AITSL Annual Report 2011-12 - Australian Institute for Teaching and ...

Following comprehensive consultation, a proposal for a national approach toaccreditation for initial teacher education programs was submitted to and endorsed byMCEECDYA in April 2011. National accreditation is based on the Graduate career stageof the National Professional Standards for Teachers, agreed National Program Standards,and an agreed national accreditation process to be implemented by all state and territoryteacher regulatory authorities.During November 2011, approximately 150 prospective accreditation panel membersundertook a national training program to prepare them to make consistent judgementsabout whether programs submitted meet the Graduate and Program Standards.The National Initial Teacher Education Advisory Committee (NITEAC), established byAITSL to provide it with advice about all matters relating to initial teacher education,implementation of the Program Standard requiring entrants to initial teacher education tohave personal literacy and numeracy levels placing them in broadly the top 30% of thepopulation or to have achieved these levels by graduation.AITSL has initiated work with curriculum and assessment authorities in the states andterritories and with the Australian Council of Deans of Education (ACDE) to establishbenchmarks and to develop a national framework within which providers will ensurethat all initial teacher education graduates have achieved these levels of literacy andnumeracy.AITSL and the teacher regulatory authorities have been cooperating in the developmentof a set of elaborations of the content provisions of the National Program Standards,providing clarity around requirements in priority content areas.36 AITSL Annual Report 2011–2012