New voices on AITSL

The federal body, the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) welcomed its new chair, Professor John Hattie, late last year.

The forthcoming issue of IE magazine, to be distributed to members in March, features an exclusive interview with Professor Hattie, in which he outlines his plans for his new role.

“In education, I am a firm believer in having policy development driven by well-researched evidence, not unquestioned suppositions,” Professor Hattie told IE.

“My aim is to work with the AITSL’s Board, CEO and staff to focus on what the evidence tells us we can and should do to drive improvement in teaching, school leadership and, in turn, student outcomes.”

At the same time as Professor Hattie was appointed to AITSL, the IEU’s Assistant General Secretary Mark Northam joined AITSL’s National Initial Teacher Education Advisory Committee examining the implementation of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.

Interestingly, in light of IEU’s recent fair pay for prac campaign, Australian Catholic University Executive Dean Professor Tania Aspland has completed a meta analysis of issues surrounding Professional Experience and found AITSL should focus on the role of the mentor teacher, and generating a national framework.

Mark said teachers’ voices need to be heard in that space.

The Committee acknowledges that effective implementation of the standards relies on support from employers and teachers.

Mark indicated that while the independent school sector remains unrepresented at board level, the opportunity to represent members at committee level is valued.

The onus will be on employers and unions to embed industrial understandings that enable AITSL’s work to be translated into schools.

In particular the IEU is seeking to extend effective induction practices for beginning teachers.