The Standardisation of Teaching

Abstract

The development of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers presents an opportune moment to investigate and evaluate such standards, the nature of standards-based accreditation, and the impact of standardisation on pedagogy, and on a profession where one size doesn’t fit all. This chapter investigates notions of “quality teaching” and forming a “quality teacher”. The chapter also holds up to the light the concept of a standard as a measure against which others can be judged, and the basis on which a standard assumes and accretes authority and credibility, and explores the extent to which teachers serve standards or vice versa. The study focuses on Australia’s Graduate Level standards in particular. The chapter builds on an existing Springer book chapter, (Buchanan et al. in Teacher education policy and practice: Evidence of impact, impact of evidence, Springer, Singapore, pp. 115–128, 2017), which critiqued standards and standardisation. In particular, the chapter will include a discussion of recent research on Teaching Performance Assessments, which are linked to the Standards, and the impact these are having and are likely to have on teaching and on the profession, including initial teacher education providers.