Professional Standards and Professional Learning: A Position Paper

The educational discourse in recent years in Australia, and in particular NSW has been on advancing the status of the teaching profession through the development of a framework of standards, and by supporting the nature of teachers' work in addition to improving student-learning outcomes. The close link between student learning outcomes and quality mathematics teaching has resulted in the call for an increase in teacher accountability and quality. This paper is an exploration of the relevant literature that focused on the professionalisation of the teaching profession in Australia and its potential impact on teaching in Australia. [For the complete proceedings, "Shaping the Future of Mathematics Education. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (33rd, Freemantle, Western Australia, Australia, July 3-7, 2010)," see ED520764.]