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Australia’s peak body for educators says the Federal Government’s review into national teacher registration must ensure that the entire education sector benefits.
The Australian College of Educators (ACE) CEO, Helen Jentz, said a significant aspect of teaching and teacher training relates to soft skills, which help students learn how to work in teams and be empathetic towards one another.
“It is critical that we have teachers that possess a great breadth and depth of expertise, knowledge and experience that is backed by strong academic foundations,” Jentz told The Educator.
“This will ensure that we have really well-rounded educators in classrooms, and this serves to enhance the quality of teaching in Australia.”
Jentz said that while ACE welcomes the review, it is “a starting point” to examine how the Australian education system ensures that the best quality teachers are working in classrooms.
“Australia has an incredible breadth and depth of expertise in the education profession, and we need to ensure that we’re harnessing this expertise at an academic and practical level across all sectors and systems,” she said.
“This is the way we’re going to drive the profession to be the best it can be. After all, these are people who are working at the coalface.”
Jentz said the review must take a “profession-led approach” to education.
“This is because teachers know from a practical perspective what does and doesn’t work, so we need to ensure that the government is really listening to the profession and taking on all of their recommendations,” she said.
Jentz said the fact that early childhood education and training is also being looked at in the review was “very important”.
“Early education forms an intrinsic part of our education system. This is about lifelong learning,” Jentz said.
“Early childhood educators play a significant role in laying strong foundations for students as they progress through their education.”
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