“There remain fundamental, structural issues with the National Teacher Standards and a missed opportunity,” said Independent Education Union of Australia Federal Secretary Chris Watt.
“The pursuit of the matrix approach has failed to take into account a number of issues,” he said.
“The IEUA is concerned that there is little differentiation or discrimination between a number of the elements despite the psychometric validation and re-writes.”
“Overall the standards are ‘proficient’, but given the experience of similar standards in state jurisdictions there is an opportunity lost in producing a best possible, ‘highly accomplished’ model.”
“The IEUA has long supported national teacher standards and its members have actively engaged in this developmental process, ” said Mr Watt.
“The work in relation to pre-service teacher standards and early career standards provides a welcome national benchmark.
“However, the real challenge now is whether governments will be prepared to adequately fund genuine recognition, through industrial agreements, of teachers who meet these standards.”
Contact:
Chris Watt
Federal Secretary Independent Education Union
Ph (02) 6273 3107 0419 259 143