The document discusses the National Professional Standards for Teachers from the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL). It provides background on the standards and their purpose to improve teacher quality and student outcomes. It also summarizes research that found issues with the current approach to professional development for teachers regarding Indigenous perspectives, including lack of national policy/guidance and uneven implementation. The document asks teachers questions to gather feedback on useful and missing elements of pre-service and in-service training related to Focus Areas 1.4 and 2.4 of the standards, which relate to strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

1. National Professional
Standards for Teachers:
Indigenous perspectives
MATSITI Conference
Adelaide
July 2012

2. o Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young
Australians
o National Education Agreement
o National Partnerships:
• National Partnership on Improving Teacher Quality
o Aboriginal &Torres Strait Islander Education Action Plan

3. o Not big
o Not government
o Not commercial provider
o Not a regulator
AITSL does have:
o a remit from all Education Ministers to ‘provide national leadership in
promoting excellence’
o an ability to broker national agreement
o capacity to add value to policy and outcomes

4. AITSL works with the education community to:
o Set and maintain standards for excellence in teaching
and school leadership
o Lead and influence excellence in teaching and school
leadership
o Support and recognise excellence in teaching and
school leadership

5. o Intended for every teacher of every child
o Define the work of teachers and make explicit the elements of
high quality, effective teaching in 21st Century schools
o Public statement
o Common understanding and language
o Dual purpose – improvement and accountability
o Map career progression

6. o 7 standards grouped into 3 domains
• Professional knowledge – 2 standards
• Professional practice – 3 standards
• Professional engagement – 2 standards
o Each standard broken into between 4 and 7 focus areas
o Each focus area differentiated at 4 career stages
(descriptors)
• Graduate, Proficient, Highly Accomplished, Lead

9. The Standards support :
o professional learning
o peer coaching / observation
o self assessment
o professional practices

10. o Graduate - National Standards and Procedures for the
Accreditation of Initial Teacher Education
o Proficient - nationally consistent registration
o Highly Accomplished – voluntary certification
o Lead – voluntary certification

13. > Objective: To improve the capacity of all new and
existing teachers to meet the requirements of Focus
Areas 1.4 and 2.4 of the NPTS.
 Pre-service component – led with Queensland DETE
 In-service component – led by AITSL
 Each component:
Research / mapping of practices
National Forum
Resource development

14. > Major findings:
– No structured national policy, particularly regarding PD
around Indigenous peoples’ rights or social justice
imperatives
– Lack of workforce level PD and little evaluation of
effectiveness of what does exist
– The approach to PD in this area is patchy
– Appears to have been a reduction in PD offered in recent
times
– Teachers are fearful and resistant about these Standards

15. > Major findings:
– There is generally an imbalance between transfer of knowledge and
development of skills
– ITE needs a new Indigenous pedagogy, balancing skills acquisition
with knowledge transfer, to be transformative
– There is a paucity of Australian and international literature
documenting the impact of racism on Indigenous educational
outcomes
– There is a correlation between universities’ marketing vigour and
their promotion of Indigenous education as integral to initial teacher
education
– There is a drive to embed Indigenous content in core ITE subjects
– The provision of Indigenous elective subjects is inconsistent across
institutions

16. Bearing in mind the requirements of Focus Areas 1.4 and
2.4 of the National Professional Standards for Teachers:
1. In your experience, what really useful Indigenous skills
and knowledge have you found in (in-service OR pre-
service) offerings?
2. In your experience, what Indigenous skills and
knowledge (pre-service OR in-service) was of no use to
you at all?
3. What has been missing from these programs that would
have been really helpful to you?

17. aitsl.edu.au
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for Teaching and School
Leadership