The ‘good’ teacher in an era of professional standards: policy frameworks and lived realities

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an analysis of contemporary education policy levers that seek to standardise and measure teaching quality through the deployment of professional standards and increased surveillance of teachers’ work. These policy frameworks—with a focus in this paper on the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers—are contrasted against the experiences of five Australian primary school teachers, using interpretative case study analysis to demonstrate the contradictions, tensions and fragile discursive construction of the idealised ‘good’ teacher. Implications for teacher agency and autonomy are considered, and propositions are generated for policy frameworks that support and enhance quality teaching, rather than reducing the complexities of teaching to a set of standardised metrics.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher quality
• professional standards
• teacher identity
• education policy
• Australian Professional Standards for Teachers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stewart Riddle

Yvonne Salton is a Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Southern Queensland. Her research considers the images of self in an era of quality and standardisation and the effects on teachers’ practice.

Stewart Riddle is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of Southern Queensland. His research examines the democratisation of schooling systems, increasing access and equity in education and how schooling can respond to critical social issues in complex contemporary times.

Margaret Baguley is a Professor in Arts Education, Curriculum and Pedagogy at the University of Southern Queensland. Her research explores creative leadership, group dynamics and the importance of the arts in providing opportunities for a diverse range of learners in a holistic education.