AITSL releases new guidelines for Professional Experience in Initial Teacher Education

New guidelines for Professional Experience in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programs developed by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) will be launched later today at the Australian Council of Deans of Education (ACDE) 2024 Conference. 

The Professional Experience Guidelines, developed by the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) and approved by states and territories, will help ensure more teaching students have a successful introduction to the classroom, including in early childhood education spaces.

The changes recognise prior research which showed that teaching students who have positive prac experience are more likely to graduate, make a successful transition to teaching and stay in teaching long term.

The new guidelines will support a consistent national approach to professional experience, while being able to be adopted and adapted to each jurisdiction’s context, and have been designed to clarify roles and responsibilities, improve consistency, and reduce administrative burden for initial teacher education providers, education systems, schools, early childhood settings and teacher regulatory authorities.

The guidelines also support recommendations from the Teacher Education Expert Panel (TEEP) including providing pre-service teachers with opportunities to learn, practice and be assessed on the core curriculum elements which will now be embedded in all ITE programs.

“As Deans we fully support the importance of strong partnerships with schools to best prepare our future teachers,” ACDE President Michele Simons said. 

“In the context of nationwide teacher shortages, we are committed to promoting high quality professional experience placements for all Pre-service Teachers.”

“Pre-service Teachers highly value professional experience as key to their successful transition to the profession, and high quality placements are central to assisting Pre-service Teachers to receive mentoring and support to develop the insights and capabilities they will need to make a real impact on the quality of learning for students in schools.”

The Guidelines were formally launched by Tim Bullard, AITSL CEO, at the ACDE Conference, with delegates including Deans of Education, education academics, education associations and government representatives in attendance.

All initial teacher education providers must embed the recently mandated core content into their initial teacher education programs by the end of next year.

The guidelines are available here: Australian Professional Experience Guidelines.