Provisional to full registration policy review

The Queensland College of Teachers (QCT) has completed a review of the Transitioning from provisional to full registration policy (the Policy).

About the review

The purpose of the review was to develop an understanding of how the Policy is currently implemented across Queensland and identify avenues available to the QCT to support greater consistency in implementation. The QCT’s Policy was last reviewed in 2012.

The process of transitioning to full registration is built on an expectation of ongoing collegial guidance and professional discussions between the provisionally registered teacher and other teachers, mentors, school leaders and reviewers in the school/setting(s).

As a school/setting-based process, it is important that the QCT’s messaging, communication, guidance and policy materials are clear and designed to support consistent implementation across schools and settings.

The scope of this review was to:

• update the Policy
• assess the current evidence requirements to demonstrate achievement against the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST/the Standards), considering features and resources
• ensure informative and targeted support is provided to school leaders, reviewers and mentors and teachers when implementing the Policy.

The review was completed over the period of 2021 - 2022 and comprised of the following key consultation activities:

1. internal consultation within the QCT, including with the QCT Board and the QCT’s Professional Standards Committee
2. focus group interviews with registered teachers, mentors, reviewers, and school leaders
3. an anonymous online survey for teachers and school leaders.

Background

The Policy is informed by the National Framework for Teacher Registration and the requirements set out in the Education (Queensland College of Teachers) Act 2005 (the Act).

Under the National Framework for Teacher Registration, which was developed and agreed to by the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs in October 2011, a person is eligible to transition to full registration when they have demonstrated that:

• their teaching meets the Proficient career stage of the APST
• they have fulfilled the minimum requirements for professional practice in an Australian or New Zealand school setting
• they continue to meet the elements of suitability for registration; and
• they have met any additional conditions which might apply to their provisional registration.

The framework also sets out requirements for support and evidence.

The Act states at s 8(1) that a person is eligible for full registration if the college is reasonably satisfied—

The Act also sets out requirements for the period of full registration and the renewal of full registration, as well as information about the requirements of teachers holding full registration. These matters are not within the scope of this review.

Moreover, s 34 states that the period of provisional registration is two years from the day the QCT grants registration. At the end of this period, registration ends, however, pursuant to s 35, holders of provisional registration have the option to extend their provisional registration for two years. This extension is available once.

The Education (Queensland College of Teachers) Regulation 2016, section 6, sets out the experience requirements for full registration as being successful completion of one year of duties as a teacher at a school or other experience the QCT is satisfied is equivalent to this. Assurance of experience is provided to the QCT by the Principal of the school or another person the QCT considers can adequately inform the QCT about the teaching or other experience.

Consultation

Consultation with Queensland stakeholders sought feedback about:

• Potential barriers and challenges to consistent implementation
• Identifying and capturing examples of good practice
• Perspectives about resources to support consistent implementation in Queensland schools.

Stakeholders involved in the consultation represented the Department of Education, Queensland Catholic Education Commission, Independent Schools Queensland, Queensland Teachers Union, Independent Education Union – Queensland and Northern Territory, provisionally registered teachers, and recently fully registered teachers, Principals, and teachers who have worked as mentors and/or reviewers were also consulted.

Stakeholder activities included an anonymous survey, a series of focus group workshops and one-to-one consultation with key stakeholders.

Findings and recommendations

The overarching recommendations of the review and consultation activities include the following:

1. Update and refine the Policy to clearly reflect policy intent and purpose and remove any ambiguity.
2. Develop Guidelines to complement the Policy and support consistent implementation.
3. Review and update existing resource materials, including QCT website collateral in line with feedback from the consultation, including the need for:
   1. Clear, accurate and consistent messaging across all resources and communications
   2. Removal of ambiguity
   3. Accessibility and useability for all stakeholder groups
4. Develop and publish a suite of new resources to complement the Policy and Guidelines, including:
   1. Tailored resources for different groups (school leaders/reviewers, mentors and applicants) and settings (formalised/informal processes in place, small school settings, Early Childhood Settings) and contexts (i.e., relief/casual teaching)
   2. On-demand resources (such as short vignettes) on different aspects of the process (APST, evidencing practice, formal observation, roles and responsibilities).
   3. Resources Illustrating different examples of implementing the process (evidencing practice through ongoing collegial support, working with reviewers across different EC settings, formalised mentoring programs and guided portfolio of evidence development).
5. Develop and implement a communications and implementation plan, leveraging the QCT’s suite of social media channels, QCT’s strategic partnerships with stakeholders and online infrastructure to enable targeted point-in-time communications to applicants, school leaders and reviewers.

Next steps

The QCT will be implementing the recommendations above, including: