BEST PRACTICES FROM AUSTRALIA'S HIGH-PERFORMING SCHOOL SYSTEMS Empowered Educators in Australia is one volume in a series that explores how high- performing educational systems from around the world achieve strong results.

Foreword vii Acknowledgments xi About the Sponsoring Organizations xiii About the Authors xv Online Documents and Videos xvii Chapter 1 A National Framework to Support Teaching Quality in Australia 1 Australia, Its Constitution, and Federalism in Education 2 A Pivot Point—The Melbourne Declaration 4 About Australia 6 Social Democratic Systems in Australia 8 Australian Education in International Comparison 9 Schooling in Australia 9 International Educational Performance and Comparisons 11 Education and Equity 15 Professional Teaching Standards and the Role of AITSL 17 Development of the Professional Teaching Standards 17 The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) 19 Implementation and Impact of the Standards 20 Australian Professional Standard for Principals 21 Initial Teacher Education 23 Ongoing Developments—Initial Teacher Education Reform 27 Role of ACARA 30 Assessment 30 Curriculum 31 Education Funding in Australia and Gonski 35 Education Funding in Australia 36 Federal Funding and the Melbourne Declaration 36 National Partnerships: Federal Funding to Improve Teaching Quality 37 The Gonski Review 38 Summary 40 Notes 41 Chapter 2 From Policy to Practice: Teacher Quality in New South Wales, Australia 43 About New South Wales (NSW) 44 Demographics 44 NSW Economy and Government 45 Equity and Education in NSW 46 The NSW Education System 47 Overview of the New South Wales Education System 47 The Education Policy Context in NSW 48 NSW Five-year Strategic Plan 2012–2017 50 Local Schools, Local Decisions 51 Education Funding in NSW and the Gonski Review 52 The Resource Allocation Model 53 Students in NSW Schools 54 Diversity in NSW Public Schools 55 Teachers in NSW Schools 63 Teacher Remuneration 64 Teacher Recruitment Incentives 65 Recruitment Incentives for Rural and Remote Areas 66 Casual and Temporary Teachers 66 Portraits of School Practice 67 Engadine High School: A Portrait of Practice 67 Homebush West Public School: A Portrait of Practice 69 Curriculum and Assessment in NSW Schools 71 Curriculum 72 Assessment in NSW Schools 74 Teacher Quality in NSW Schools 76 Great Teaching, Inspired Learning (NSW Policy) 76 Teacher Preparation in NSW 78 Teacher Accreditation in NSW 87 Teacher Induction 91 Professional Learning and Accreditation 94 Teacher Appraisal, Performance, and Development 103 Career Paths and Leadership Development 109 NSW Principals’ Credential: A Portrait of Practice 112 Policy Principles and Design and the Teachers Union 115 Common Platforms for Government, Catholic, and Independent Schools 118 Conclusion 121 Chapter 3 Building Teacher Capacity and Collaborative Cultures: Teaching and Teacher Quality in Victoria 123 Characterizing the Victorian System 124 Overview and Context 125 Demography and Economy 125 School System 127 Indigenous Students in Victoria 128 Curriculum 130 Education Policy Context 131 Three Waves of Reform 131 Understanding the Reforms 139 Education Governance in Victoria 140 Governmental Organizations 140 The Victorian Institute of Teaching 141 Teacher Unions and Professional Organizations 142 Governance of Catholic and Independent Schools 143 School Management and Funding 146 Resourcing Education—How Victorian Schools Are Funded 150 Recruitment 152 Meeting Supply and Demand in Victoria 152 The Teaching Career and Stages 159 Salaries 160 Working Conditions 162 Short-term Contracts 163 Preparation 166 Overview: Teacher Training and Registration in Victoria 166 Accreditation of Teacher Education Programs 167 Content of ITE Programs 170 Improving Clinical Practice in Victoria 177 Induction, Mentoring, and Teacher Registration 185 Teacher Registration in Victoria 186 Supports for Induction 189 Induction and Mentorship in Practice 190 Effectiveness of Teacher Induction 191 The Organization of Schooling in Victoria 195 Organization within Schools 195 School Networks 201 School Review and Improvement 202 Professional Learning 204 School-based, Evidence-supported Professional Learning 204 Professional Learning Polices in Victoria 211 Appraisal 217 The Evaluation Process 218 Teacher Appraisal and Improving Teaching 220 Continual Review and the Politics of Teacher Evaluation 221 Leadership 225 Leadership Framework and Skills 226 Leadership Training and the Bastow Institute 228 Summary 234 Notes 235 Conclusion 237 Appendix 241 References 243

BEST PRACTICES FROM AUSTRALIA'S HIGH-PERFORMING SCHOOL SYSTEMS Empowered Educators in Australia is one volume in a series that explores how high- performing educational systems from around the world achieve strong results. The anchor book, Empowered Educators: How High-Performing Systems Shape Teaching Quality Around the World, is written by Linda Darling-Hammond and colleagues, with contributions from the authors of this volume. The authors of Empowered Educators in Australia take an in-depth look at the policies and practices surrounding teaching quality in two different states: New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria. NSW offers significant support for government schools in areas such as staffing and teacher professional development. Victoria operates a highly devolved school system. Each provides a contrasting view of how federal and state policies combine to shape learning outcomes for students in Australia. The interplay between state and federal policy characterizes an intriguing "centralizing decentralization." Initiatives to create national curricular, teaching, and teacher education standards all sit in balanced tension with a movement towards greater devolution of authority to schools. Together the NSW and Victoria case studies provide insights into policies that can support high-quality teaching in a federal education system. Australia's current educational reforms place increasing emphasis on issues of teaching quality, reshaping teaching as a standards-based, evidence-informed profession, and one that seeks to foster collegiality and professional exchange. These reforms encompass many aspects of a system that supports teaching quality, and highlight: the way teachers are trained, how they are inducted into the teaching profession and supported with mentors, the professional learning they receive, how they are appraised on their work, and the career pathways for teachers.