Sharon Davies

The Assessment for Graduate Teaching (AfGT), a teaching performance assessment (TPA), was devised as a tool to support pre-service teachers (PSTs) to effectively articulate their practice in relation to the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APSTs) at the Graduate level. Within the first few years of completing an initial teacher education (ITE) programme, graduate teachers are again required to articulate their professional practice against the APSTs, but this time at the Proficient level. Whilst each state and territory in Australia may require this in a different form, it remains a required step for teachers to take to be eligible to apply for full teacher registration within their professional development. This chapter discusses the findings of an in-depth analysis that sought to better understand the processes associated with graduate teachers moving from Provisional to Proficient against the APSTs. In addition, completion of AfGT is discussed, demonstrating the impact this may have on graduate teacher preparedness to, and success in, completion of their proficiency portfolio across two Australian jurisdictions, New South Wales (NSW) and Western Australia (WA).

Teaching Performance Assessments (TPAs) have become integral in evaluating and ensuring the quality of teacher education globally. However, the diversity in their design and implementation across various educational systems highlights a pressing need for a consolidated understanding of the underlying principles guiding their development and use. The primary objective of this systematic review is to establish evidence-informed principles that guide the development and implementation of TPAs. A comprehensive search of five electronic databases was undertaken, yielding 2,482 records. Following duplicate removal, 2,063 records were screened, and 189 full-text articles were reviewed. A total of 139 studies met the inclusion criteria. Data were synthesised using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase reflexive thematic analysis. The synthesis resulted in the identification of 15 design principles for TPAs, each accompanied by a heuristic statement that explains, justifies, and grounds the principle in the evidence base. The findings provide a framework to guide policymakers, teacher educators, and institutions in constructing TPAs that are both valid and educative. By emphasising authenticity, equity, and professional growth, TPAs can move beyond compliance mechanisms to become transformative tools that genuinely prepare new teachers for the complexities of classroom practice.

This conclusion synthesises emerging themes from the collected research about the Australian Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA), viewed through the lens of the Assessment for Graduate Teaching (A f GT). The themes are: TPAs can be authentic professional learning tools when focused on the intellectual work of teachers and the demonstration of integrated and authentic teaching practices; building collaborative ecosystems offers a framework for accountability that genuinely serves professional growth, co-innovation, and long-term sustainability; the reconceptualisation of “classroom readiness” as contextual and developmental rather than a fixed and standards-delimited concept; addressing generative AI challenges to safeguard assessment integrity while also helping prepare AI-literate teachers; and evidence-based design principles for sustainable TPA implementation. Collectively, the chapters reveal that TPAs will generate greatest value when embedded within collaborative professional ecosystems that harness distributed expertise, encourage stakeholder engagement, and balance accountability with the educative purpose of preparing adaptive, context-responsive beginning teachers.

This edited volume critically examines Australia’s Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) through the lens of a widely used TPA, the Assessment for Graduate Teaching (AfGT). With research and scholarship contributions by over 30 researchers from ten Australian universities, the book examines the TPA and its role in providing assurance that initial teacher education (ITE) graduates are “classroom ready.” Organised in three sections: Context and Foundations, Impacts of the TPA, and Future Directions, the collection offers evidence-based insights for policymakers, teacher educators, teachers, and researchers. It addresses the problematic notion of classroom ready, highlights the intellectual work of teaching, and examines tensions between authentic practice and compliance. The research reveals that TPAs are more likely to add value when embedded in collaborative ecosystems that harnesses distributed expertise within the teaching profession. Finally, 15 design principles are provided to guide the evolution of TPAs as transformative professional learning processes that contribute meaningfully to developing teaching quality.

Taking a future-facing approach, this book provides a timely evaluation of the Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA), which utilises the Assessment for Graduate

This paper presents an action learning project demonstrating how a structured professional learning (PL) programme transformed the capabilities of sessional academic staff, enabling them to transition into unit coordinator (UC) roles. By equipping these staff with the leadership skills necessary to manage digital learning environments effectively, the study explicates a model that enhances student engagement and institutional teaching quality. The aim was to develop a consistent approach to the design and delivery of the PL programme that would position sessional teaching staff to move into UC roles. The work of these UCs is critical in ensuring quality experiences for students who learn in primarily digital-based learning environments. Approaches to professional development that focus on fostering transformational change (Lamm et al., 2021) were taken rather than the transactional information-giving that characterises some PL. Key to the approach was the application of an action learning cycle and scaffolding frameworks and tools. The underpinning critical reflection elicited deep participant input and perspectives that created a fruitful social constructivist learning environment (Chuang, 2021). The paper demonstrates how transformational learning was achieved for the participant group and focuses on explaining their learning journey through the systematic application of Brookfield’s reflective lenses (2017) as well as other key scaffolds. This report provides guidance for a capacity-building model that will inform those in higher educational leadership seeking to develop staff into first-level leadership roles.

In 2019, educators at Beehive Montessori School (Beehive) in Western Australia implemented their self-defined digital literacies framework. The framework guided their approach to, and use of, digital technologies in their classrooms. Doing so came out of a whole school action research project in which the school became a hub for inquiry and educators, and researchers worked together to identify issues and develop improvement processes. At the project conclusion, the educators and researchers had collaboratively defined a solution that met the mandated curriculum needs and fitted with the school autonomy. Most importantly the project and the solution empowered educators, as it aligned with the school-identified virtues and utilized the three-period lesson to teach it, all of which was consistent with Montessori pedagogy.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of stress between work intensification and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) focusing on personal support workers (PSWs) in home and community care.Design/methodology/approach: The analysis sample of 922 comes from the 2015 survey of PSWs employed in Ontario, Canada. The endogenous variable is self-reported MSDs, and the exogenous variable is work intensification. Stress, measured as symptoms of stress, is the mediating variable. Other factors shown in the literature as associated with stress and/or MSDs are included as control variables. Structural equation model regression analyses are presented.Findings: The results show that stress mediates the effect of work intensification on PSW’s MSDs. Other significant factors included being injured in the past year, facing hazards at work and preferring less hours – all had positive and significant substantive effects on MSDs.Research limitations/implications: The survey is cross-sectional and not longitudinal or experimental in design, and it focuses on a single occupation in a single sector in Ontario, Canada and, as such, this can limit the generalizability of the results to other occupations and sectors.Practical implications: For PSW employers including their human resource managers, supervisors, schedulers and policy-makers, the study recommends reducing work intensification to lower stress levels and MSDs.Originality/value: The findings of this study contribute to the theory and knowledge by providing evidence on how work intensification can affect workers’ health and assist decision makers in taking actions to create healthy work environments.