Page 218 - Week 01 - Thursday, 14 February 2019
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Towards the end of 2018 I launched the UC affiliate schools program, with an initial focus on public schools. This partnership with the university is establishing a robust feedback loop between teaching practice and research. It will grow professional knowledge and support innovative teaching practice. It will do this because teachers are the key to improving student learning outcomes.
Through the program, pre-service teachers at the University of Canberra will be better supported through a greater focus on the practicum. The government will provide scholarships to establish teachers to undertake master’s level further study. Action research projects on a small and large scale will allow the profession to interrogate teaching practice and innovate, as well as providing the government with research-informed school and system improvement. The outcomes of these elements will inform professional learning and initial teacher education so that the best teaching practice is propagated with both new and existing educators.
Also last year, in December, I launched the government’s empowered learning professionals initiative. At the heart of this program is a focus on training school leaders to improve their approach to mentoring and coaching so that all teachers receive quality feedback on their practice. It is vital that teachers are effectively supported by more expert colleagues, and this program will achieve that. During term 4 of 2018, the first professional learning program in coaching and mentoring was provided to public school leaders, conducted by renowned international expert Professor Helen Timperley from New Zealand. It was very well received and is being followed up with a series of targeted workshops during 2019.
The initiative will also see additional support through the employment of four skilled teachers with expertise in pedagogy, learning difficulties and literacy and numeracy programming, and funding to engage leading national and international experts to work alongside our teachers. There will be more opportunities and time for collaboration and sharing of best practice within and between schools. The government is also training school leaders in data literacy skills so that they can better identify and understand the needs of each student.
While my intention had been to present to members the government’s first phase implementation plan during February, the plan will be supported by budget funding and therefore it would be inappropriate for me to release the details before the budget is settled. However, I draw members’ attention to some key elements of the strategy that will be prominent in the plan.
Notably, the policy lessons raised by the OECD’s director of education are present in these and other decisions of the government in the education portfolio. As I said in releasing the strategy, at its core is an acknowledgement of human diversity among students and a need to personalise education to each child. The government will progress this with a continuing and deepening focus on inclusion. We will also further support student agency through personalised learning that allows each student to tread their own educational pathway, based on their developing interests, knowledge and skills.
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