NSW Teachers have vowed to resist the Federal Government’s new National Review of Teacher Registration, calling it “deliberately provocative” and “an outrage”.
The review, announced on Saturday, will focus on the registration of early childhood teachers, training teachers in schools as well as how new teachers transition into the profession.
The Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) CEO, Lisa Rodgers said the Institute will facilitate the review and encouraged teachers and principals to participate in the consultation process.
However, NSW Teachers Federation (NSWTF) president, Maurie Mulheron, said he was surprised that AITSL had supported the review and that “fast-tracking” people into the teaching profession would cause standards to decline.
“AITSL is meant to be the gatekeeper for teacher standards, but now they seem to be the fox in the hen house on this issue,” Mulheron told The Educator.
“Professor John Hattie and AITSL ought to be publicly coming out with a strong statement in opposition to this.”
Mulheron said the Federal Government’s plan will “further add to the distrust that teachers have of AITSL ever since teaching unions were thrown off the board of AITSL”.
“This is contrary to everything that AITSL has been established for, which is to get national teaching standards that are now implemented by employers at the state level and maintain their rigor and entry standards,” Mulheron said.
However, AITSL CEO, Lisa Rodgers says “very high standards” have been set for educators through the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers and insisted that “the bar is not changing.”
“In line with our Mission and Values, AITSL will uphold standards for the profession and will be the honest broker in the system,” Rodgers said.
“We are well placed to support the expert [teacher registration] panel and we look forward to recommendations that build on the processes and standards already in place across Australia, and build on the work done to date.”
Queensland Secondary Principals Association (QSPA) and South Australian Secondary Principals Association (SASPA) have come out in support of the review, saying it makes sense to ensure registration is consistent across state and territory jurisdictions.
“Movement across sates is common practice. Currently, people can gain registration in one state and transfer to another without necessarily meeting the requirements of that state and this must be addressed,” QSPA president, Mark Breckenridge, told The Educator.
SASPA president, Peter Mader, said that for jurisdictions experiencing a shortage of high-quality teachers, a review of the nation’s Teacher Registration provisions will be “most welcome”.
“In South Australia, teacher supply is exceeding vacancy demand,” Mader told The Educator.
“Therefore, SASPA is interested in government interventions that will make teaching a more attractive vocation for the best and brightest graduates from our schools.”
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