Teacher Performance and Development as a
Driver of Teacher and School Improvement
Lessons from the field
Graham Marshall
Senior Research Fellow
Graduate School of Education
University of Melbourne
Teacher Evaluation
Teachers need feedback on their performance to help
them identify how to better shape and improve their
teaching practice and, with the support of effective
school leadership, to develop schools as professional
learning communities. At the same time, teachers
should be accountable for their performance and
progress in their careers on the basis of demonstrated
effective teaching practice. (Teacher Evaluation OECD
2009)
Does Teacher Performance and
Development drive school
improvement?
Results of a study of 5 Schools around Australia
• Australind Senior High School, Western Australia
• Ringwood Secondary College, Victoria
• Dandenong North Primary School, Victoria
• Lakemba Public School, New South Wales
• St. Paul’s School, Queensland
The Australian Teacher Performance &
Development Framework - August 2012
An Annual Cycle with 3 broad phases
• Reflection and Goal Setting
• Professional Practice and Learning
• Feedback and Review
The Framework and Teaching
Practice
• Central to the Framework was the concept
that teachers needed to have a very clear
understanding of effective teaching.
• Each of these 5 schools demonstrated this –
each in their own way.
School based initiatives
Lakemba Public School. NSW
The Lesson Study Method
How do we know these school
initiatives are successful
• All teachers are actively involved in the teacher P & D
processes
• The processes have been operating for at least two
years and longer in most cases
• There is general if not complete support from the staff
• The processes directly impact on classroom practice
A common point of entry
• Schools determine what good teaching looks
like.
• Becomes the starting point for establishing
successful teacher performance and
development processes.
Developing a common understanding
of good teaching practice
Australind Senior High School, WA
Training Program on instructional
strategies and classroom management
A Focus on Feedback on Teaching
Practice
• Focus given to feedback to teachers and
teachers acting on that feedback
• The most significant feedback seemed to be
feedback based on classroom observation
The importance of classroom
observation
Dandenong North Primary School. Victoria
Feedback based on Classroom
observation
Multiple Sources of Feedback
• All schools used multiple sources of feedback
to teachers
• These included
- classroom observation
- student feedback
- student performance data
- feedback from teacher colleagues
Feedback from multiple sources
St. Paul’s School, WA
Feedback from multiple sources
Formative and Summative assessment
• All schools used both formative and summative
assessments though formative assessment was
the driver.
• The focus of each school was on teaching, how
it could be improved and formative assessments
of teachers (through feedback) that would help
them to improve.
• The summative assessments arose from the
accumulated formative assessments.
Some Conclusions 1
• The entry point for each of these schools to
effective teacher performance and
development was a leadership passion for
improved teacher practice matched to the skill
these leaders showed in developing effective
customised school based processes.
Some Conclusions 2
• The starting point in each case was an
identification and agreement about what
good teaching looked like. The objective was
improved teaching practice not improved
accountability.
Some Conclusions 3
• As the focus was on formative assessment and
teacher improvement it was not difficult to
bring the cumulative formative assessments
together to develop summative assessments
which all schools did.
Has the Australian Teacher Performance
and Development Framework got it right?
• The evidence suggests it has
- broad imperatives for all schools to ensure
that teachers get multiple sources of feedback
- school level flexibility with implementation
- it is school leaders who make it work
- a focus on teaching practice as the key
driver
of teacher performance and
development
- a focus on formative teacher assessments
can also deliver effective summative teacher
assessments
So does Teacher Performance and
Development drive school improvement?
http://www.newsroom.aitsl.edu.au/blog/c
onsultation-support-materials-0
The link between formative and
summative assessment
Australind Senior High School, WA
Formative and summative assessment of
teachers