Abstract

With the establishment of State and Federal institutes of teachers across Australia, all teachers regardless of schools and systems will be accredited against explicit frameworks of professional teaching standards that will articulate what teachers need to know, understand and be able to do. The standards provide frameworks of practice for whole career development and are mapped across key stages in a teacher’s career from pregraduate teacher to professional school leadership. These accreditation processes raise challenges for the teaching profession, especially universities, systems and schools who need to ensure that their teachers are not only adequately prepared and professionally developed to meet these standards, but also have the ability and encouragement to engage in continuous professional learning. This paper seeks to identify how professional learning can be mapped and encouraged in educational settings to help people grow in their chosen careers, plus meet and integrate the demands of professional accountability with the emergence of teaching standards.