A Review of Standards of Practice for Beginning Teaching. ACER Policy Briefs. Issue 4

This paper aims to provide a critical review and comparison of the following sets of standards of practice for teachers: (1) The Victorian Interim Teacher Class Standards (ITCS), especially Interim Teacher Class Standards for Beginning Teachers; (2) Professional Standards for Teachers; (3) The National Competencies for Beginning Teaching; (4) The Ontario College of Teachers Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession; (5) The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards; (6) The Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC); and (7) Praxis III/Pathwise. The paper provides an analysis of the similarities and differences of these standards in terms of: (1) Their structure and coherence; (2) The ways in which they conceptualise dimensions or stages of teacher growth and development, or levels of expertise /proficiency in performance; (3) The methods used to determine whether teachers have met the standards, i.e. the ways in which the standards are applied or used to assess performance; and (4) The ways in which the standards make links with professional learning, how the links are conceptualised and what is done to ensure that they are followed in practice. The paper concludes with a proposal for an interim set of standards based on a combination of the current Victorian interim model with PRAXIS III. It is hoped that the paper will assist the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) to establish an effective system for the promotion of teachers' professional learning during the induction period, and reliable quality assurance mechanisms for determining eligibility for full registration with the Institute. (Contains 6 tables.) [This paper was commissioned by the Victorian Institute of Teaching.]