Australian teacher education reforms: reinforcing the problem or providing a solution?

Abstract

Educational reform represents a long-term focus of Australian governments. National policy documents have emphasised quality education for all and improved teacher quality for over 30 years. The gaps in achievement among various groups of learners represent a problem for an education system seeking to achieve national quality benchmarks, standardised levels of teacher quality and common outcome for all Australian learners. The national response to address this condition includes a set of initiatives to standardise teacher quality. This paper includes descriptions of selected national quality initiatives: the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) and Education Services Australia (ESA). Their inclusion provides the reader with an opportunity better to understand these initiatives. The paper concludes with a discussion of some potential scenarios resulting from the implementation of these quality initiatives in an effort to standardise the quality of teacher education across Australia.

Keywords:

• marketisation
• centralisation
• teacher quality
• student equity