The QCT Monitoring Strategy, launched yesterday by the Queensland College of Teachers (QCT), brings together schools, principals, universities and the state’s curriculum authority to develop a shared vision on the expectations of teaching graduates.
The previous strategy, launched 18 months ago, focused on how educators could use student data to modify and enhance teaching. This time, the focus is on developing a common understanding of teaching standards.
QCT director, John Ryan, told The Educator that the synergy of ideas will bring about a generation of new teachers who are better prepared for the classroom.
“It’s about joining the dots of the important stakeholders to improve the quality of pre-service teachers,” Ryan said.
“For the first time, there is a common voice about understanding the language of the standards for pre-service teachers.”
In May, Queensland’s Education Minister, Kate Jones, announced the joint initiative with the QCT and higher education institutions to ensure a “consistent approach” to the assessment and evaluation of pre-service teachers.
“It ensures a consistent approach to performance assessment and evaluation for pre-service teachers during their professional experience, wherever they work in the education system,” Jones said in a statement.
“The framework sets common reporting standards and provides a consistent language and understanding of the skills and knowledge that graduate teachers must demonstrate during their final pre-service placement.”
Ryan said the need for the monitoring strategy arose from a lack of “common understanding” around the standards and their meaning.
“We’re not convinced that there’s a common understanding of what the standards actually mean, and certainly there is not a common understanding of what standards they should be at,” Ryan explained.
“More work like this needs to be conducted.”