Page 3347 - Week 09 - Thursday, 22 August 2019
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meets the needs of ACT schoolchildren into the future. The future of education strategy, in supporting a workforce for the future, targets people in the very early stages of their teaching career. The bill put before you today is the beginning of the implementation of this strategy.
The bill proposes the establishment of a pre-service teacher register which enables the provision of coordinated professional experience placements for pre-service teachers who will move on to teach in the ACT’s public, Catholic and independent schools. Improving the quality of teaching in ACT schools means that every child will experience the transformative power of expert and passionate teachers. It is important that beginning teachers possess the skills and characteristics of expert teachers from day one. The role of a teacher comes with high expectations, including from beginning teachers. That is why the supports outlined in this bill are so important.
Through this bill, pre-service teachers will now be approved by the institute to undertake professional experience at a school in the ACT and will be included on a pre-service teacher register. Arrangements for professional experience will be formalised in the Teacher Quality Institute Act by amending the act to require the institute to maintain a professional experience register.
This bill is not only about pre-service teacher registration. It is also about strengthening the qualification requirements for teachers wishing to teach in an ACT school. The bill aims to build the confidence which the ACT community can rightly have in teachers in our schools by ensuring that all newly registered teachers must hold a minimum of a four-year teaching qualification. I can assure the Assembly that teachers who are currently registered will not be affected by these changes. The changes are for new registrations only.
With the passing of this bill, the ACT community can be confident that the ACT teacher workforce is highly qualified, is professional and has completed teacher education that gives people the right mix of academic and practical skills needed for the classroom. Be assured that teachers will not be left to go it alone after their training is complete. The future of education strategy has in place better induction for new teachers as they begin their career in the classroom and mentoring for teachers at all stages during their career.
The changes to the act are not just about strengthening the teaching workforce of today. The amendments are also about creating a dynamic and fit for purpose teaching workforce into the future. The quality of the ACT teaching workforce is key to the effective implementation of reforms arising from the future of education. There is a need for improved teacher workforce planning at the local and national level.
This bill will amend the Teacher Quality Institute Act to allow the ACT to participate in national teacher workforce data initiatives in order to inform a better teacher workforce strategy for the ACT. To do so, the proposed amendments will allow the institute to collect information about teachers which can be used locally and nationally to inform essential workplace planning while ensuring that appropriate privacy conditions are in place to prevent the identification of individual teachers.
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