Accounts from the field: Working within university and regulatory processes

Teacher education is conducted within a plethora of higher education rules and regulations as well as responding to professional regulatory bodies including teacher registration boards and unions. The Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment (GTPA), as an authentic, culminating assessment requires preservice teachers to evidence how they plan, teach, assess and reflect (AITSL, 2015). It is essential that within the academic program of teacher preparation, preservice teachers are adequately prepared to complete the GTPA through the cumulative development of these core knowledges, skills and capabilities. In this presentation, the impact of the GTPA on teacher education programs is considered in the context of university and state regulatory processes and procedures.

The GTPA is positioned as connecting the academic and practical components of teacher education. Thus, the content of the academic program and its relationship to professional practice, the timing of the professional experience placement within the teacher education course, and the requirements for submission of the GTPA in relation to completion of the professional experience are important elements that can impact on preservice teachers’ knowledge and skills to complete a teacher performance assessment. Furthermore, the variations between state regulatory requirements that are placed on teacher education add to the complexity of implementation of a national teacher performance assessment. For example, what is understood as an internship is defined differently across the states which has implications on where a final teacher performance assessment can be completed, and thus programming decisions. We discuss backward mapping from the GTPA across the teacher education program to identify the introduction, development and enhancement of the core knowledge, skills and capabilities as assessed within the GTPA.