Tag Archives: professional development

This week we hear from Emily Kate, teacher and founder of Actual Teaching; a collaborative blog for teacher experience and growth. She shares what she learnt from her first go at supervising a pre-service teacher.

Every state and territory issues specific requirements for professional development (PD) requirements for continued registration of teachers. Amid constant discussion about ‘better teachers’ and sliding PISA results, teachers are feeling the pressure to skill up. 

Do you speak in a calm clear voice? Never ruffled? Regulated pitch and dulcet tones, just as you were taught at university? Educationalist Adam Voigt suggests you think again, and ditch the monotone for some tailor-made voice modulation.

The results of PISA 2015 were released late last year and Australia has slipped down the rankings, again. Misty Adoniou of the University of Canberra argues that the more federal politicians get involved in education, the worse we perform.

If, as John Hattie says, teachers are the single biggest in-school determinant of student outcomes, why don't we support our teachers to undertake professional development? Australian teachers work longer, and have fewer allocated training days than in many other countries.

Teachers manage a dizzying list of tasks, obligations and interruptions, with up to thirty-five students chattering, emoting, and needing things. Organisation is at the heart of what separates the self-assured smooth operator from the mere mortality of a fraught teacher.

Olympic diver Anabelle Smith and Professor Dr Klaudia Schultheis from Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt in Germany will share a platform with school children at this year’s Kids Conference on Tuesday 29 November at Australian Catholic University (ACU) in Melbourne.