Australian Government Quality Teacher Program

Australian Government Quality Teacher Program

Objectives

The objectives of the Australian Government Quality Teacher Program are to:

equip teachers with the skills and knowledge need for teaching in the 21st century;
provide national leadership in high priority areas of teacher professional need; and
improve the professional standing of school teachers and leaders.

The Independent Schools Victoria AGQTP project provides funding for professional learning activities for teachers through school-based professional learning projects. All currently practicing school teachers are eligible to participate in AGQTP activities. For more information about the guidelines go to Guidelines for participation in the Independent Schools Victoria AGQTP 2009 Project (below).

Independent schools have a commitment to the National Goals of Schooling, a growing awareness of the changing nature of schooling and a firm desire to equip teachers with the skills and knowledge needed for teaching and learning in the 21st century.

Core Principles

Core principles around which Independent Schools Victoria AGQTP teacher professional learning activities are designed include:

Basing activities on established and effective professional learning principles;
Being responsive to local needs;
Building strategic partnerships;
Equitable access to all independent schools;
Efficient administration;
Accountability and transparency; and
Exploring and supporting program synergies with other government and non-government activities.

Professional Learning

The areas of professional learning Independent Schools Victoria AGQTP Activities will focus on include:

Developing knowledge and skills in successful contemporary pedagogies to better meet the needs of students;
Developing knowledge and skills within and across subject-specific domains such as ICT and e-learning;
Supporting embedded professional learning as an integral aspect of daily work within schools;
Developing the knowledge and skills to design and implement data collection tools, and to analyse and evaluate the data to improve teacher practice and student outcomes;
Supporting teachers as members of learning teams within their schools, and as members of learning communities; and
Investigating and supporting program synergies with other government and non-government activities.

The Independent Schools Victoria identified these areas of professional learning on the basis of research, current sectoral, state and Australian Government policies and initiatives and teacher and school leader identified professional learning needs. These include:

In-depth evaluation of the Independent Schools Victoria 2004-05 Project;
Commitment to the National Goals of Schooling and Australian Government priorities;
State initiatives, such as the Victorian Essential Learning Standards;
Identification of whole-school effective professional learning initiatives; and
Analysis of teacher-needs survey distributed to all independent schools.

The Independent Schools Victoria professional learning strategy focuses on school-based teacher renewal and teacher learning teams. A set of Principles for Effective Professional Learning has been developed as a result of the evaluation of the Independent Schools Victoria 2004-05 AGQTP Project and research conducted by the Independent Schools Victoria . These principles can be read at Research-Based Principles of Effective Professional Learning (below) .

Acknowledgement

This project is funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training.

For further information go to DEST AGQTP Client Guidelines

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