Teachers need ongoing help, not just pre-graduation test: parents

Parents have welcomed the rollout­ of classroom-readiness assess­ments for teachers but say they need ongoing support.

Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham wants teachers classroom-ready. Picture: AAP

Parents have welcomed the rollout­ of classroom-readiness assess­ments for teachers who graduate next year but argue that once they are in schools, they need ongoing professional learning and mentoring support.

Under reforms to improve initial­ teacher education and the quality of teachers, aspiring teachers will need to prove their hands-on competence in the classroom before they graduate.

Universities and education experts across Australia are determining how they will assess teaching students against the new standards the government is implementing.

Assessments for final-year teaching students will need to evaluate how they perform in the classroom and how they meet the Graduate Teacher Standards.

Universities need to demonstrate their student teachers have been rigorously assessed before they graduate. Universities providing initial teacher education courses will be responsible for implementing­ their own teaching performance assessments.

It won’t be a single national test or assessment but rather a national requirement for a teaching performance assessment.

Universities can use any ­assessment that meets the required standard.

“These new assessments will ensure teachers are classroom-ready,” Education Minister Simon Birmingham said.

Phillip Spratt, the president of the Australian Council of State School Organisations, the nation­al body representing parents who send their children to public schools, said “we hear that engaging with parents can be a beginning teacher’s greatest fear: teachers have to have the prac­tical skills and confidence to work in partnership with parents’’.

“Pre-service training should provide real-world practical professional­ experience elements in the working school environment; this is the perfect time to hone these essential skills through real experience, together with an appreciation of the value of family engagement.’

“All parents would rightly assume­ that a graduate teacher is at the required standard and confident to take their place in a school when they enter the profession; what is of greater concern is that beginning teachers must receive the ongoing mentoring support and professional learning to allow them to be the best they can be.’’

The Australian Catholic University’s vice-chancellor, Greg Craven, said the graduate assessment project was a “consistent assessm­ent benchmark’’.