriers to

teacher mobility exist; and whether differences

in implementation across jurisdictions mean that

inconsistencies remain.

The Review also considered the issue of VET

delivered to secondary school students,

exploring possible options to improve access and

requirements for VET trainers/assessors delivering

VET in a secondary school environment.

Specically, stakeholders were asked whether

greater exibility was needed to support schools to

utilise skilled VET trainers/assessors, and how this

could be achieved without compromising teacher

quality standards and national consistency in

teacher registration.

4.1 Teacher mobility

and mutual recognition

The value of teacher mobility

Teachers are required to register with the teacher

regulatory authority responsible for the jurisdiction

in which they teach, and to seek a new registration if

they move to a different jurisdiction.

Teacher mobility is not only important for the

teacher - it is an essential way of addressing

workforce demands across the country. Having a

teacher workforce that is mobile improves the ability

to attract and retain quality teachers. It addresses

the needs of teachers who live and work across

Australia, and the needs of schools that do not have

access to a ready pool of teachers.

The reasons for teachers wishing to work across

jurisdictions are many and varied. Common

examples include teachers who:

• are living in an area close to a jurisdictional

border. These teachers may be:

○ casual/relief teachers who service local

schools in both jurisdictions

○ permanent teachers or teachers on short

term contracts who require the exibility

to take up job opportunities around their

local area

• may make a more permanent move once or

twice in their career

• want to spend a period of time working in

regional or remote communities before returning

to metropolitan areas in a different state or

territory.

Illustrative scenarios

Trang ceased full time teaching in South

Australia over a year ago. Since then she has

been travelling and working as a teacher around

Australia, particularly in the Northern Territory

and Western Australia where there is a demand

for teachers. Trang must be registered in each of

the jurisdictions in which she teaches.

Paul lives in Tweed Heads NSW, a town that is

close to the border of NSW and QLD. Paul recently

returned from paternity leave and has taken on

relief teaching in schools in both NSW and QLD.

Paul needs to be registered in both jurisdictions

to teach in schools around his local area.

Mutual recognition to

support teacher mobility

Currently a system of ‘mutual recognition’ allows

for recognition of teachers’ registration across

jurisdictions to support teacher mobility. Mutual

recognition aims to minimise administrative burden

and reduce barriers to the movement of teachers

between jurisdictions, while still ensuring that

teachers meet local registration requirements.

Mutual recognition is legislated under the Mutual

Recognition Act 1992.

A similar arrangement

extends mutual recognition to New Zealand.

Jurisdictions such as the Northern Territory and

Western Australia rely heavily on mutual recognition

to address workforce challenges, as a mobile

teaching workforce is often used to ll vacancies,

particularly in regional and remote communities.

In the Northern Territory in 2016-17, 53 per cent of

new registrants gained registration in the Territory

through mutual recognition.

A system that supports

teacher mobility is particularly important to ensure

that students across Australia have access to the

teachers they need.

Recent changes have strengthened mutual

recognition. Until 1 January 2018, teacher

registration in NSW did not fall under the Mutual

Recognition Act 1992 as there was no requirement

for universal registration of teachers. This means

that as of 1 January 2018, fully registered teachers in

NSW can have their registration status automatically

recognised in most other jurisdictions.

Under mutual recognition, teachers registered in

one jurisdiction are entitled to practise in other

jurisdictions. For example, a registered teacher in

South Australia who wishes to practise in Victoria

is automatically eligible to apply for registration

through the Victorian teacher regulatory authority.

Teachers can start practising immediately in another

jurisdiction but must become registered by their local

teacher regulatory authority.

Productivity Commission, 2015, Research Report: Mutual Recognition Schemes, September 2015.

The Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Act (TTMRA), which supports movement of teachers between Australia and New Zealand, was

signed by Australian signatories of the Mutual Recognition Agreement and the Government of New Zealand in 1996.

Reported by Teacher Registration Board – Northern Territory during consultation.

User Guide to the Mutual Recognition Agreement and the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Arrangement, 2014.

Figure 4: Process for mutual recognition.

Deemed registration

continues

The teacher seeking registration must notify the local teacher regulatory

authority

with evidence of registration in another jurisdiction, associated

documentation and the relevant fee

An electronic communication (emailed letter) is issued advising that

the person is deemed and able to teach in the jurisdiction

Within one month, the teacher regulatory authority must advise the

registrant of an outcome

Registration granted

with or without

conditions

Registration postponed

(for a maximum

of six months)

Registration

refused

If the teacher regulatory

authority does not

advise the registrant

within one month, deemed

registration continues until

it is cancelled, suspended or

otherwise terminated.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

In the 2016-2017 nancial year, there were 2,267

mutual recognition approvals across Australia.

The

data in the table 5 gives the jurisdictional breakdown

of the number of mutual recognition applications that

were processed during that year.

Table 5: Mutual recognition approvals by jurisdiction

in the 2016-2017 nancial year.

Jurisdiction

Mutual recognition

approvals

ACT

141

Northern Territory

431

Queensland

917

South Australia

201

Tasmania

169

Victoria

502

Western Australia

337

TOTAL

2,267

Stakeholder concerns about

mutual recognition and mobility

The Panel heard mixed reports of the ease and

efcacy of mutual recognition processes.

Teacher regulatory authorities reported:

• Following the requirements outlined in the

Mutual Recognition Act 1992, the process

operates smoothly and is managed in a timely

manner in most situations where a teacher’s

registration and credentials are assessed as

like-for-like.

• Delays in processes are most likely associated

with anomalies e.g. where there are different

categories applied across jurisdictions

with different requirements or if there is a

sanction or condition on the teacher from the

originating jurisdiction.

• Where there are no anomalies, the process

is smooth and timely. The Panel heard from

one teacher regulatory authority that the

average processing time to register a person

under mutual recognition, where there were

no additional matters to be considered,

was 15 calendar days. If there were matters

that needed to be considered the average

processing was 38 calendar days.

By contrast, teachers and employers reported that

current registration practices and the administration

of processing a mutual recognition application was a

barrier to efcient teacher mobility. Many teachers,

school leaders and employers reported that they

were dissatised with the process of being granted

registration in a new jurisdiction. The main issues

identied during stakeholder consultations were:

• workload required to gather paperwork and

evidence required to satisfy registration

requirements for another jurisdiction

• red tape and duplication of paperwork

• lengthy processes to gain registration in

another jurisdiction

• lack of transferability between jurisdictions for

cross-border teachers

• inconsistent recognition of requirements

across jurisdictions, for example requirements

for teachers to move from provisional to full

registration

• lack of national consistency in nomenclature,

categories of registration and sanctions.

Clearly, there is a disconnect between the views of

teachers and employers and the views of teacher

regulatory authorities regarding mutual recognition.

Some of the issues identied may be due to

a misunderstanding of mutual recognition by

individual teachers or employers. For example,

many teachers, school leaders and employers

argued that there should be real time recognition of

registration between jurisdictions. Under the current

system this is in fact the case once the mutual

recognition application is made. From the time the

teacher lodges paperwork and pays fees to the new

teacher regulatory authority, they are deemed and

immediately eligible to teach in that jurisdiction.

Checks to inform a decision on suitability to teach are

requested, and once a person is determined to be

suitable, they are registered.

However, the issues described above are acutely

felt by those teachers living and working near a

border, or those wishing to work across two or

more jurisdictions (particularly those that regularly

cross borders as casual teachers). Although some

teacher regulatory authorities have policies in

place that reduce the nancial burden on cross-

border teachers, the Panel heard reports that

registration arrangements are a disincentive for

short term engagement across jurisdictions. This

has implications for workforce supply and demand

across the system and can be detrimental to work

and life choices of individual teachers.

This number does not include gures for the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) as they have only introduced mandatory

registration in 2018. Mutual recognition only applies where all teachers must be registered, therefore teachers in NSW were not eligible

to register under mutual recognition elsewhere in Australia or New Zealand.

Teacher regulatory authorities’ Annual Reports 2016-2017.

Reported by Teacher Registration Board Northern Territory during consultation 2018 based on their 2017-2018 nancial year.

[The] extra cost and process is detrimental to

the idea of national competency and the ability

for good teachers to transfer interstate. It should

be enough to have one registration in the state of

origin and have that recognised by all other states,

without any extra charges or process.

— Online survey response

The Panel heard calls from teachers to go beyond

mutual recognition and apply national registration

across the country. The Panel acknowledges that

there are limitations with mutual recognition as

a mechanism to support and streamline teacher

mobility. Mutual recognition is not a mechanism in

and of itself that can allow for a single set of fees,

forms and requirements that give teachers the ability

to teach across the country under one registration.

I wanted to travel in 2013 and teach in each state

but the individualised process for registration in

each state in addition to the state costs prevented

me from doing so – a national aligned system

would have been helpful.

— Online survey response

The Panel acknowledges that implementing

these reforms would be benecial to some in the

profession, especially those for whom cross border

travel is part of their work. However, the Panel

also notes that there are some signicant practical

and policy challenges in moving beyond mutual

recognition.

• Most teacher regulatory authorities are

funded solely by teacher registration fees and

teacher regulatory authorities are responsible

for judgements on disciplinary matters.

Consideration needs to be given as to how

a jurisdiction or jurisdictions would charge

fees and receive funding as teachers moved

between jurisdictions.

• Most teacher regulatory authorities are

responsible for carrying out disciplinary

processes and procedures for teachers

registered in their jurisdiction. Consideration

needs to be given to who would be accountable

for the conduct of the teacher and carrying out

disciplinary actions.

• Nomenclature of terms, categories of

registration, sanctions and conditions

are not consistent across all jurisdictions.

Consideration would need to be given to

improving national consistency before

adopting an approach that moves beyond

mutual recognition.

These issues need to be further explored.

Ensuring that teachers only pay one lot of

registration fees is vital, particularly for teachers

living in borderowns.

We need an Australian body to register all teachers,

so no-one has to go through the painful task of

registering in every state and territory which

would benefit many, many people.

Teaching needs the same consistency with

registration. Very frustrating because I move

between WA and SA and to register in both seems

crazy when there could be a single system

organisation.

— Online survey response

Opportunities to improve mutual

recognition and teacher mobility

There are opportunities to improve mutual

recognition processes, including improving

understanding of mutual recognition by teachers and

employers. To build on mutual recognition, mutual

registration and national licensing of teachers should

be explored.

Consistent and automated sharing of teachers’

registration information (Recommendations 9 and

10) will contribute to more timely registration in other

jurisdictions. However, there is further scope for

teacher regulatory authorities to work together to

minimise barriers and improve efciency of mutual

recognition. The opportunity exists for teacher

regulatory authorities to explore the issues identied

and work to improve the current system to make the

process as effective as possible.

To address the limitations of mutual recognition

and to further enable teacher mobility, a program

of work should be undertaken to explore alternative

approaches that build on mutual recognition, while

maintaining current jurisdictional responsibility for

teacher registration by state and territory teacher

regulatory authorities. Teacher regulatory authorities

are already working together on ways of progressing

solutions for teachers who work across borders

through Memoranda of Understanding.

The Panel supports work towards teacher registration

becoming fully transferable across jurisdictions,

under a licence or mutual registration scheme.

However, there is currently insufcient alignment of

registration policy settings, legislation and information

sharing arrangements to support such a scheme.

Implementing actions to achieve more consistent

and automated information sharing and harmonise

nomenclature and decision making will lay the

foundations to achieve full transferability of registration

at a later stage. The development of a system for

teacher registration to be seamlessly recognised

across jurisdictions provides signicant challenges and

thoughtful consideration is required. As such, planning

to achieve this should commence immediately.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Recommendation 12

Commit to improve mutual recognition

processes between teacher regulatory

authorities to achieve timely, accurate and

rigorous outcomes when teachers move

between jurisdictions and contribute to

recognition of one profession.

To support this teacher regulatory authorities

should:

• maintain an ongoing work program to

proactively resolve issues and reduce barriers

to the application of mutual recognition

• harmonise the nomenclature of terms and

categories for registration, sanctions and

conditions in each jurisdiction

• develop harmonised communications and

guidance that can be provided to teachers

and employers about the application of

mutual recognition.

Implementing this recommendation should be an

immediate and ongoing priority.

Recommendation 13

Develop a plan to enable teacher registration to

be fully transferable between jurisdictions and

for teachers working across jurisdictions.

To support this, Education Council should

commission a business case that investigates

development of a licence or mutual registration

scheme, including steps towards implementation.

Implementing this recommendation should be an

immediate priority.

4.2 English language prociency

The Panel heard that all regulatory authorities

implement English language prociency

requirements under the Framework. However,

the availability, consistency and reliability of

assessments of English language prociency that

reect the communication demands of the teaching

profession are problematic. Any changes in this area

should align with the English language prociency

tests applied by the Assessment for Migration

function that is managed by AITSL.

The Panel noted that the Australasian Teachers

Regulatory Authorities Network is currently

investigating this issue.

Recommendation 14

Develop and implement an updated

national approach to English language

prociency assessments for the purpose of

teacher registration.

To support this recommendation an analysis of the

current English Language Procient assessments

is being undertaken, including investigation of:

• adequacy and appropriateness of existing

assessment arrangements

• potential revisions to exemptions.

Implementing this recommendation is an

immediate priority.

4.3 VET alignment

The value of VET for senior

secondary students

Vocational education and training (VET) is an

important part of senior secondary school education

in Australia. In 2017, nearly a quarter of a million

secondary school students aged 15 to 19 participated

in a VET program (28.1 per cent of students).

The value and necessity of VET delivered to secondary

students is broadly agreed. The Preparing Secondary

Students for Work Framework, endorsed by Education

Council, emphasised the important role that schools

must play in preparing students for employment and

further studies pathways by seamlessly integrating

VET into secondary schooling.

The STEM Report notes the importance of VET

qualications to industries that rely on STEM skills

while the Independent Review into Regional, Rural

and Remote Education calls for an expansion of the

availability, affordability and accessibility of high

quality VET for regional, rural and remote students.

Under the Compact with Young Australians

agreed by all states and territories, young people

under the age of 17 must be learning or earning, i.e.

young people must participate in schooling until

they complete Year 10; and young people who have

completed Year 10 must participate full-time in

education, training or employment, or a combination

of these activities, until they are 17. VET can have

positive benets for senior secondary students

in upskilling and exposing them to the world of

work. All senior secondary certicates in Australia

have mechanisms for recognising VET units or

qualications, although the way in which this is done

varies considerably across jurisdictions.

VET delivered to secondary students does more than

prepare them for work. It can strongly contribute

to the broad purpose of the senior secondary

certicate, which the Australian Qualications

Framework denes as to: “qualify individuals with the

knowledge, skills and values for diverse pathways to

further learning, work, and effective participation in

civic life”.

Transitions to further learning should be

the primary objective for senior secondary students.

This demands preparation for the world beyond

school, including assisting to develop technical skills

and exposure to the realities of work in different

elds, but should be broad and foundational, rather

than narrowing learning and career options.

Valuing the work of teachers of VET reinforces its

contribution to the senior secondary certicate

and echoes a priority in the Excellence Review to

“prepare every student to be a creative, connected

and engaged learner in a rapidly changing world”.

Implementation and regulation

It is important to note that VET delivered to

secondary students is the same as VET in any other

setting; and that the same quality, regulatory and

qualication standards apply. In addition to VET,

schools may also provide vocational education to

students. The VET programs delivered to secondary

students must be carefully chosen to match

students’ needs, as part of the schools’ overall

responsibility for students’ educational programs.

A stringent regulatory framework underpins the

provision of VET and the issuing of qualications.

VET qualications are issued by Registered Training

Organisations (RTOs), which are subject to the

Standards for Registered Training Organisations

2015 (the RTO Standards). Under the RTO

Standards, RTOs must ensure that all nationally

recognised training is delivered and assessed by

skilled VET trainers/assessors who:

• hold a specied training and assessment

credential, such as the Certicate IV in Training

and Assessment

• have vocational competencies, at least to the

level being delivered and assessed

• have current knowledge and skills in vocational

training and learning, and current industry

skills directly relevant to the training and

assessment provided.

RTOs must also ensure that trainers and assessors

undertake professional development in vocational

training, learning and assessment, including

competency-based training.

Qualied VET trainers/

assessors are required for the delivery of all VET

units and qualications.

Models of VET delivery to senior

secondary students

VET is delivered to secondary students in a variety of

ways. These arrangements reect the local context.

Many schools use a mix of different models, delivered

through a range of school stafng and external

provider arrangements, to meet the needs of their

student cohort.

National Centre for Vocational Education Research, VET in Schools Report 2017, viewed 2018.

Educational Council: Preparing Secondary School Students for Work , viewed 2018.

Finkel, A. Dr et al, 2018, Optimising STEM Industry-School Partnerships: Inspiring Australia’s Next Generation, Recommendation 3. April 2018 pg 4.

Halsey J Dr, Emeritus Professor, 2018, The Independent Review into Regional, Rural and Remote Education, Jan 2018 pg 56 viewed 2018.

Compact for Young Australians: increasing educational attainment of young people aged 15-24, viewed 2018.

Australian Qualifications Frameworks https://www.aqf.edu.au/aqf-qualications viewed 2018.

Gonski D, AC et al, 2018, Through Growth to Achievement: Report of the Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools,

March 2018, p.xii.

Registered Teaching Organisation Standards, Chapter 4 and Schedule 1, https://www.asqa.gov.au/standards viewed 2018.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Regardless of the model used, the VET trainer/

assessor must hold and maintain the appropriate

qualications and industry currency.

Jurisdictions have different approaches to school

stafng arrangements for the delivery of VET. Across

all jurisdictions where VET is delivered outside

of the school (model 4 or 5), the school retains

responsibility for the student’s overall educational

program, but there are no specic requirements

applied to the VET trainer/assessor in relation to

teacher registration.

Where VET is delivered within the school, stafng

requirements are driven by jurisdictional legislation

and policy. In any jurisdiction, a registered teacher

who holds the appropriate VET qualications can

deliver the VET program. In some jurisdictions this

is the dominant model and system arrangements

are in place to support VET qualied teachers (e.g.

structured professional development and release to

maintain industry currency).

The Panel heard that there are a number of

workforce approaches to delivering VET to senior

secondary students. Consequently, a range of

teacher registration requirements apply. The site

in which the VET program is delivered - rather than

any curriculum, pedagogy or assessment needs -

determines the registration requirements expected

for VET teachers and trainers/assessors. In most

jurisdictions, legislation requires the delivery of a

program at a school to be undertaken by a person

holding an appropriate form of teacher registration.

Where a VET qualied teacher is unavailable,

jurisdictions take a range of different approaches.

In Queensland, legislation draws a distinction

between an educational program and a training

program, which allows VET trainers/assessors

to deliver programs on schools sites, without any

additional teacher registration requirements.

Tasmania teachers who have a qualication and

VET qualication can be registered as teachers. VET

trainers/assessors are registered on a separate

category as Specialist VET teachers. These teachers

who are registered under this category have

provisional registration status and cannot progress

to full unless they choose to complete a teaching

qualication.

In South Australia a teacher must

be in the classroom alongside the VET trainers/

assessor. In Victoria, permission to teach is granted

with particular conditions and scope.

The availability of appropriately qualied

VET trainers/assessors and the conditions for

employment can vary depending on the industry

qualication being delivered and be a barrier

to providing opportunities to access VET to

secondary students.

Alternative authorisation to teach

The Panel heard that in many jurisdictions where

teachers with VET qualications were not available

to meet workforce demand, alternative authorisation

to teach was used to employ qualied VET trainers/

assessors to deliver VET on school sites. These

arrangements fall under local state and territory policy

approaches to alternative authorisation to teach based

on workforce need. In some jurisdictions alternative

authorisation to teach arrangements are time-limited,

the authorisation is tied to a specic school site and

there is a dened scope of practice (e.g. only delivering

the VET program). These constraints can impact

the continuity in delivery of VET programs and the

motivation for VET trainers/assessors to engage

with a pathway to a full teaching qualication.

NSW Education Standards Authority Act 2013 (NSW),Teacher Accreditation Act 2004 (NSW); Education and Training Reform Act 2006

(VIC), Victorian Institute of Teaching Act 2001(VIC); Education (Queensland College of Teachers) Act 2005, Education (Queensland College

of Teachers) Regulation 2016; Teachers Registration and Standards Act 2004 (SA), Teachers Registration and Standards Regulations 2016

(SA); Teachers Registration Act 2000 (TAS), Teachers Registration Regulations 2011 (TAS); Teacher Registration (Northern Territory) Act

(2016), Teacher Registration (Northern Territory) Regulations (2010); ACT Teacher Quality Institute Act 2010, ACT Teacher Quality Institute

Regulation 2010; Teacher Registration Act 2012 (WA), Teacher Registration (General) Regulations 2012 (WA),

KPMG, The Teacher Registration Mapping Project, March 2018, commissioned by AITSL secretariat and prepared for the

Expert Panel unpublished,

KPMG, The Teacher Registration Mapping Project, March 2018, commissioned by AITSL secretariat and prepared for the Expert Panel

unpublished and s13 Teachers Registration Act 2000 (TAS),

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 Model 5

School/school

sector as RTO –

delivers training and

issues qualications

School is auspiced/

partners with

external RTO –

school delivers

training, qualications

issued by RTO

School engages RTO

to deliver training

(within the school or

externally).

RTO delivers

training and issues

qualications

Students attend

external RTO –

this could be a TAFE,

another school or a

private RTO

Students undertake

school-based

apprenticeship – attend

RTO (either school

or external RTO) and

employment external to

the school

Table 6: Models of VET delivery

Teaching VET in Victoria

The Victorian Institute of Teachers Permission

to Teach Policy has a specic VET category that

requires applicants to demonstrate:

• Appropriate content knowledge of the

subject/s to be taught

• Evidence of meeting the relevant

requirements of the Standards for RTOs

• Evidence that they:

○ Have the skills and experience to build

positive relationships with students

○ Are able to maintain safe learning

environments

○ Are able to use a range of teaching

practices and resources to engage

students in effective learning

• That they are suitable to teach

In addition, applicants must provide a plan that

outlines the professional development, industry

engagement and professional practice that

they will undertake during the period of their

Permission to Teach grant. They are exempt

from the requirement to be on a pathway to a

teaching qualication

Holders of Permission to Teach (VET) are able to:

• Teach particular subject/s in any Victorian

school

• Make subsequent applications after

the rst grant of Permission to Teach.

Evidence that the plan has been

undertaken is required.

The Panel heard concerns from stakeholders that

while the VET qualications of the trainer/assessor

delivering the program were valued, the trainer/

assessor does not have pedagogical teaching

knowledge consistent with other registered teachers

working in schools. This was seen by some as

eroding entry standards to the profession.

A counter argument was also made that the training

and industry currency demands of the RTO Standards

that apply to a VET trainer/assessor have not been

sufciently recognised by the education sector.

Other stakeholders - in particular school principals -

reported that they relied on alternative authorisation

arrangements to deliver VET programs in schools

and called for greater exibility in engaging VET

trainers/assessors.

The tightly dened scope of the Victorian Institute

of Teachers Permission to Teach Policy was seen by

some stakeholders as a model that other jurisdictions

could learn from.

Dual qualications and

pathways between qualications

Maintaining dual qualications

Registered teachers who already hold VET

qualications face the challenge of maintaining both

sets of requirements: teacher registration, which

includes professional learning requirements; and VET

qualication requirements, which include industry

currency and any updates to training packages.

Many stakeholders told the Panel that maintenance

of both sets of requirements was burdensome,

particularly the signicant VET industry currency

requirements.

The Panel also heard about positive examples of

sector-supported professional learning programs

for teachers with VET qualications; for example,

release from schools to support teachers to maintain

industry currency. The STEM Report recommends

that strong partnerships with industry be fostered to

enable teachers with VET qualications to maintain

industry currency and develop new skills.

In order to ease the burden on dual-qualied

teachers, the Panel expects that the professional

learning associated with maintaining VET currency

would meet the regulatory authority requirements for

teachers’ professional learning.

Training and educating students are equally

valuable but fundamentally dierent, not all

trainers make good teachers and importantly.

Not all teachers can train, well. We need both in

schools but they don’t necessarily need parity

of remuneration, working conditions or levels of

responsibility. All are accountable but we need

more dierentiation in our stang proles in

schools, without some of the restrictive regulations

and barriers... we need more creative thinking

about how we provide learning for students,

community and sta. We need to broaden our

views and thinking in terms of what is genuinely

best in the interests of our children and society. All

teachers teaching students/learners should be

respected and recognised as teachers

as oneprofession.

— Online survey response

Victorian Institute of Teachers Permission to Teach Policy 2017 https://www.vit.vic.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_le/0011/44894/

Permission-to-Teach-PTT-Policy.pdf viewed 2018.

Finkel, A. Dr et al, 2018, Optimising STEM Industry-School Partnerships: Inspiring Australia’s Next Generation, Recommendation 1, 3, 4

and 5 . April 2018 Pp 13-14.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

From registered teacher to

VET trainer/assessor

The Panel heard that it was challenging for registered

teachers to gain qualications as VET trainers/

assessors in order to deliver training packages

to school students, due to the depth of industry

experience required. Where a teacher did go down

this path, it was likely that they already had industry

experience from a previous career.

For teachers seeking VET training and assessment

qualications, the Certicate IV in Training and

Assessment must be completed and maintained.

The Panel recognises that VET is a eld of education

with distinct pedagogical approaches; in particular

the competency-based approach. The Panel sees

VET qualications, skills and knowledge as a valuable

additional qualication and skill-set for teachers.

While acknowledging the specic focus of VET, the

Panel believes that there is scope to better identify

alignment between the Training and Assessment

qualication, and the initial teacher education

qualication that teachers hold, in order to minimise

the barrier for teachers to become VET trainers/

assessors. Teachers reported that despite holding

an initial teacher education qualication, it proved

difcult to have their skills and knowledge recognised

towards the Training and Assessment qualication

through Recognition of Prior Learning. The Panel

recommends that a mapping of the Certicate

IV in Training and Assessment and initial teacher

education qualications be undertaken to identify a

pathway through the qualication that gives

appropriate recognition to teaching qualications.

This could be implemented through Recognition of

Prior Learning and picked up in a future review of the

Training and Assessment training package.

From VET trainer/assessor

to registered teacher

For qualied VET trainers/assessors, the pathway to

becoming a registered teacher requires signicant

commitment: the completion of an initial teacher

education qualication while maintaining VET

qualications and industry currency. Despite the

challenges, given the demand for VET trainers/

assessors in schools, this may be an attractive option

for some.

Stakeholders reported that the number of initial

teacher education programs focused on vocational

education have declined in recent years.

To facilitate the process of VET trainers/assessors

gaining teaching qualications, the Panel

recommends that teacher employers, teacher

regulatory authorities and initial teacher education

providers collaborate to develop pathway programs

to full teaching qualications that recognise the VET

qualications, prior learning and the experience of

the VET trainer/assessor. These should be made

available to VET trainers/assessors employed in

schools under alternative authorisation to teach

arrangements. At the same time, Alternative

Authorisation to Teach processes need to be

sufciently exible and attractive to motivate

skilled professionals to take this pathway.

The mapping of the Certicate IV in Training

and Assessment and initial teacher education

qualications would also support this approach.

The way forward

The pervasiveness and value of VET delivered to

secondary students, and its role in contributing to

a quality education system, point to the need for

consideration of the way forward. Existing policy

and regulatory settings - particularly those at the

intersection of the two sectors - creates a narrow set

of circumstances in which VET can be delivered to

senior secondary students.

The Panel heard that every delivery model

has challenges associated with ensuring that

appropriately qualied people are available to deliver

VET to secondary students.

Despite this, schools, regulatory authorities and

training providers successfully utilise the range of

different models to ensure that almost 250,000

students access VET each year.

In addition to the recommendations below, the Panel

considers it opportune to explore the broader policy

settings, including the purposes that underpin VET

delivered to secondary students. The challenges

associated with the workforce are symptoms of

larger system issues that cannot be resolved through

changing stafng arrangements.

The workforce challenges and complexities arising

from the current provision of VET studies to senior

secondary students should be considered as

part of the senior secondary curriculum review,

recommended by the Excellence Review.

Recommendation 15

Undertake work to implement greater alignment

between teacher registration and VET

qualications for teachers who hold or seek dual

teaching and VET qualications.

This work should include:

• teacher regulatory authorities recognising

activities undertaken by teachers to maintain

VET industry currency as professional

learning for teacher registration purposes

• mapping the Certicate IV in Training and

Assessment against initial teacher education

programs to support recognition of prior

learning, and inform a future review of the

qualication.

Implementing this recommendation is an

immediate priority.

Recommendation 16

Teacher employers, teacher regulatory

authorities and initial teacher education

providers collaborate to develop pathway

programs to teaching qualications that

recognise the VET qualications, prior learning

and the experience of the VET trainer/assessor

and make these available to VET trainers/

assessors employed in schools under alternative

authorisation to teach arrangements.

Implementing this recommendation is a medium

term priority.

Recommendation 17

Include consideration of the workforce challenges

and complexities under the current arrangements

for VET delivered to senior secondary students

in the review into the senior secondary

curriculum recommended in Through Growth

to Achievement: Report of the Review to Achieve

Educational Excellence in Australian Schools.

Implementing this recommendation is an

immediate priority.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Progressing the recommendations

As a package, the recommendations in this report

represent a signicant national reform agenda

with actions to improve teacher registration in

Australia. The recommendations’ aims are to build

the agency and ownership of teachers and leaders

in the processes and outcomes of registration, and

by doing so, improve and reinforce teacher quality,

strengthen children’s safety and improve the

consistency and efciency of teacher registration

processes across Australia. Implementation of the

recommendations will benet teachers by increasing

the ease with which teachers can move across

jurisdictions and create one profession of teachers

for the nation.

Successfully implementing the recommendations

to achieve real change will require considerable

effort and collaboration, involving all the actors in the

process and outcomes, particularly between teacher

regulatory authorities, sectors and employers across

jurisdictions.

The 17 recommendations call for a varying degree

of change from the status quo. In some instances,

the recommendation will result in minor changes to

existing practices which will improve and streamline

processes. In other cases, recommendations will

result in a signicant departure from the status quo.

In all cases, the agency and ownership of teachers

themselves is critical if the benets of professional

registration are to be fully realised. In general,

recommendations call for either:

• a forward program of work – to explore issues

in more detail and/or investigate the costs

and benets of implementing new systems,

for example, in developing a business case

for automation of information sharing across

jurisdictions, or

• direct changes to current systems and/

or processes – where implementation

requirements are clear and there is an

immediate imperative for action.

As a result of the recommendations being

progressed, the Panel anticipates that an update

to the 2011 National Framework for Teacher

Registration will be required.

The Panel encourages Education Council to support

the reform by:

• endorsing the recommendations

• commissioning the most appropriate bodies

to undertake the direct changes and forward

program of work

• ensuring appropriate resources are provided

to implement the recommendations

• making a commitment to the profession that

their engagement is critical and they will be

involved at all stages in the implementation

process.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Appendix A: Terms of Reference for a

National Review of Teacher Registration

The Minister for Education and Training has

commissioned a national review of teacher

registration to ensure processes are consistent and

rigorous, with an emphasis on teacher quality.

Using an evidence-based approach the review will,

through comprehensive consultation and research,

advise on:

1. How the current national registration framework

is operating, including consideration of all

elements of the framework, in terms of

implementation, consistency, best practice and

challenges and barriers.

2. The extent to which the Australian Professional

Standards for Teachers (Teacher Standards)

are used to drive teacher quality in the

implementation of the 2011 national framework,

and how this could be further strengthened.

3. Recommended improvements to the

arrangements for teacher registration

in Australia, with a focus on:

I. The current arrangements under

which registration operates

IV. Any enhancements required to

embed the Teacher Standards

and strengthen teacher quality

4. Options for implementation of the

recommendations, taking into account

legislative, regulatory, administrative

and resourcing contexts.

5. Expected benets and success measures

of implementing the recommended reforms to

teacher registration.

Scope

The scope of the review should include

consideration of:

• the registration of early childhood teachers

as part of a national approach to teacher

registration, and how the Teacher Standards

should be applied in this context.

• the registration of vocational education and

training (VET) teachers in school settings and

whether registration requirements create

unnecessary barriers to the delivery of quality

VET in schools.

• the transition of initial teacher education

students into the profession as they are

seeking registration and employment;

and examine any impediments to

pre-registration.

• the current function of regulatory authorities

with regard to their legislated responsibility to

ensure that registered teachers full the t and

proper person requirement.

The scope of the review should exclude

consideration of:

• the appropriateness of the domains,

focus areas and careers stage descriptors of

the Teacher Standards. These matters will be

addressed in a review of the Teacher Standards

which is due in 2018.

• consideration of the Accreditation of Initial

Teacher Education Programs in Australia:

Standards and Procedures (Standards and

Procedures). The Standards and Procedures

were revised and agreed by ministers in

December 2015 following the recommendations

of the recent Teacher Education Ministerial

Advisory Group review.

Consultation

• The review panel, supported by the Australian

Institute for Teaching and School Leadership

Secretariat, will undertake comprehensive

consultation with key stakeholders in the

education sector.

Appendix B: 2011 National Framework

for Teacher Registration

• Ineverystateandterritory,onlyregisteredteachers

maybeemployedtoteachinschools.

• AITSLhasledworktodevelopaconsistentframework

forregistrationofteachersinallstatesandterritories.

TheEducationMinistersofalljurisdictionsendorsed

thisframeworkinOctober2011.

• Theteacherregulatoryauthoritiesinallstatesand

territorieshaveundertakentoimplementtheelements

ofthisframeworkin2013.

• Thecommon,agreedelementsoftheframeworkfor

nationallyconsistentregistrationofteachersconsists

ofthesecommonelements:

– Initialperiodofregistration

– Fixedperiodofregistration

– Alternativeauthorisationtoteach

– Sanctionsincludingwithdrawalofregistration

– Suitability

– Qualications

– Englishlanguageprociency

– Mutualrecognition

TeacherRegistrationinAustralia

AITSL is funded by the Australian Government

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Element Registration Components

Initialperiodofregistration Therewillbeaninitialperiodduringwhichanewteacherhasaformof‘licence’thatallowsthem

tobeemployedasateacherandundertakeworkplacelearninganddevelopmentthatwillequip

themtomeetrequirementsforbecomingfullyregistered.

• To achievefullregistration,evidenceofperformanceisrequiredattheProcientcareerstageof

theAustralianProfessionalStandardsforTeachers.

• Theprocessforachievingfullteacherregistrationneedstobeexibletoaccommodate

differentcontextsandexperience.

• Therecommendationforfullregistrationisbasedonmultiplesourcesofevidenceagainstthe

Standards.

• Theevidenceofasampleofteacherswhoachievefullregistrationwillundergoaquality

assuranceprocesscarriedoutbytheteacherregulatoryauthority.

• Themaximumperiodformeetingtherequirementsforfullregistrationis5years,withprovision

forextensiononacasebycasebasis.

Fixedperiodofregistration Afteraxedperiodofregistration(notmorethan5years),teachersarerequiredtodemonstrate

theirongoingprociencyandsuitabilitytoteachinordertorenewtheirregistration.

Theminimumrequirementsforgrantingtherenewalorcontinuationofateacher’sregistration,

afteradenedperiodoftime,arethat:

• suitability

hasbeenmaintained,assessedonthebasisofanationalcriminalhistoryrecords

checkthatisnoolderthan5years

• recencyofprofessionalpracticerequirementshavebeenmetonthebasisof100daysof

professionalpracticeintheprevious5years(orproportionalequivalentifregisteredfora

shorterperiod)

• prociencyagainsttheAustralianProfessionalStandardsforTeachershasbeenmaintained

• professionallearningonthebasisofatleast100hoursofprofessionaldevelopmentactivities

referencedtotheAustralianProfessionalStandardsforTeachers,undertakenintheprevious5

years(orproportionalequivalentifregisteredforashorterperiod)

• wheretheprofessionalpracticerequirementsforrenewalofregistrationarenotmetthere

willbeaformofregistrationwheretheminimumrequirementtocontinuetoholdandrenew

registrationisarecentnationalcriminalhistoryrecordscheckandcontinuingtomeetother

suitabilityrequirements.

Each state and territory has established an authority or agency with responsibility for the registration

(licensing) of teachers:

Thefollowingdetailsoftheseelementsareanabbreviatedversionofthefulldocumentation,whichisavailableat

https://www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/start-your-career/registration/nationally-consistent-teacher-registration.

Elements Of Registration

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Appendix B

TeacherRegistrationinAustralia

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03 9944 1200

Elements Of Registration

Element Registration Components

Alternativeauthorisation

toteach

Therewillbeprovision,inclearlydenedcircumstancesandunderspeciedconditions,for

personswhoarenoteligibleforregistrationtobeemployedinrolesthatwouldotherwise

requireregistration.

Therewillbetwocategoriesofalternativeauthorisationtoteach:

• toaddressworkforceshortages,whereaqualiedandregisteredteacherisnotavailable

• toprovidepathwaystoregistrationforindividualswhoareworkingtowardsanaccredited

initialteachereducationqualication,withinaspeciedperiodoftime.

Thereisnoobligationonstatesorterritoriestorecognisepeoplewithalternativeauthorisation

toteachfromotherjurisdictionsuntiltheyhavemetallregistrationrequirements.

Sanctionsincludingwithdrawal

ofregistration

Therewillbeprovisionforarecognisedauthoritytoimposesanctionsorwithdrawateacher’s

registrationiftheyfailtomeettherequiredstandardsofpersonalandprofessionalbehaviouror

professionalperformance.

Wherepermitted,jurisdictionswillshareinformationwithregardtodisciplineandde-

registrationofteachers.Ajurisdictionmayrequestfromanotherjurisdictionwhereateacher

hasbeenregistered,informationaboutunnishedinvestigationsandanyconditionsthat

currentlyapplytotheteacher’sregistration.

Suitability Therewillbearequirementforanapplicanttobesuitabletobothworkwith

childrenandbea

teacher,basedonanassessmentofcharacterandcriminalhistory.

• Acheckonnationalcriminalhistorywillbeundertakenuponapplicationforregistration

asateacher.

• Allteachersarerequiredtohaveanuptodatenationalcriminalhistoryrecordscheck

(completedwithinthepast5years)tomaintainregistration.

• Overseascriminalhistorycheckswillberequiredwhenanapplicantorteacherhasresided

asanadultinacountryotherthanAustralia.

Regulatoryauthoritiesmaytakeintoaccountotherrelevantinformationindeterminingthe

suitabilityofanapplicantforregistration.

Qualications Therewillbeaminimumqualication,includingaprofessionalqualication,forregistration.

Thequalicationsrequirementforregistrationiscompletionofatleastfouryearsofhigher

education(fulltimeorequivalent)study,includinganinitialteachereducationprogram

accreditedinAustralia,leadingtotheachievementofarecognisedqualication;oran

overseasqualicationassessedasequivalent.

Englishlanguageprociency Registrationwillrequireachievementofalevelofprofessionalprociencyinspoken

andwrittenEnglish.

Exceptwherethefullfouryearsofrequiredhighereducationstudyhavebeenundertakenin

EnglishinAustralia,NewZealand,theUnitedKingdom,theUnitedStatesofAmerica,Canada



ortheRepublicofIreland.theEnglishlanguagerequirementsforregistrationasateacherare

anIELTS

(Academic)assessmentwithanaveragebandscoreof7.5acrossallfourskillareas

oflistening,speaking,readingandwriting–withisnoscorebelow7inanyofthefourskills

areasandascoreofnolessthan8inspeakingandlistening;orequivalentassessmentsusing

twootherrecognisedinstruments.

Mutualrecognition UnderMutualRecognitionLegislationinAustraliaandineachjurisdiction,apersonregistered

topractiseasateacherinonejurisdictionisentitledtoapplyforregistrationinanother

jurisdictionbasedonthatregistration.

Thislegislationprovidesforregulatoryauthoritiestowithholdregistration,forexamplein

circumstanceswhereitneedstoobtaininformationtoascertainanapplicant’scontinuing

suitabilitytoworkwithchildrenorbeateacher.

1. InternationalEnglishLanguageTestingSystem

On 15 September 2017 Education Council agreed

the Terms of Reference for a National Review of

Teacher Registration (the Review) to consider

whether the registration of teachers across states

and territories is consistent with the National

Framework, with a view to identifying improvements

to strengthen the regulatory system and improve

teacher quality.

An independent Expert Panel (the Panel) who

brought both national and international expertise

was appointed in January 2018. AITSL was tasked

with coordinating the Review and provide secretariat

support to the Panel.

The Review process included:

• Detailed mapping of teacher registration

across Australia was conducted in February

and March 2018 to inform the Panel of the

current landscape and practices of teacher

registration.

• A consultation paper was publicly released

on 27 March inviting written submissions

until 7 May 2018.

• Nationwide consultation was conducted

through forums and meetings during March,

April and May 2018, seeking input from key

stakeholders including governments, the

Catholic and Independent school sectors,

the early childhood sector, teacher regulatory

authorities, principal, teacher and parent

organisations.

• An online survey targeting teachers and

leaders in schools and the early childhood

sector was available during this time.

• An impact assessment of draft

recommendations was conducted during

July 2018 to inform the Panel of the viability

of the draft recommendations, and potential

alternatives.

Working Principles of Regulation

As part of the Panel’s methodology to evaluate and

analyse information and the views of stakeholders,

they developed a set of working principles for teacher

regulation. The working principles assisted the Panel

members to have a shared understanding of the

principles of regulation and support each stage of

the work in developing the recommendations.

Appendix C: Review Process and

Panel’s Working principles

Principles

le A rN er o u TC om e S Ce N Tr ed

There is an ongoing focus on achieving educational

and safety outcomes. The focus is on ensuring that

the registration system ensures a foundational

level of teaching quality by all practitioners based

on the Australian Professional Standards for

Teachers and supports the safety of the child.

pr o po rT i o N AT e

Each of the requirements of registration are

proportionate to the risk or harm they are intended

to address, and the ability of the registration

process to best address that risk or harm.

The requirements are tailored, where necessary,

for the different modes of employment to reect

different roles and levels of risk.

AC C ou NT A bl e

There is a focus on building accountability for

outcomes for all those who participate in the

regulatory process, with the appropriate level

of accountability resting with each participant in

the regulatory process for their contribution to

achieving outcomes for learners and the broader

community.

ef f iC ie N T

Teacher registration is designed to enable

timely and accurate decision making, and to

deliver value for the community, teachers, and

students/ children, whilst working toward the key

outcomes of achieving professional standards and

considering the safety of the child/learner and

professional standing of the teacher profession.

The registration system supports continual

improvement in teacher quality over time, and

aims to minimise any unnecessary administrative

burden on teachers and other regulatory

participants.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Appendix C

Principles

Tr A NS pA r eN T

The purpose and requirements for teacher

registration are clear and transparent supporting

teachers in their development and maintenance of

professional knowledge, practice and engagement

as well as an increased public condence in the

profession. Teachers and other participants in

the regulatory process should have clarity about

the requirements (including areas of focus and

expectations around teacher performance), and

decision making processes.

The national approach to registration supports

collaboration and proactive information sharing

between teacher regulatory authorities, employers

and other relevant agencies to instil public

condence in each regulator rigorously applying

professional standards and supporting high

performance across the various jurisdictions.

Co N Si ST e NT

There is rigorous national consistency in the

registration requirements applied and decisions

made. The national framework ensures that

teachers in similar circumstances face consistent

requirements irrespective of where they are

registered. The mechanisms such as mutual

recognition support a national teaching profession.

The outcome is a registration experience that

is consistently underpinned by the Australian

Professional Standards for Teachers and child

safety considerations across Australia.

re S po NS i ve

There is sufcient exibility, in exceptional

circumstances, to cater for particular local

contexts and workforce needs. Teacher

registration requirements can be tailored to

address demonstrated critical jurisdictional needs

(such as in particular remote areas) or important

skills gaps on a case-by-case basis. Any exibility,

however, must still allow for the maintenance of

rigorous and predictable processes of assessment.

Secretariat

AITSL provided secretariat support for the Review,

including coordination and facilitation of consultation

with stakeholders across Australia.

The Secretariat Team

Danny Pinchas General Manager

Anita Torr Manager

Catherine Russo Senior Policy/

Project Ofcer

Kate Carlin Project Support Ofcer

Des Triskelidis Project Support Ofcer

Commissioned work

The Expert Panel commissioned the following projects:

• KPMG Melbourne – The Teacher

Registration Mapping Project

• dandolopartners – Impact assessment

to the draft recommendations for the

National Review of Teacher Registration.

Principles (continued)

Appendix D: Expert Panel

Chris Wardlaw PSM

Chris Wardlaw is currently Chair of the Victorian

Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA), and

Deputy Chair of the Australian Institute of Teaching

and School Leadership (AITSL). Chris is a Director

on the Board of Athletics Australia.

Chris held a Deputy Secretary position in education

in Hong Kong (2002-8) and Victoria (2009-13)

and is now practising retirement. In the Hong Kong

Government Chris had responsibility for curriculum,

assessment and quality assurance for pre-primary,

basic education and senior secondary education

and in Victoria for strategy and review across the

portfolio.

Chris has had an extensive career in Victorian

education, rst as a teacher of economics and

history at university and secondary levels and then

roles in educational administration where he took a

leading role in major reforms supporting school-level

decision making and evaluation and review.

Chris has provided education consultancy support

for the Education Council secretariat, the Asia

Education Foundation, the Mitchell Institute,

ACT Education and Victorian Education ofces

and the Brunei Education Bureau among others.

Chris was awarded the Public Service Medal (PSM)

in the 2013 Queen’s birthday Honours list. Chris was

made a fellow of Monash University in 2013.

In a parallel sporting career, Chris was Head Coach

of the Australian Athletics Team at the 2000 Sydney

Olympic Games, an Olympic distance runner and

coach. Chris was awarded the Australian Sports

Medal in 2000.

Pitsa Binnion

Pitsa Binnion is the Principal of McKinnon

Secondary College, a consistently high performing

7-12 co-educational, non-selective Government

School in the South Eastern Region.

Pitsa began her career with the Department of

Education 34 years ago and has extensive leadership

experience. She was appointed to McKinnon in 1997

as a Leading Teacher, Assistant Principal in 2000

and Principal in 2008.

She has represented the Department on numerous

occasions and served on selection panels for

Principals and Regional representatives.

Pitsa is the President of the South Eastern Regional

Victorian Association of Secondary School Principals

(VASSP), Committee Member of Victorian Association

of Secondary Schools Principals (VASSP), Executive

Member of the Inner Secondary Principal Network,

providing opportunities for professional development,

collegiality and systemic improvement.

Pitsa is associated with the Bastow Institute and

is a member of their Strategic Council. She is often

invited to be on interview selection panels and as a

Peer on School Reviews.

In 2014 Pitsa received the Australian Council of

Educational Leaders (ACEL) Fellowship Award

for her contribution to leadership development.

In 2015, through her leadership and commitment

to continuous improvement and improving

student learning outcomes McKinnon Secondary

College received Accreditation with the Council of

International Schools (CIS).

In 2016 Pitsa received the John Laing Award for

Professional Development from the Principals

Australia Institute.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Appendix D

Marino D’Ortenzio

Marino D’Ortenzio is an Assistant Principal

at Epping Secondary College, a large 7 – 12

school in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

Marino began teaching in 2002 in Maths,

Science and English and has worked in schools

in the western and northern suburbs of Melbourne

as well as in north London. He has held various

leadership roles in these schools covering assessment

and reporting, teaching and learning and student

management.

In 2008 he was elected to the Council of the Victorian

Institute of Teaching (VIT) as a secondary teacher

representative. VIT is the teacher registration

regulator in Victoria. While at VIT he sat on

committees relating to communications with the

profession and the professional conduct of teachers.

Throughout his career he has had an association

with the Australian Education Union and is currently

a member of the AEU Victorian Branch’s Executive.

In 2013 he was elected as the Deputy Vice President

(Secondary) for a three year term. He continues

this role in an honorary capacity.

In 2016 he returned to teaching full time at Epping

Secondary College.

David Gee

David Gee is the Headmaster at Wesley College,

a pre-kindergarten to year 12 independent school

in Perth, Western Australia. A position which he has

held for the last 15 years.

David came to Perth from Queensland where he

was Deputy Head (Students) at Brisbane Grammar

School. Prior to that, he worked in a range of

academic, pastoral and sporting positions at the

Anglican Church Grammar School, Brisbane, and

Knox Grammar School in Sydney. David has taught

Agriculture, Science, Geography, Mathematics,

Leadership Studies and Religious & Values Education.

A member of the Association of Heads of Independent

Schools of Australia, David has been a member of

the Principals’ Forum Group of Western Australia

Curriculum Council which advised on the

implementation of the Curriculum Framework,

President of the Public Schools’ Association, and a

member of the Association of Independent Schools

of Western Australia’s Governance & Risk Committee.

He has also delivered community and conference

addresses on boys’ education, teacher quality

initiatives, and on ethical leadership and culture (and

its measurement).

Appendix D

Dr Peter Lind

Dr Peter Lind has been the Registrar of the

Teachers Registration Board of South Australia

(TRB) since September 2014. Previously he was

the Director of the New Zealand Teachers Council

from 2005 to 2014.

In his current role, he is responsible for the

implementation of processes by which teachers

are registered, teacher education programs are

accredited and hearings to consider matters of

teachers’ conduct and incapacity are considered.

Currently the TRB is focusing on strengthening

the quality of the professional learning undertaken

to attest that a teacher meets the Australian

Professional Standards for Teachers, building

the capacity of the profession to provide effective

induction and mentoring of newly qualied teachers,

and raising the status of teaching as a profession.

Since June 2018 Peter has been a member of

the Australian Institute of Teaching and School

Leadership Board. Peter is also a key member

of the International Forum of Teacher Registration

Authorities that held its biennial meeting in Dublin,

Ireland in June 2016 and serves as the Deputy Chair

of the Australasian Teacher Regulatory Authorities.

Anthony McClaran

Mr McClaran is Chief Executive Ofcer of the Tertiary

Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA).

Before joining TEQSA as CEO in October 2015,

Anthony McClaran was the Chief Executive of the

UK’s Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education

(QAA) for six years (2009-2015) and prior to that

the Chief Executive of the UK’s national agencies

for higher education admissions, the Universities

and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) and the

Graduate Teacher Training Registry (GTTR) between

2003 and 2009.

Anthony has held several leadership positions in

the higher education sector, including roles in the

University of Warwick and the University of Hull.

He was previously a member of the Board of the

European Association for Quality Assurance in

Higher Education (ENQA).

Anthony is a member of the Board of the International

Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher

Education (INQAAHE) and the Advisory Council of the

US Council for HE Accreditation (CHEA) International

Quality Group. He is currently on the steering groups

for the National Student Partnership Project and the

National Peer Assessment Project, and is a member

of the Audit Committee of the Australian Accounting

Standards Board (AASB) and the Auditing and

Assurance Standards Board (AUASB).

Anthony has held a number of school governance

appointments, and was Deputy Chair of Governors

at the John Lyon School and Chair of Governors at

All Saints’ Academy, both in the UK, before moving

to Australia in 2015 to take up his current position.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Appendix D

Emeritus Professor Wendy Patton

Emeritus Professor Wendy Patton is currently Chair

of the Queensland College of Teachers’ Board. She

served as Executive Dean, Faculty of Education at

Queensland University of Technology from 2006-

2015. Prior to this she was a Professor and Head

of School in the Faculty (2000-2006). She was

awarded the title of Emeritus Professor from QUT

Council in July 2016 in recognition of her extensive

leadership in, and service to, the university and to

teacher education, and her signicant contribution

to research in the eld of career development.

In July 2016 Professor Patton received The Miller-

Grassie Award for Outstanding Leadership from

the Australian Council for Educational Leaders

and presented the Miller-Grassie Oration at the

Queensland Annual Awards Celebration. Later in

2016, Professor Patton received an award from

the Australian Council of Deans of Education for

Outstanding Contribution to Education and the

ACDE Board.

Gabrielle Sinclair

Gabrielle Sinclair is the Chief Executive Ofcer

of the Australian Children’s Education and Care

Quality Authority (ACECQA).

Gabrielle commenced her career as a teacher

and has held senior executive positions in a number

of Queensland Government portfolios including

Education, Infrastructure and Planning, Local

Government and Corrective Services.

Before her appointment to ACECQA, Gabrielle

was Deputy Director-General, Early Childhood

and Community Engagement in the Queensland

Department of Education and Training.

Gabrielle has degrees in teaching and education,

a Master’s degree in Education and an Executive

Master’s degree in Public Administration.

Appendix D

Christine Wilkinson

Christine Wilkinson is an experienced secondary

teacher at St Joseph’s Catholic College in

East Gosford, NSW. She is also the President

of Independent Education Union of Australia

NSW/ACT Branch.

Christine has expertise in career education and

religious education, and she has held roles as

Careers Advisor, Leader of Learning Vocational

Education, Retail Services Certicate 3 within

the school.

Christine holds roles as a member representative

on IEUA Federal Council, a trustee on the NGS

Super Board. She is also a member of the Teacher

Education Advisory Board of the University of Sydney.

Christine holds a Diploma of Teaching, a

Bachelor of Educational Studies and a Master

of Educational studies.

Dennis Yarrington

Dennis Yarrington is President of the Australian

Primary Principals Association. He was previously

the founding Principal of Harrison School, a new

and large Preschool to Year 10 School in Canberra,

Australia. He has been involved in education for

over 30 years, including the positions of teacher,

executive teacher, consultant and Principal of a

small country school, a large regional school, Special

School and establishing a large metropolitan

P-10 school.

Dennis has worked in Catholic and government

schools in NSW, NT and ACT. He has presented

at State, National and International conferences

on leadership, school culture and implementing

learning communities. Dennis was co-president of

the ACT Principal Association and Vice-President

of the Australian Government Primary Principals

Association.

He has experience in leading schools in the

integration of technology, 21 century learning tools

and structures and an inclusive school community.

This includes teaching and learning communities and

a coaching culture to improve teacher performance.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Association of Catholic School Principals,

New South Wales

Association of Heads of Independent

Schools of Australia

Association of Independent Schools

of New South Wales

Association of Independent Schools

of South Australia

Association of Independent Schools

of the Australian Capital Territory

Association of Independent Schools

of the Northern Territory Inc.

Association of Independent Schools

of Western Australia

Australasian Curriculum, Assessment

and Certication Authorities

Australasian Teacher Regulatory Authorities

Australian Capital Territory Aboriginal

and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body

Australian Capital Territory Council

of Parents & Citizens Association

Australian Capital Territory Principals Association

Australian Capital Territory Teacher Quality Institute

Australian Catholic Primary Principals’

Association, Northern Territory

Australian Centre for Montessori Studies

Australian Childcare Alliance Victoria

Australian Children’s Education &

Care Quality Authority

Australian Community Children’s Services

Australian Council of Deans of Education

Australian Early Childhood Teacher

Education Network

Australian Education Union

Australian Education Union, South Australia Branch

Australian Education Union, Tasmania

Australian Education Union, Victorian Branch

Australian Government Department

of Education and Training

Australian Government Primary Principal

Association, Northern Territory

Australian Principals Federation

Australian Professional Teachers Association

Australian Special Education Principals’ Association

Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn

Catholic Commission for Employment Relations,

New South Wales

Catholic Education Commission

Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta

Catholic Education Melbourne

Catholic Education of Western Australia

Catholic Education Ofce Diocese of Wollongong

Catholic Education Ofce of the Northern Territory

Catholic Education South Australia

Catholic Primary Principals’ Association

of Western Australia

Catholic Principals’ Association of Tasmania

Catholic School Parents Australia

Catholic School Parents, Queensland

Catholic Schools New South Wales

Catholic Secondary Principals Association

of Queensland

Catholic Secondary Principals Association

of Western Australia

Catholic Secondary Principals Australia

Appendix E: Consultation Meetings

The Expert Panel met with stakeholders throughout the Review process in meetings

and forums. Organisations represented are listed below.

Catholic Secondary Principals Australia,

Northern Territory

Catholic Secondary Principals Australia,

South Australia

Catholic Secondary Schools Association,

New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory

Centacare Child Care Services

Child Abuse Royal Commission

Senior Ofcials Working Group

Christian Education National

Christian Schools Australia

Community Child Care Association

Community Early Learning Australia

Council of Catholic School Parents,

New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory

Department for Education, South Australia

Department of Education & Training, Victoria

Department of Education and Training,

Australian Capital Territory

Department of Education Northern Territory

Department of Education, New South Wales

Department of Education, Queensland

Department of Education, Tasmania

Department of Education, Western Australia

Department of Justice & Regulation, Victoria

Early Childhood Policy Group

Early Learning and Care Council of Australia

Early Learning Association Australia

Family Day Care Australia

Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations

of New South Wales

Goodstart Early Learning

Independent Education Union - Queensland

and the Northern Territory Branch

Independent Education Union of Australia

Independent Education Union of Australia, New

South Wales/Australian Capital Territory Branch

Independent Education Union of South Australia

Independent Education Union of Western Australia

Independent Education Union Victoria/Tasmania

Independent Primary School Heads

of Australia, South Australian Branch

Independent Primary School Heads of Australia

Independent Primary School Heads

of Australia, Tasmania

Independent Primary School Heads

of Australia, Victoria

Independent Primary School Heads

of Australia, Western Australia

Independent Schools Council of Australia

Independent Schools Queensland

Independent Schools Tasmania

Independent Schools Victoria

Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association,

Northern Territory

Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association, Queensland

KU Children’s Services

Local Government Children’s Services

National Catholic Education Commission

National Children’s Commissioner

New South Wales Aboriginal Education

Consultative Group Inc.

New South Wales Education Standards Authority

New South Wales Parents’ Council

New South Wales Primary Principals’ Association Inc.

New South Wales Secondary Principals’ Council

New South Wales Teachers Federation

Appendix E

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Appendix E

Northern Territory Principals’ Association

Parents and Citizens’ Association, Queensland

Parents and Friends Federation of Western

Australia Inc.

Parents Victoria

Professional Teachers’ Council, New South Wales

Queensland Association of State School Principals

Queensland Catholic Education Commission

Queensland College of Teachers

Queensland Independent Parents Network

Queensland Secondary Principals’ Association

Queensland Teachers’ Union

SNAICC- National Voice for Our Children

South Australian Association of School

Parent Communities

South Australian Association of State School

Organisations Inc.

South Australian Catholic Primary Principals

Association

South Australian Primary Principals Association Inc.

South Australian Secondary Principals’ Association

State School Teachers’ Union of Western

Australia Inc.

Tasmanian Association for State School

Organisations Inc.

Tasmanian Catholic Education Ofce

Tasmanian Catholic School Parents Council

Tasmanian Principals Association

Teacher Quality Institute, Australian Capital Territory

Teacher Registration Board of the Northern Territory

Teacher Registration Board of Western Australia

Teachers Registration Board of South Australia

Teachers Registration Board of Tasmania

The Federation of Catholic School Parent

Communities, South Australia

The Federation of Parents and Friends Associations

of Catholic Schools in Queensland

Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Inc.

Victorian Association of Catholic Primary School

Principals Inc.

Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals

Victorian Institute of Teaching

Victorian Parents Council

Victorian Principal’s Association

Western Australian Aboriginal Education &

Training Council

Western Australian Education Support Principals

and Administrators’ Association

Western Australian Primary Principals’ Association

Western Australian Secondary School

Executives Association

Appendix F: Submissions

Those who gave

permission for their

submission to be

published are listed below.

Emma Abundo

Association of Heads of

Independent Schools

of Australia

Australian Capital Territory

Government

Australian Catholic University

Australian Childcare Alliance

Australian Children’s Education &

Care Quality Authority

Australian Council of Deans of

Educational Vocotional Education

Group

Australian Mathematical Sciences

Institute

Australian Primary Principals

Association

Australian Teacher Education

Association

Gerard Barrett

Richard Braithwaite

Catholic Education Tasmania

Catholic School Parents Australia

Catholic Schools NSW

Cokehill Consulting

College of Education, Psychology

and Social Work, Flinders University

Mandy Collins

Vince Con

Jim Coyle

Early Childhood Teacher

Education Council (NSW/ACT)

Early Childhood Teachers’

Association

Early Learning and Care Council

Early Learning Association

of Australia

Edith Cowan University

Faculty of Education, Queensland

University of Technology

Federation of Parents and Citizens

of New South Wales

Goulburn Regional Preschool

Association

Grifth University

History Teachers’ Association

Victoria

Jennifer Humble

Independent Education Union

of Australia - QNT Branch and

Queensland Teachers’ Union

Independent Education Union

of Australia NSW/ACT Branch

Independent Education Union

Victoria Tasmania

Independent Schools Council

of Australia

Isolated Children’s Parents’

Association of Australia

KU Children’s Services

Lauriston Girls School

Local Government Children’s

Services Network

Melbourne Graduate School

of Education, The University of

Melbourne

Montessori Australia

Dr Denis Mootz

Northern Territory Department

of Education

NSW Education Standards

Authority

Lauren Osborne

James Phelps

Primary English Teaching

Association Australia

Queensland Catholic Education

Commission

Queensland College of Teachers

Rooty Hill High School

Andrew Short

Sunshine College

Teacher Registration Board

of the Northern Territory

Teacher Registration Board

of Western Australia

The Association of Retired

Principals of Technical

Institutions, Victoria

The Level Three Classroom

Teachers Association

Dr John Topliss

United Voice

Professor Helen Watt et al

The National Review of Teacher Registration received submissions lodged by members

of the public, teacher regulatory authorities, teachers, government departments and

agencies, education authorities, and a variety of other stakeholder groups and

organisations. The submission process opened in March 2018 and received a total

of 94 submissions, 33 individual lodgements and a further 61 from organisations.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Survey Background

This consultation process included a survey

targeting teachers and leaders that was accessed

via the AITSL website. The survey asked a range of

qualitative and quantitative questions measuring the

extent to which respondents believed key functions

of registration were important and the extent to

which they agreed key outcomes of registration were

being achieved. The survey incorporated both broad

and cohort specic questions ensuring an accurate

representation of various viewpoints.

Quantitative Analysis

The results presented below are descriptive

statistics. The survey design allowed for cohort

specic analyses, but few are presented in this report

as they mirrored national trends closely.

Qualitative Analysis

There were 6,686 comments in total and of that,

1,252 (20 per cent) were randomly selected for

thematic analysis. All responses were de-identied

and then segmented for further analysis. From this

analysis, several overarching themes were identied

and discussed below. Additionally, segmented

thematic analysis was conducted for the following

cohorts:

• Early childhood teachers

• VET teachers

• Early career teachers

• Casual teachers

Who responded to the survey?

In total, 6,756 responses were collected. Most

respondents (97 per cent, n=6,569) were registered

to teach.

Relative to their proportion of teachers, Queensland,

Victoria and Western Australia were underrepresented

in survey respondents.

Seventy-one respondents reported an Aboriginal or

Torres Strait Islander background. However, as this

question was added after the survey had gone live only

3,971 respondents were asked whether they identied

as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

State/territory of employment

Figure 1: Location of respondents’ current employment,

all respondents

Consultation on the National Review of Teacher Registration was undertaken between

March and May 2018 and incorporated a variety of methods for collecting feedback on

teacher registration from stakeholders around the country.

Appendix G: National Review of Teacher

Registration - Online Survey



% of

Respondents

Western Australia: 8%

Australian Capital Territory: 2%

Northern Territory: 1%

New South Wales: 49%

South Australia: 16%

Victoria: 10%

Tasmania: 2%

Queensland: 11%

Characteristics of all respondents

Main role

Most respondents were teachers.

Figure 2: Main role, all respondents

Years employed in the teaching

profession

The majority of respondents reported 10-20 years

of employment in the teaching profession.

Figure 3: Years employed in the teaching profession,

all respondents

School/ Early Childhood Service Type

Most respondents work in primary schools.

Figure 4: School type, all respondents



% of

Respondents

Teacher: 70%

Principal: 4%

Director: 2%

Other: 7%

Other Leadership

Role: 9%

Deputy or

Assistant Principal: 8%



% of

Respondents

Teacher: 70%

Principal: 4%

Director: 2%

Other: 7%

Other Leadership

Role: 9%

Deputy or

Assistant Principal: 8%

Appendix G



% of

Respondents



First Year: 3%

25 Years: 15%

1020 Years: 29%

31 Years or more: 18%

21  30 Years: 20%

69 Years: 14%



% of

Respondents



First Year: 3%

25 Years: 15%

1020 Years: 29%

31 Years or more: 18%

21  30 Years: 20%

69 Years: 14%



% of

Respondents

Primary: 45%

Secondary: 27%

Primary and Secondary: 8%

Other: 4%

Early Childhood

: 13%

Senior Secondary: 1%

Secondary and VET: 2%



% of

Respondents

Primary: 45%

Secondary: 27%

Primary and Secondary: 8%

Other: 4%

Early Childhood

: 13%

Senior Secondary: 1%

Secondary and VET: 2%

* This includes childcare, pre-school and early childhood in the school sector.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Employment mode

Most respondents are employed on a permanent,

full time basis.

Figure 5: Contract type, all respondents

Registration Status

Most respondents have full registration.

Figure 6: Registration status, all respondents

Registration in a different jurisdiction

Most respondents had never been registered in

a different state/territory to that of which they

currently work.

Figure 7: Ever registered in a different jurisdiction to

where currently employed, all respondents

Appendix G



% of

Respondents

Yes: 14%

No: 86%



% of

Respondents

Yes: 14%

No: 86%



% of

Respondents

Full: 86%

Provisional: 13%

Other: < 1%

Unsure:< 1%



% of

Respondents

Full: 86%

Provisional: 13%

Other: < 1%

Unsure:< 1%



% of

Respondents

Full Time –

Permanent: 60%

Part time –

Contract: 5%

Full time –

Contract: 12%

Casual: 8%

Not in employment: 3%

Part time –

Permanent: 12%



% of

Respondents

Full Time –

Permanent: 60%

Part time –

Contract: 5%

Full time –

Contract: 12%

Casual: 8%

Not in employment: 3%

Part time –

Permanent: 12%

What aspects of teacher

registration are important?

Respondents were asked to rank the following

aspects of teacher registration from most important

to least important. They were presented to

respondents in a random order.

Figure 8 illustrates that ensuring teachers are

qualied to teach, have an appropriate level of

training and are suitable for employment were

considered to be the most important aspects

of teacher registration. Conversely, maintaining

prociency and aligning professional learning against

the Teacher Standards along with ensuring recency

of professional practice were generally ranked as

the least important aspects of teacher registration.

These trends in how respondents ranked key aspects

of teacher registration was consistent across

respondent characteristics including;

• Role

• Years’ experience

• School or early childhood service type

• Employment status.

For example, early childhood teachers and leaders

rated the important aspects of teacher registration

similarly to school teachers and leaders.

Figure 8: Ranked importance (mean rank scores) of

aspects of registration, all respondents

As shown in Figure 9, the ranked order of importance

of aspects of teacher registration was similar for

teachers and leaders across the early childhood and

school sectors.

Appendix G

Aspect of teacher registration

Ensuring teachers are qualied to teach

Ensuring teachers have the appropriate

level of training and subject matter knowledge

to teach

Ensuring suitability for employment

as a teacher (e.g. child protection)

Supporting teachers to improve their

professional practice

Contributing to the professional status

of teachers

Ensuring recency of professional practice

Aligning professional learning to the

Australian Professional Standards for

Teachers (APST)

Maintaining prociency against the Australian

Professional Standards for Teachers

In the survey this question required a minimum of 5 rankings. As such, respondents may not have ranked all eight aspects

of teacher registration. These ranks are presented here as mean rank scores. The maximum number of respondents is 6,697.

In the survey this question required a minimum of 5 rankings. As such, respondents may not have ranked all eight aspects

of teacher registration. These ranks are presented here as mean rank scores. The maximum number of respondents is:

teachers = 4,671; leaders = 1,534.

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

6.10

5.99

5.77

5.70

5.54

5.24

5.16

5.00

4.19

4.26

3.32

3.50

3.08

3.22

3.04

3.33

Aspects of teacher registration

Rank

Teachers Leaders

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

6.07

5.76

5.47

5.12

4.21

3.35

3.12

3.11

Aspects of teacher registration

Rank

All Respondents

Figure 9: Ranked importance (mean rank scores) of aspects of registration, teachers and leaders

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

To what extent are key

outcomes of teacher

registration being achieved?*

Respondents were asked to indicate their level of

agreement with the following statements. They were

presented to respondents in a random order.

* Responses were recorded against 5-point scale ranging

from strongly disagree to strongly agree.

Figure 10 indicates that generally respondents

agreed that teacher registration ensures that

teachers, without qualications or who may pose

a danger to children, are not allowed to teach.

Conversely, less than half of all respondents

agreed that registration supports the professional

recognition of teachers and contributes to

improving teachers’ professional practice.

These trends in the extent to which respondents

felt agreed outcomes of registration are being

met was consistent across respondent

characteristics including;

• Role

• Years’ experience

• School or early childhood service type

• Employment status.

Figure 10: Proportion of all respondents (n=6,756) who

agree/strongly agree that registration is achieving key

outcomes.

As shown in Figure 11, teachers and leaders across

the early childhood and school sectors demonstrated

similarities in the outcomes they agreed are being

achieved versus those which are not. Overall,

leaders were more likely to agree that registration is

achieving its key outcomes.

Figure 11: Proportion of teachers (n=4,710) and leaders

(n=1,548) who agree/strongly agree that registration is

achieving key outcomes.

Early childhood teachers

and leaders: To what extent

are key outcomes of teacher

registration being met?*

In addition to the statements listed above, early

childhood teachers and leaders were asked

to indicate their level of agreement with the

following statements.

* Responses were recorded against 5-point scale ranging

from strongly disagree to strongly agree.

Appendix G

Statement

Teacher registration ensures that teachers

who do not hold a teaching qualication are

not able to teach in the classroom/ learning

environment

Teacher registration ensures that people who

may pose a danger to children are not able to

be registered as teachers and therefore are

unable to teach

Teacher registration ensures that teachers

undertake professional learning that is

aligned to the Australian Professional

Standards for Teachers

Teacher registration ensures that teachers

undertake an appropriate amount of

professional learning throughout the year

Teacher registration supports the

professional recognition of teachers

Teacher registration contributes to improving

teachers’ professional practice

Statement

I can see the relevance of the Australian

Professional Standards for Teachers

to my practice

Registration of early childhood teachers

is worthwhile

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

2 3 4 5 6

60 59

Key outcomes of teacher registration

All Respondents

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

2 3 4 5 6

Key outcomes of teacher registration

Teachers Leaders

Overall both early childhood teachers and leaders

agreed the APST are relevant to early childhood

teachers’ practice and that registration of early

childhood teachers is worthwhile.

Figure 12: Proportion of early childhood teachers

(n=600) and leaders (n=175) who agree/strongly agree

that registration is achieving key outcomes specic to

early childhood teachers.

Qualitative data – Thematic

analysis and comments

The survey included seven free text questions which

captured qualitative data. In total, there were 6,686

responses to these free text questions. Around

20 per cent (1,252) of the comments were ‘coded’

into themes that were prominent and recurring

throughout the free text responses. The themes are

outlined below and include both overarching themes

and cohort specic themes.

Mutual recognition

Mutual recognition was the most common theme

from the qualitative comments. Many comments

acknowledged the importance of mutual recognition,

across jurisdictions, through ensuring a more

reliable and easy system that could better service

the profession and support quality teaching.

Respondents were concerned about mutual

recognition and emphasised that current inconsistent

registration practice and the administration of

processing a mutual recognition application was

a barrier to efcient teacher mobility. Key themes

emerging from the qualitative data included:

• Need for more national consistency to improve

teacher mobility.

• Challenging workload to gather paperwork

and evidence to satisfy the registration

requirements for another jurisdiction.

• Lack of transferability between jurisdictions for

teachers.

Comments

Need for more national consistency to improve

teacher mobility

• Mutual recognition should be uniform across

the whole country

• Teaching need the same consistency with

registration. Very frustrating because I move

between WA & SA and to register in both seems

crazy when there could be a single system/

organisation

• Consistency and recognition across states,

less onerous portfolio requirements for new

graduates.

• National process is required – the Standards

exists for consistency and professionalising

the profession, why not consistency with

provisional to full, PL and t and proper

requirements when transferring.

Challenging workload

• I wanted to travel in 2013 and teach in each

state but the individualised process for

registration in each state in addition to the state

costs prevented me from doing so - a national

aligned system would have been helpful as I

live on the NSW/Qld border and am required

to hold two registrations with associated costs

and high work load to follow up paperwork.

• Make it easier to transition between states.

We all live and work in Australia and it is

incredible that we are required to undertake

further university training, follow up on more

paperwork and evidence in order to work in

another state.

• My husband has to move every year for work,

which means that I have had to organise

registration in NSW, Tasmania and South

Australia. There is a lot of work involved. It’s

ridiculous and puts me at a disadvantage!

• It would be sensible if teachers could teach

‘across’ states, ie: if a NSW employed teacher

could teach in another state if they moved.

Reduce the paperwork, and the administrative

burden – better sharing of information between

the states is required.

Lack of transferability between jurisdictions

for teachers

• Reciprocal recognition of teacher registration

is not easy it should allow teachers to transfer

between states and territories with more

eciency.

• A National Teacher Registration Database

would be more ecient. I have had to apply

for teacher registration in 3 dierent states

yet I am basically doing the same job and I am

a qualied teacher regardless of which state

I choose to live. However I can’t legally teach

unless I have been registered in that state!

Appendix G

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Key outcomes of teacher registration

Teachers

Leaders

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

• Provide an Australia wide teacher registration

that covers all States/Territories. This does not

have to be a new body. Existing TRB’s could

continue as is, with each teacher registered

automatically being registered in all other

States. This should make it easier to transfer or

move to other states and territories, especially

if you live across the border of another state.

I would be happy to pay extra for this, though

I don’t see how it would be too much more.

There is a national curriculum, there is a

national teaching professional standard, there

is nationally consistent child protection, and

there is nationally consistent teacher training.

So, why not have national registration?

• As one who has moved between states and

territories, Australia wide registration would be

useful. It would also contribute to professional

recognition. Are doctors registered separately

in each state/territory?

• If teacher registration could be on a national

basis, it would enable teachers to easily

transition/transfer/move between states/

territories (borders as well), increasing the

opportunities for work.

Professional learning

A number of comments made reference to the need

for continuous high quality professional learning

for all teachers and mentors alike but especially for

those beginning their careers. Key themes emerging

from the qualitative data included:

• Most teachers agree that ongoing professional

learning is important.

• It is important to have access to relevant and

high quality professional learning programs

• Flexibility and affordability is important to

encourage continuous development and

teacher quality

• More support for professional learning

programs from employers and teacher

regulatory authorities.

Comments

Ongoing professional learning is important

• Ensure that teachers continue to keep up to

date with professional learning and be informed

of new/improved practice such as changes to

pedagogy, behaviour management etc.

• Continuous improvement and PL forces

teachers to focus on a regular basis their status

and progress in the profession and maintain

teacher quality practices.

• Ongoing professional learning help teachers

maintain pedagogy and content for relevant

subjects -especially as new curriculum is

introduced. This ensures maintenance of

standards is fair and transparent for all. This

should include executive level. PL is very

important to maintaining a professional

reputation.

Access to relevant and high quality professional

learning programs

• Professional learning should be relevant, be

useful, and provide a service, not a gatepost to

teachers. Link registration to our mandated

Professional Development & lesson observation

feedback processes within schools, stop

making us provide proof of attendance at PD,

rather ensure that we can teach, have taught,

and are continuing to improve our practice by

actually looking at our actual teaching.

• High quality professional learning programs

should promote reective practice at a level

greater than what many teachers currently

engage in. The writing of reections linked to

skill development and impact promotes clarity

in thinking about their role to the PL program.

• Ensuring professional knowledge in a PL

program is up to date on a regular basis is

important for achieving consistent quality

teaching practice.

• Access to high quality and relevant professional

learning is important and helps with engaging

teachers to stay in the profession.

Flexibility and affordability

• The best kind of professional learning, the type

that has the most impact on student learning,

is not necessary the registered courses. It’s the

type that is done in the classroom with a quality

leader/supervisor working on authentically

derived professional learning goals in a process

that takes time. Reection and observation

with feedback should be part of the PL process.

Greater exibility is required.

• Teacher registration appears to rely too much

on ‘certication’ of professional development

and needs to be more exible about the value

of daily and interactive professional learning.

PL needs to be aordable as well. More support

from the school is required.

• Ensure the PD registration system is

streamlined, exible and accessible would

encourage more teachers to participate in PL.

• Teachers need easy and aordable access

to information and training pertinent to

professional practice and maintaining as high

standard of education.

• ALL teachers should be given the opportunity

to participate in aordable training outside of

school hours and more exibility of choice of PL

programs should be allowed for teachers.

Appendix G

More support for professional learning

• Time to engage deeply in relevant professional

development. Establishing supportive learning

environments for all teachers. Employers

should allow for teachers on parental leave

to engage in professional learning that does

not place extra stress on their home lives.

That is, consider a leave of absence rather

than insisting on the same number of hours

completed while on leave or carrying the

balance over.

• Accessing quality professional learning is

important – there are not enough quality

programs. Ensure teachers are accountable

for their professional growth and that they

have continued to question and trailed best

practice. This approach needs to be supported

more by the Employer and the TRB to oversight

(to make sure employer is supporting the

profession with PL).

• More support in workplace is required for PL.

• Employers to be responsible for professional

training requirements.

Early childhood teachers

The main challenges to emerge from the comments

that were specic to early childhood teachers were

issues around the Teacher Standards. Comments

by early childhood teacher respondents included;

wording and philosophy within the Teacher

Standards, training and professional development

for early childhood teachers in schools were

predominantly based on primary school teachers

rather than tailored specically for early childhood

teacher. Key themes emerging from the qualitative

data included:

• The Teacher Standards should reect early

childhood teacher learning environment and

include inclusive language.

• Professional learning is a challenge for most

early childhood teachers, especially in single-

teacher-settings, rural, remote and regional

locations.

• Early childhood teachers want professional

recognition and to become a part of the

teaching profession.

• There is a need for mentors and support for

early career early childhood teachers moving

from provisional to full registration.

• Teacher regulatory authorities and employers

should work together to support early

childhood teachers to access affordable and

quality professional learning.

Comments

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers

• The AITSL professional standards are biased

towards middle and senior school teachers

and much of the wording and concepts do not

align with Early Childhood teaching practice or

philosophy

• The direction and phrasing of the current

professional standards make it challenging for

EC teachers working as teachers in Long Day

Childcare with children from birth to 5 years to

move from provisional to full registration.

Professional learning

• As a regional teacher I nd it dicult to access

the relevant professional learning that is

accepted by AITSL. Many of my colleagues who

have been in the area for a while have found it

challenging to nd new PDs to undertake.

• In the childcare centre it is dicult to do the

professional learning required and requesting a

letter of proof from employers who really don’t

understand the process as the company is

managed interstate.

• Lack of really quality professional development

in rural and regional areas.

Professional recognition

• Having my registration recognises the years

of eort and struggle it has taken to achieve

my qualications. It is one step in the right

direction to acknowledging that our knowledge

base is just as important as that of the upper

years. We are privileged enough to work with

children during the most foundational years of

life, with all the challenges and joys that entails.

My registration recognises my place in that

foundational journey for my students.

• There needs to be professional recognition

for teachers in the Early Childhood sector. It is

dicult when we are often seen as childcare

workers or educators with lesser qualications

and experience.

• When a teacher works in a Long Day Care

setting with children 4 -5 years they are not

given the same professional recognition or

terms and conditions that a Teacher in a prep

Class receives even though they are teaching

children in their most formative years and have

the same degree.

Support from provisional to full registration

• Not nding a mentor teacher is the major

barrier to achieving full registration. Being

advised to use a primary school teacher as a

mentor teacher when they are not in the same

pedagogy/curriculum sector is not helpful.

Appendix G

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

• Lack of mentor teachers. Inquiry based

question for full registration. Lack of full time

employment to complete full registration

process. Lack of professionalism knowledge

from Directors/Centre Coordinators in long day

care

• For provisional teachers nding a mentor can

be very challenging in EC settings. Working

in a standalone kindergarten nding time

to complete the 20 hours of PD can be very

challenging (especially if only working part

time) most must be done without getting paid

for your time and teacher must cover the PD

registration costs, unlike school settings

Role of teacher regulatory authorities

and employers

• Many early childhood teachers work in isolation

so having their practice assessed can be quite

dicult – current practice and arrangements

are not supportive. The TRB and employer

should work together to help support ECTs in

single teacher settings for PL and achieving full

registration.

• Employers do not do enough to support ECTs

with PL. The number of hours required for

professional learning to maintain registration

should be pro-rata for part time sta and relief

teachers.

• Lack of understanding of the process while

it is still relatively new for ECTs means

that the process and arrangements is still

primarily administrative and motivated by a

compliance mind set. Better communication

and information should be provided either by

employer or TRB. Until teachers feel condent

that they understand the administration

requirements they need to complete to be

compliant they will be able to see beyond these

things to recognise that teacher registration is

not just another regulatory hoop that they must

jump through.

Vocational Education and Training

provided in schools

Many responses indicated that the biggest barrier

faced by VET teachers was associated with cost and

nancial viability along with professional recognition.

Some VET teachers could not see a benet in working

as a VET teacher in school if they earned more money

and recognition working in their industry.

Themes emerging from the qualitative data included:

• VET teachers are not professionally recognised

equal to teachers.

• Professional learning and maintaining currency

of industry skills is a challenge while teaching

in a school.

• Registration process is seen as a barrier for

VET teachers to teach in secondary schools

• Greater support is required for VET in school

teachers by employers and Teacher regulatory

authorities.

Comments

Professional recognition

• Training and educating students are equally

valuable but fundamentally dierent. Not all

trainers make good teachers and importantly.

Not all teachers can train, well. We need both in

schools but they don’t necessarily need parity

of remuneration, working conditions or levels

of responsibility. All are accountable but we

need more dierentiation in our stang proles

in schools, without some of the restrictive

regulations and barriers... we need more

creative thinking about how we provide learning

for students, community and sta. We need

to broaden our views and thinking in terms of

what is genuinely best in the interests of our

children and society. All teachers teaching

students/learners should be respected and

recognised as teachers as one profession.

• Inability to recognise other qualications e.g.

must have a VET teach/assess with English

qualication when you already have a Masters

in English and a Grad Dip Ed and teaching

experience in a school. VET teachers also

need to be recognised as part of the teaching

profession.

• As a VET qualied registered teacher I am

appalled at the lack of professional standing

of teachers in VET community

• Some VET educators could provide a much

higher level of teaching in some discipline

areas, e.g. photography, Early childhood

(childcare) cooking. However are restricted due

to no teacher registration.

Professional learning and maintaining currency

• As a qualied VET teacher in a High School,

I am not allocated any more time to complete

all the demands of a VET course than I am any

other subject. No additional time to maintain

currency, visit students in the workplace,

upload all documentation to system, meet and

attend all AUDIT requirements. The amount of

work involved to meet currency and PLis too

much.

• TAFE compliance requirements are extreme

and unnecessary. Rarely are we included in PL

at the school and yet we have to meet currency

requirements of our industry skills. This is a

burden to VET teachers trying to meet both

requirements.

• The is far too much work and extra duties

placed on VET teachers that people are

moving out of the VET eld regardless of its

importance in a student’s educational journey.

The amount of paperwork is ridiculous, the

continual upgrading becomes overbearing,

Appendix G

meeting currency and compliance for VET

qualications, and then schools, parents and

community do not value the VET subject as a

viable alternative.

Registration process is a barrier

• There is a barrier for teachers to get time

in their load to maintain currency, authentic

industry connection and registration.

• The amount of work to maintain industry

competency, teacher registration and

currency is outrageous and not possible to

maintain. The expectations are ridiculous!!!

• VET requirements of paperwork are an

incredible burden adding hours of ‘busywork’

that could better be spent teaching and

learning. Registration process expounds the

amount of paperwork. Registration should

be streamlined.

Support required for VET teachers in schools

• The amount of paperwork required of VET

teachers is prohibitive, the constant need

to retake qualifications and the cost is also.

The VET organisations do not recognise the

standards as prior learning, therefore we

have to do many of them twice, especially

those around differentiation for students

including indigenous issues. Executive do

not understand the different requirements

and demands on VET teachers and insist ion

seeing VET as exactly the same as any other

class, they also put difficult students into VET

courses in the belief that that is appropriate.

We are employed fine but there is so many

hurdles to overcome that many VET teachers

are put off actually working in the VET area.

• Not all VET teachers are qualified in

educational theory/behaviour management

or have a repertoire of teaching strategies.

There is lack of support from the school/

employer to help VET teachers to gain

knowledge in this area.

• VET is an industry standard recognition rather

than an educational one. Teachers are not

always the best people to teach VET, industry

people are more qualified. However industry

people are rarely qualified to teach. Support

from the employer to achieve teaching skills

for secondary school would help.

• Most VET teachers don’t hold the relevant

teaching qualifications, nor do they receive

support for their professional development to

help meet the gaps, understanding pedagogy.

Entry to the profession

Many responses were themed around difculties

associated with pre-registration. Difculty in obtaining

a mentor was identied as an issue, particularly for

those teachers living in rural locations or working in

early childhood education centres. The transition

from provisional to full registration was one of the

main challenges faced by graduates with difculty

in reaching the hours required for professional

development, nding a mentor and receiving the

information, communication and support needed

for this process. Key themes emerging from the

qualitative data included:

• Early career teachers are seeking more support

to move from provisional to full registration.

• Early career teachers need access to high

quality mentors and programs to support

their growth into the profession.

Comments

Provisional to full registration

• The process of changing registration from

provisional to full registration is extremely

difficult for many teachers, and hence why I

have not yet changed over. My workload within

the classroom setting, with the very diverse

needs of my 27 students, does not allow me

the time to complete this process. I already

work many additional hours outside school

times just to meet ongoing demands of the

department, senior staff and my students.

I know I already meet the professional

standards required of teachers. My principal

and other senior staff

visit our classrooms daily and always provide

positive feedback. If there was an issue they

would say something.

• Current method of going from provisional to

fully qualified is a lot of work. More support is

required from the principal to support us to

move to proficient.

• Reduce or eliminate the need for a portfolio

and replace with something such as principal

observations or survey. The portfolio adds

pressure and stress on already heavy

workloads and busy new teachers trying to

adapt to the school environment.

Mentoring and professional learning

• Make it easier to find mentors or change the

process to ensure it is equal for all teachers

wishing to become registered.

• Pay mentors for time and work in mentoring

provisional teachers

• Mentors should be paid and their places of

employment should be provided with backfill

• Establishing regional mentor/support

networks/groups for provisional teachers to

become proficient and for proficient teachers

to remain accredited

Appendix G

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

• Help get mentors. More training on

what is needed to move to full registration

More accessible PL training

• More support for graduating teacher to apply

and move up to full registration. Better support

system for mentors and graduates to nd

each other

Employment mode – Casual teachers

Comments from casual teachers reect the

sentiment that they felt they were treated with

less respect and had much more difculty with

maintaining registration due to working less and/or

uctuating hours. As they were not permanent staff

members, many of the professional development

seminars and workshops were not inclusive of casual

staff and they had to seek these out and pay for them

of their own accord. The below comments were

mostly issues that affected and are unique to casual

teachers (a large proportion of which are assumed to

also be new to the profession). Key themes emerging

from the qualitative data included:

• Casual teachers have difculty moving from

provisional to full registration

• Casual teachers would like more support and

to be included in the professional learning

programs to support renewal of registration.

• Casual teachers would like to see greater

exibility in terms of professional learning

hours e.g. consider a pro-rata option.

Comments

Difculty moving from provisional to

full registration

• As a casual teacher, I teach to uphold all of

the teaching standards, yet I have no access

to mentors or stewardship to help guide or

instigate a pathway to full registration. Curious

to know how the treatment of casual teachers

compares with casuals in medical and legal

professions who require full registration.’

• Greater support for casual teachers (who are

unable to gain full-time employment) access

to professional development to stay registered.

Very dicult to move from Provisional to Full

Registration – left out of the support and

communication loop by schools and TRB.’

• Casuals registered but feel ‘invisible’, maybe

feeling more equal to full/part time teachers

by the way they are treated by the industry and

support is required for PL and moving to full

registration.

More support for professional learning

• It assumes that all teachers across the state

have the same access to accredited courses/

professional learning programs. This is not the

case. It disadvantages teachers who are casual,

who are not in metropolitan areas and are not

assigned to a specic school. It has not been

made compulsory for schools to oer their

casual teachers the opportunity to attend sta

development days. Instead it is by invitation

only. Casual sta do not have a right to attend

sta development days. Therefore it makes it

incredibly hard to maintain hours while casual.

I am all for professional development and a

set number of hours. I do think more needs

to be done in relation to the access to those

hours in order to complete them and maintain

registration/employability, especially when

a simple solution to assist with meeting a

number of those hours would be met

by attending local sta development days.

• Some improvements could come from:

Acknowledgment and support for the

casual work force, and meeting their status,

professional needs and development. To

improve the treatment of casual teachers by

industry, colleagues and students via a system

of professional standards that have been

developed from new inclusive, cultural thinking.

Acknowledging the competitiveness of gaining

permanency may help recognise the “invisible”

teaching workforce who do not have secure

employment, yet are registered regardless.

Acknowledging the relationship with students,

parents and the wider community, and the role

this relationship has within a teaching role.

Acknowledging the reporting procedures all

teachers must adhere to.’

Greater exibility for professional learning hours

• At present, casual teachers have do the exactly

the same amount of PD as a full time teacher to

maintain registration. There currently appears

to be a shortage of casual teachers. Many of

my colleagues have given up casual teaching

as the requirement for registration is 20hrs

Professional Development. This is the same

as a full time teacher. Perhaps thought could

be given to a pro-rata arrangement, maybe

dependent upon your days of work from the

prior year. Flexibility

is required.

• The current PL system does not allow for

sucient exibility for casual teachers and even

part-time teachers.

• There are problems with the PL requirements,

particularly dicult for part time and casual

teachers to get access, also an aordability

issue sometimes for these categories. I don’t

think part time and casual teachers feel

supported by the system.

Appendix G

Survey methodology

The survey comprised of the following components:

• Questions collecting demographic information

from all respondents.

• Questions measuring the extent to which

respondents believed key functions of

registration were important. These questions

were used as a proxy for understanding

respondents’ awareness of key concepts of

registration. The results present the mean

score for each item (8 items in total) out

of a possible score of 8. A high mean score

indicates the item has been ranked as an

important aspect of registration. Respondents

were required to prioritise each of the eight

items from highest to lowest with a minimum

of 5 rankings required.

• Questions measuring the extent to which

respondents believed key outcomes of

registration were achieved. The results

present the proportion of respondents who

agreed or strongly agreed that the stated

outcome is well-supported by registration.

The measure used in this question was a

5 point Likert scale ranging from ‘Strongly

Disagree’ to ‘Strongly Agree’.

• Free text questions, providing respondents an

opportunity to present their views on teacher

registration more broadly. There were 6,686

responses comments provided with 1,252 (20

per cent) responses analysed. Responses were

segmented from several pre-identied cohorts

as follows;

○ Early childhood teachers: There were

778 comments across two questions

specically asked of early childhood

teachers and of those, 271 (35 per cent)

comments were analysed.

○ Vocational Educational and Training

teachers: There were 248 comments

across two questions specically asked

of Vocational Educational and Training

teachers and of those, 134 (54 per cent)

comments were analysed.

○ Early career teachers: Dened as

having less than or equal to 5 years

teaching experience were not asked

any specic questions, however, their

responses were ltered and analysed.

There were 1209 comments and of those,

159 (13 per cent) were analysed.

○ Comments were not broken down or

asked by employment mode but an

ad-hoc analysis was conducted looking

at a small sample of randomly selected

comments from teachers work as a

casual teacher or relief teacher.

Survey quality

A large number of responses were collected

(n=6,756), which provides a reliable sample of

education professionals for the purpose of this

analysis. However, responses were self-selected

as teachers chose to participate in the survey,

rather than being randomly selected from the

teaching workforce. Due to the nature of the survey

methodology, the sample may not be representative

of the wider teaching population.

Survey (Free text questions)

• Please list any other important benets of

teacher registration, if you can think of any

(Note - excludes early childhood-based

respondents)

• Please list any other important benets of early

childhood teacher registration, if you can think

of any (Note - includes early childhood-based

respondents only)

• What are the challenges associated with

early childhood teacher registration? (Note -

includes early childhood-based respondents

only)

• In what ways (if at all) could teacher

registration be improved? (Note - excludes

early childhood teacher respondents only)

• In what ways (if at all) could teacher

registration be improved? (Note - excludes

early childhood teacher respondents only)

• Are there barriers to employing quality

Vocational Education and Training teachers/

trainers in schools? (Note - includes

senior secondary - year 11 and 12 and VET

respondents only)

• As a Vocational Education and Training

teacher in school, what’s your experience of

teacher registration? (Note - includes VET

responding only)

• Is there anything else you’d like to say about

teacher registration? (All respondents)

Appendix G

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Alternative authorisation to teach

Provision, in clearly dened circumstances and under

specied conditions, for persons who are not eligible

for registration to teach. There are two categories:

to address workforce shortages and pathways to

registration.

Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality

Authority (ACECQA)

An independent national authority that assists

state and territory governments in implementing

the National Quality Framework (NQF) for early

childhood education and care.

Australian Institute for Teaching and School

Leadership (AITSL)

A national institute that provides national leadership

for the Australian states and territories in promoting

excellence in the profession of teaching and school

leadership.

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers

(Teacher Standards)

A public statement of what constitutes teacher

quality. The standards are organised into four career

stages: Graduate, Procient, Highly Accomplished

and Lead. The seven standards fall into three

teaching domains: Professional Knowledge,

Professional Practice and Professional Engagement.

Australian Teacher Performance and

Development Framework

A national framework that highlights what is required

to build a comprehensive and effective approach to

high performance and development in the teaching

profession. Endorsed by Education Ministers in 2012.

Australian Teacher Workforce Data Strategy

(ATWD)

A national project to connect Initial Teacher Education

and teacher workforce data from around Australia.

Career stage

Benchmarks that recognise the professional growth

of teachers throughout their careers, represented

by increasing levels of knowledge, practice and

professional judgement. There are four career

stages in the Australian Professional Standards for

Teachers: Graduate, Procient, Highly Accomplished

and Lead.

Council of Australian Governments (COAG)

The peak intergovernmental forum in Australia.

Members are the Prime Minister (Chair), state and

territory First Ministers and the President of the

Australian Local Government Association.

Education Council

The COAG Education Council provides a forum

through which strategic policy on school education,

early childhood and higher education can be

coordinated at the national level and through

which information can be shared, and resources

used collaboratively, to address issues of national

signicance.

Fit and proper

A measure of character by which a person is

assessed to be suitable to hold a position of trust

and/or responsibility.

Full registration

Full registration is gained when a teacher

demonstrates achievement of the Procient career

stage of the Australian Professional Standards for

Teachers and all other requirements of teacher

registration.

Graduate teacher

A person who has completed a qualication that

meets the requirements of a nationally accredited

program of initial teacher education. The awarding of

the qualication means they have met the Graduate

Teacher Standards.

HALT

Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher

Highly Accomplished teacher

A person who has been nationally certied at

the Highly Accomplished career stage of the

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. The

teacher is a highly effective and skilled classroom

practitioner, and routinely works independently and

collaboratively to improve their own practice and the

practice of their colleagues.

Initial teacher education

The delivery of an accredited entry level course

designed to produce graduates who meet the

qualication requirements for teacher registration.

Lead teacher

A person who has been nationally certied at the

Lead career stage of the Australian Professional

Standards for Teachers. The teacher is recognised

and respected by colleagues, parent/carers and

community members as an exemplary teacher.

Melbourne Declaration

The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for

Young Australians articulates nationally consistent

future directions and aspirations for Australian

Appendix H: Glossary

Appendix H

schooling. It was agreed by all Australian Education

Ministers in 2008.

Mutual recognition

A principle by which a person who is registered for

an occupation in the rst jurisdiction is entitled,

after notifying the local registration authority of the

second jurisdiction, to be registered in the second

jurisdiction for the equivalent occupation. Governed

by the Mutual Recognition Act 1992.

National Quality Framework (NQF)

A national approach to regulation, assessment and

quality improvement for early childhood education

and care and outside school hours care services

across Australia.

National Quality Standard

Sets the benchmark for early childhood education

and care and outside school hours care services

under the NQF. Includes seven quality areas that are

important outcomes for children.

2011 National Framework for

Teacher Registration

A nationally consistent framework for the registration

of teachers in all states and territories. It has eight

key elements.

Pre-registration

Registration of pre-service teachers during their

initial teacher education studies, enabling entrants

to initial teacher education to be recognised as

members of the teaching profession from the

beginning of their program.

Pre-service teacher

A student enrolled in an accredited initial teacher

education program.

Procient teacher

A person who has met the requirements of full

registration through demonstrated achievement of

the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers

at the Procient career stage.

Provisional registration

Provisional registration is gained when a teacher

demonstrates achievement of the Graduate career

stage of the Australian Professional Standards for

Teachers.

Registration renewal

The maximum period of registration is 5 years.

To continue to hold full registration, teachers

must undergo a periodic process of renewal.

Requirements including suitability, professional

practice, professional learning against the Teacher

Standards must be met. The renewal period varies

between states and territories.

Registered Training Organisation (RTO)

Training providers registered by Australian Skills

Quality Authority (or in some cases a state provider)

to deliver vocational education and training (VET)

services.

Royal Commission

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses

to Child Sexual Abuse

School/early childhood service

Any site dedicated to the learning of children and

young people, including early childhood services,

primary, middle and/or secondary schools or their

equivalent.

STEM education

The learning of science, technology, engineering and

mathematics as an interdisciplinary or integrated

approach.

Teacher accreditation

The process by which a teacher in New South Wales

meets the Australian Professional Standards for

Teachers at one or more the following career stages

in teaching: Conditional/Provisional; Procient;

Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher. Commonly

referred to as teacher registration in other states and

territories.

Teacher registration

The process by which a teacher in all states and

territories (except NSW) meets the Australian

Professional Standards for Teachers at the Graduate

career stage (Provisional registration) or the

Procient career stage (Full registration). Referred to

as teacher accreditation in NSW.

Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory

Group (TEMAG)

Intergovernmental advisory group that advises

the Commonwealth Government on how teacher

education courses could better ensure new teachers

have the right mix of academic and practical skills

needed for the classroom.

Teacher regulatory authority

An organisation responsible for teacher regulatory

functions including teacher registration. It may

include various other functions such as accreditation

and/or certication within each state or territory.

Teaching performance assessment (TPA)

A tool used to assess the practical skills and

knowledge of pre-service teachers against the

Graduate Teacher Standards in the nal year of their

initial teacher education program.

Vocational education and training (VET)

Delivery of workplace-specic skills and knowledge

for a range of careers and industries including trade

and ofce work, retail, hospitality and technology.

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority (ACECQA), NQF Snapshot Q2-2018: A quarterly

report from ACECQA, August 2018.

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, Australian Charter for the professional Learning of

Teachers and School Leaders: A shared responsibility and commitment, August 2012

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, Australian Professional Standards for Teachers,

February 2011.

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, Australian Teacher Performance and Development

Framework, August 2012.

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, Certification of Highly Accomplished and Lead

Teachers: Principles and Processes, April 2012.

Britto, P R, Early moments matter for every child. New York, NY: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF),

2017

Clinton, J, Dinham, S, Savage, G, Aston, R, Dabrowski, A, Gullickson, A, Calnin, G and Arbour, G, Evaluation of

the Implementation of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers: Final Report, Centre for Program

Evaluation, The University of Melbourne, December 2015

Cordingley, P, Higgins, S, Greany, T, Buckler, N, Coles-Jordan, D, Crisp, B, Saunders, L and Coe, R,

Developing Great Teaching: Lessons from the international reviews into effective professional development,

Teacher Development Trust, London, 2015

Education Council, Preparing Secondary Students for Work: A frame work for vocational learning and VET

delivered to secondary students, prepare by Education Services Australia, 2014.

Finkel, A Dr et al, Optimising STEM Industry-School Partnerships: Inspiring Australia’s Next Generation, April

2018

Gonski, D AC et al. Through Growth to Achievement: Report of the Review to Achieve Educational Excellence

in Australian Schools, March 2018.

Guskey, T R, Evaluating professional development, Corwin, Thousand Oaks CA, 2001

Halsey, J Dr, Emeritus Professor, The Independent Review into Regional, Rural and Remote Education, Jan

2018

Hattie, J, Teachers Make a Difference: What is the research evidence? Australian Council for Education

Research, October 2003

Kennedy, M, How Does Professional Development Improve Teaching? Review of Educational Research, vol.

86, no. 4, 2016

Appendix I: References

Hon. Justice McClellan, P AM et al, The Final Report: Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to

Child Sexual Abuse, Volume 6, 8, 13 March 2018.

McKenzie, P, Weldon, P R, Rowley, G, Murphy, M and McMillan, J, Staff in Australia’s schools 2013: Main

report on the survey, 2014

Ministerial Council on Education Working Group: Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, Melbourne

Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians, Dec 2008

National Centre for Vocational Education Research, VET in Schools Report, 2017

Pascoe, S AM and Brennan, D Professor, Lifting our game: Report on the review to achieve educational

excellence in Australian schools through early childhood interventions, Dec 2017

Productivity Commission, Research Report: Mutual Recognition Schemes, September 2015.

Teacher Educational Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG) Report Action Now: Classroom Ready Teachers,

2014.

Teachers Registration Board South Australia, Next Generation of Teachers: Induction and Mentoring, June

2018.

Victorian Department of Education and Training and the Queensland Department of Education and Training,

The E4Kids study: Assessing the Effectiveness of Australian early childhood education and care programs,

prepared by Professor Collette Tayler Melbourne Graduate School of Education 2016

Victorian Institute of Teachers, Permission to Teach (PTT) Policy, October 2017.

Victorian Institute of Teachers, Supporting Provisionally Registered Teachers: A guide to the (full) registration

process, 2017.

Victorian Legal Services Board, Fit and Proper Person Policy, (updated 2017).

Appendix I

One Teaching Profession: Teacher Registration in Australia

Appendix J: Mapping Teacher Regulatory

Authorities’ Suitability Policies

TRB WA TRB SA TRB NT

Working with

Children

Checks

(WwCC)

Registration

requirements

for teachers

ü ü ü

Regulatory

authority’s

role regarding

pre-service

teachers

National Criminial History Check

(NCHC)

ü ü ü

Provision to seek additional

information for meeting the

suitability requirement.

ü ü ü

Legsilation and policy relating to

impairment/mental health for the

purpose of holding registration

ü ü ü

Regulatory authority’s

responsibility for major

disciplinary process and

appeals mechanism.

TRB WA and employers of

registered teachers may

conduct investigations.

The Board refers TRB

WA cases to to the

State Administrative

Tribunal (SAT) if

seeking cancellation of

registration. TRB WA

disciplinary committee

or Board may suspend.

Review of decisions to

SAT.

TRB SA and employers

conduct investigations

and enquiries. Decisions

from investigations reside

with the Board to decide

to conduct a hearing to

prosecute the matter.

Appeals referred to

the Administrative and

Disciplinary Division of

the District Court.

TRB NT conducts

preliminary investigations

and inquiries. The Board

determines outcomes

following investigation.

Appeals referred to the

Local Court.

Information shared with other

teacher regulatory authorities.

Matters that are referred

to SAT and outcomes

of disciplinary cases

including cancellation

of registatration are

shared with other teacher

regulatory authorities.

TRB SA shares information

such as, notications,

commencement of

investigations, outcomes

of disciplinary cases and

any other information that

is deemed relevant. TRB

SA also shares information

with other teacher

regulatory authorities

in accordance with the

Mutual Recognition Act.

TRB NT noties teacher

regulatory authoroities

on its own initiative if it

suspends, cancels or

disqualies a teachers’

registration.

The TRB NT has a

general power to share

information with other

teacher regulatory

including information

in accordance with the

Mutual Recognition Act.

Each jurisdiction has an equivalent Working with Children Check (WwCC), however these are named differently in each jurisdiction.

Appendix J

QCT NESA TQI VIT TRB TAS

ü ü ü

Registered teachers

are exempt from a

WwCC, however an

extensive NCHC is

undertaken.

ü ü

The NCHC is

conducted as

part of the WwCC.

ü ü ü

QCT conduct

investigations.

Queensland Civil

and Administrative

Tribunal hears

matters, reviews and

appeals.

Employers conduct

investigations.

Outcomes provided

to NESA. NESA

undertakes internal

appeals. Final appeals

referred to NSW Civil

and Administrative

Tribunal.

Employers conduct

investigations.

Outcomes provided

to TQI for appropriate

regulatory action.

Appeals referred

to ACT Civil

Administrative

Tribunal.

VIT investigates

conduct and then a

Council Committee

may refer to a

hearing panel.

Determinations of a

panel are appelable

to the Victorian

Civil Adminstrative

Tribunal.

TRB TAS is

responsible

for conducting

investigations and

inquiries.

QCT shares

information such

as, notications,

investigations

and outcomes of

dicisplinary cases

and other matters

relevant to regulatory

functions through

consent of teacher,

Information Sharing

Arrangement or

where otherwise

legislatively

permitted e.g. Mutual

Recognition Act.

NESA shares

information relevant

to, suspensions and

revocation decisions

related to discipline

and incompetence

(failure to meet the

professional teaching

standards).

Notications and

sanctions applied

by TQI is shared

with other teacher

regulatory authoities.

VIT shares

information related

to notications

and outcomes of

disciplinary cases.

TRB TAS shares

information related

to notications

and outcomes of

disciplinary cases.

In Victoria registered teachers are not required to have a Working with Children Check. This is because registered teachers are subject

to extensive criminal history screening and weekly monitoring by VIT which is similar to the WwCC. In addition to this, registration is only

granted by the VIT to teachers who are appropriately qualied and assessed by the VIT as ‘suitable to teach’.