The draft National Teaching Standards are to be validated by University of New England research group SiMERR, through a survey of teachers .

Teachers in schools outside the targeted group can take part in phase 2 of the study, which will go live during 8 - 29 October 2010 at www.une.edu.au/simerr - it will take about 30-45 minutes to complete.

This consultation will be the one chance classroom teachers get to say whether or not the standards actually describe the every-day work of a teacher.

It is really only classroom teachers who can validate the authenticity of the teaching standards, so please take the opportunity to have your say as these national teaching standards are likely to form the basis of teacher accreditation processes for all Australian teachers in the future.

The current draft of the national teaching standards (the one being validated by SiMERR) was written after wide consultation on an initial version with stakeholder organisations in all states, including unions, professional associations, universities, employers and parents.

The Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) was asked by MCEECDYA (Federal and State Education Ministers) to develop and implement national standards in every state and territory in Australia from 2012.

The Union understands that most teachers have little time to spare, but because of the long-term importance of these standards to the profession, we encourage you to participate if you can.

Note: The draft National Teaching Standards can be found at the AITSL website:

http://www.aitsl.edu.au/ta/go