How can a Professional Standards Framework work for you?

Friday 5 July: Conference day three, 10:30am – 11:00am parallel session

Venue

Room 5 – 301-G050 Lg Chem

Presenters

John Milne
Ako Aotearoa, New Zealand
john.milne@ako.ac.nz

Gordon Suddaby

Overview

Professional standards describe the knowledge, behaviours and principles that are expected of practitioners in tertiary education.  A professional standards framework (PSF) provides a means of recognising quality and innovation in teaching and learning practice. It also supports the professional development and learning of those involved with teaching and supporting learners.

A recent report has drawn together work on professional standards (Suddaby, 2019). While they can be a means of recognising quality and innovation in teaching and learning practice, they can assimilate the skills of the industry professional with those of a professional educator. The challenge is to use a PSF in a way to enable teachers to deliver quality teaching and learning that most benefits their learners. This has implications for the teacher and the organisations to move the focus from teacher delivery to student learning, teaching quality and student support.

This session will outline key points of PSFs and how they are being used in Australia and New Zealand. PSF are part of quality teaching, which is a contested space.  Participants will discuss what is good teaching and what support enables teachers to deliver quality teaching and learning that most benefits their learners.

After the session the participants will have explored PSF and considered how they could use them. They will debate the issues of good teaching practice and how a PSF may or may not enable teachers.

Reference

Suddaby, G.T (2019). Professional standards for tertiary teachers: A synthesis of recent work and initiatives. Retrieved from http://ako.ac.nz/professional-standards

Presentation topic

Academics – Academic Development