The changing face of the Australian teaching profession : new generations and new ways of working and learning

Today&rsquo;s workforce is characterised by an increasing mix of people with varying career aspirations, work motivators and job satisfiers. This paper discusses the intergenerational nature of today&rsquo;s workforce, which is currently dominated by the age groups commonly referred to as Baby Boomers and Generation X. The Baby Boomers defined and redefined work during the last quarter of the twentieth century, but as they track towards retirement, GenXers&rsquo; valued work patterns and their career and life aspirations are increasingly dominating. This paper draws on a body of literature about a younger generation of workers and the current world of work in today&rsquo;s knowledge society, and discusses possible implications for the teaching profession, particularly for attracting and retaining young people as teachers.<br /

Conceptualising a voluntary certification system for highly accomplished teachers

In this paper I argue that a voluntary certification system for highly accomplished teachers must be part of a coherent system of professional accountability which is developed, implemented and managed by the profession. This would be a system that engages professional judgement of evidence provided by teachers in relation to their professional knowledge and practice, and professional standards for teaching would provide the organising framework for that judgment. It would be a system incorporating and aligning all forms of professional licensure, including entry into the profession and subsequent professional milestones. It would be a system that all partners in the profession across Australia&mdash;employers, professional associations, and registration authorities&mdash;endorse, participate in and align with.The profession can take the lead in developing and implementing such a coherent and coordinated national approach by carefully developing a system to recognise and reward highly accomplished teaching. Such a system should aim to recognise and build teacher quality by defining what it is highly accomplished teachers know and are able to do. Moreover, such a system must fi nd ways of making teaching public and acknowledging teaching as intellectual work which involves professional judgment that draws on a recognised professional knowledge base and contextualised knowledge about students and their learning.The paper is presented in two main sections. First, a proposed conceptual framework for the professional recognition and certification of highly accomplished teachers is outlined. Then, the argument for this proposed conceptual framework is presented drawing on learnings from relevant research and professional activity in both Australia and the USA

Teacher education policy and research: an introduction

In many countries, teacher education is being increasingly framed as a policy problem that requires national solutions and large-scale reforms. In this context, a group of leading teacher education researchers from 15 nations formed the Global Teacher Education Consortium (GTEC) to investigate the impact of teacher education policies and associated reforms within and across these jurisdictions. This book represents the first collective work of GTEC. The chapters provide analyses of current teacher education policy in Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, Finland, Hong Kong SAR, the Netherlands, New Zealand, North Ireland, Portugal, Scotland, the USA and Wales. This introductory chapter provides an overview of global trends in teacher education policy and associated notions of professionalism, and the connections and disconnections between teacher education policy and research

The appropriation of the professionalisation agenda in teacher education

In this article Diane Mayer argues that professional standards for teaching and authentic assessment against those standards provide a framing for sustaining the professionalism of teacher education wherein teacher educators control the accountability agenda assuring the profession, governments and the general public of the quality of the graduates they prepare. Currently Pro Vice-Chancellor at Victoria University (Australia), Professor Diane Mayer has more than 20 years of experience in leadership positions across a number of institutions including Deakin University (Melbourne, Australia), the University of California at Berkeley (USA) and the University of Queensland (Australia). Professor Mayer’s research focuses on teacher education and beginning teaching. She examines issues associated with the professionalism of teaching and what that means for the policy and practice of teacher education and beginning teaching

Teacher performance assessment in teacher education : an example in Malaysia

As part of a cross-cultural collaboration, a teacher performance assessment (TPA) was implemented during 2009 in three Malaysian institutes of teacher education. This paper reports on the TPA for graduating primary teachers in Malaysia. The investigation focused on the pre-service teachers&rsquo; perceptions about whether the TPA provided them with an opportunity to document successfully their professional learning and professional practice. Successful completion of the Malaysian TPA was closely aligned to successful relationships, support and collaboration between Malaysian lecturers and pre-service teachers, and between pre-service teachers and their classroom teachers. Overall, the TPA did provide pre-service teachers with an opportunity&nbsp;to focus on the connection between theory and professional learning during field-work, and to become reflective evidence-based practitioners. Recommendations for improving the assessment of pre-service teachers are discussed