ACT Teacher Quality Institute

Overview

The ACT Teacher Quality Institute (TQI) is an independent statutory authority established under the ACT Teacher Quality Institute Act 2010 (the Act) to enhance the standing of the teaching profession in the ACT and to strengthen the quality and sustainability of the teaching workforce. The Act came into effect on 1 January 2011 and the initial priority in the reporting period to 30 June 2011 has been to establish policies, systems and processes to engage with local and national education stakeholders and to enable the implementation of teacher registration.

TQI is a key cross-sectoral initiative of the National Partnership Agreement on Improving Teacher Quality (TQNP) which was established to drive and reward systemic reforms to improve the quality of teaching and leadership in Australian schools. TQI is responsible for leading the ACT implementation of major TQNP reforms including the National Professional Standards for Teachers, nationally consistent processes in teacher registration, teacher education course accreditation and improved teacher workforce data collection.

The purpose of TQI is to:

• uphold the standards of the teaching profession in the ACT
• provide quality assurance processes to support the delivery of education in schools in a professional and competent way by approved teachers
• recognise, develop and promote professional learning
• maintain community confidence in the teaching profession.

TQI is responsible for:

• professional registration or permit-to-teach approval of ACT teachers
• accrediting ACT education courses for pre-service teachers and teachers
• certifying ACT teachers against national professional standards
• developing and applying a code of professional practice for ACT teachers
• working closely with schools and education stakeholders to promote continuous professional learning by teachers.

The establishment of TQI brings the ACT in to line with all states and the Northern Territory, which have teacher registration or accreditation bodies.

Board membership

Section 15(4) of the Act requires the Minister to appoint the members of the Board other than the Chief Executive Officer.

Professor Denis Goodrum commenced as interim Board Chair on 12 July 2010 and continued in this position until his formal appointment under section 5 of the Act as Board Chair on 17 May 2011. The Chief Executive Officer is required by the Act to be a public servant and is a non-voting member of the Board. Nominations have been called for and received for all other positions on the Board. The Board appointment process was continuing as at 30 June 2011.

Interim Board

An interim Board was established by the Minister to guide the establishment of TQI and has met five times since January 2011. The role of the interim Board was to support the interim Board Chair in finalising the draft legislation and developing the associated regulations.

Table TQI 1: Interim Board meeting attendance as at 30 June 2011

Source: ACT Teacher Quality Institute

Interim Board members

Professor Denis Goodrum
Denis Goodrum is Project Director, Science by Doing, Australian Academy of Science. Professor Goodrum was a visiting scholar at the United States National Research Council in Washington DC and has extensive administrative experience in his roles as Head of Department, Head of School and Dean of Faculty in the university sector. He has served on a number of state and national boards including the Board of Australian Deans of Education, Questacon, SciTech and the ACT Curriculum Renewal Taskforce. Professor Goodrum has also managed large national projects and been responsible for a variety of international projects including a Mauritius teacher education project.

Qualifications: BSc, Dip Ed, MEd, EdD, FACE.

Ms Anne Ellis
Anne Ellis was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of TQI on 10 January 2011 following a nationally advertised executive selection process. Ms Ellis taught in the primary sector in the NSW and ACT public education systems and has worked in senior management positions in the ACT Education and Training Directorate since 2006. During 2009 and 2010 Ms Ellis also led the ACT cross-sectoral consultation and planning for the TQNP.

Qualifications: BA, Dip Ed, Grad Dip (Information Management).

Ms Diane Joseph
Diane Joseph is Deputy Director-General, ACT Education and Training Directorate. Ms Joseph has extensive teaching and school leadership experience in the secondary sector. Prior to taking up her current position in the ACT, Ms Joseph was General Manager, Office for Policy Research and Innovation in the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. Professional achievements include 2005 Victorian Education Outstanding Leadership Award, Consultant to Bahrain Economic Development Board, Australian and New Zealand School of Government Executive Fellow and Fellow, Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Qualifications: BSc (Education).

Mr Andrew Wrigley
Andrew Wrigley is Executive Director, Association of Independent Schools of the ACT (AISACT). Prior to working with the AISACT he was Manager with the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership and before that with Teaching Australia. Mr Wrigley also has substantial experience as a professional educator in the non-government and public education sectors.

Qualifications: BEd, MEd.

Mr Mark Hogan
Mark Hogan is Deputy Director and Head of Human Resource Services, Catholic Education Office, Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn. Mr Hogan has extensive teaching and school leadership experience in the public and Catholic sectors.

Qualifications: BEd, MEd, Grad Dip Ed Studies (Educational Leadership), Grad Dip Ed (Religious), Grad Dip Legal Studies, Cert. School Counselling, NSW Teachers Certificate.

Ms Penny Gilmour
Penny Gilmour is Branch Secretary, Australian Education Union – ACT Branch, and the AEU-ACT Branch representative on Unions ACT Executive. Prior to commencing her work in the union sector in January 1989 Ms Gilmour taught in NSW high schools. Ms Gilmour completed the Harvard Trade Union Training Program in 2008.

Qualifications: BA, Dip. Ed, NSW Teachers Certificate, Grad Cert Adult Education (Training).

Ms Lyn Renno
Lyn Renno is a Union Organiser for the NSW/ACT Independent Education Union. Prior to commencing her current role Ms Renno had extensive teaching experience in the secondary sector in non-government and public schools.

Qualifications: Dip Arts (Applied), Dip Ed, Grad Cert Religious Education.

Professor Geoffrey Riordan
Geoffrey Riordan is Dean of Education, University of Canberra. Professor Riordan has held a number of senior leadership and management roles in universities and has been actively involved in the NSW Teacher Education Council and the Australian Council of Deans of Education. Prior to commencing his academic career, Professor Riordan taught in high schools in NSW.

Qualifications: BEd, MEd Admin, PhD (Educational Leadership and Policy).

Associate Professor Carolyn Broadbent
Carolyn Broadbent is Head of the School of Education (ACT) within the Faculty of Education at the Australian Catholic University. Associate Professor Broadbent has extensive teaching, research and executive leadership experience within the higher education sector and substantial teaching experience in a diverse range of educational settings, including primary, secondary, special needs, Indigenous and adult and community education. She is a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators (FACE) and Fellow of the Australian Council of Educational Leaders (FACEL) and received a Carrick Australian Award for University Teaching in 2007.

Qualifications: BEd, MEd (Research), PhD (Psychology).

Remuneration arrangements

Remuneration for the Chair is determined by the ACT Remuneration Tribunal in accordance with the provisions of the Remuneration Tribunal Act 1995. Other members of the Board are not entitled to be paid for the exercise of their board functions.

Board committees

An interim Registration Committee was established in April 2011 to advise on and guide the development of the teacher registration process. The members of this committee were:

• Denis Goodrum (chair)
• Anne Ellis
• Penny Gilmour
• Carolyn Broadbent
• Mark Hogan
• Jari Teivonen (TQI representative)
• Michael Bateman (Education and Training Directorate representative).

Financial controls

For the period 1 January to 30 June 2011 funding for the TQI was provided through the Education and Training Directorate. In this transitional period leading up to the full establishment of the TQI, the financial reporting, audit and risk management functions were also provided by the Directorate. This transitional arrangement meant that all financial reporting requirements of the Financial Management Act 1996 were not satisfied. New arrangements will exempt TQI from future inappropriate financial reporting requirements.

Principal activities and achievements

The four focus areas for TQI in the reporting period 1 January 2011 to 30 June 2011 were:
• relationships and communication
• planning and governance
• national work
• implementation of teacher registration for ACT teachers.

Relationships and communication

The Chief Executive Officer introduced the role of TQI to public, Catholic and independent principals at the ACT cross-sectoral principal meeting on 13 March 2011. Regular communication with teachers and schools and follow-up of individual teacher queries continued to be a key priority throughout the roll-out of the application process for teacher registration.

The initial development of strategic partnerships with ACT principal and teacher organisations, education systems and universities has focused on regular communication, presentations at meetings and the development of collaborative opportunities for improved teacher workforce data collection.

TQI launched its website http://www.tqi.act.edu.au on 17 February 2011 to provide information about its purpose and role and an overview of the stages of implementation of teacher registration in the ACT.

The TQI Board Chair and Chief Executive Officer attended the Special General Meeting of the Australasian Teacher Regulatory Authorities (ATRA) in Wellington on 24 and 25 February 2011 where TQI was recognised as a full member of the Association and the Chief Executive Officer was appointed as an officer of the Association.

Planning and governance

The initial planning focus has addressed the policy framework and business system development required for the registration application process for currently employed ACT teachers, including an electronic document and record management framework, online registration system and data collection and reporting capabilities.

The draft ACT Teacher Quality Institute Board Charter presented to the interim Board in May 2011 draws on relevant legislation and outlines the roles and responsibilities of the Board and its members, including a code of conduct and guidance on the structure and conduct of Board meetings.

National work

TQI has participated in regular consultation forums with the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) and ATRA on the key reform areas of the TQNP.

In late June 2011 AITSL awarded funding for a pilot study in the ACT to trial the use of the National Professional Standards for Teachers. The focus of the TQI proposal is to develop a cross-sectoral standards based professional experience for pre-service teachers supported by a professional development program for mentor teachers. The TQI will join 15 other Australian organisations concurrently undertaking pilot studies on the implementation of the National Standards.

Implementation of teacher registration process for ACT teachers

The Act requires that all teachers working in ACT Catholic, independent or public schools must either be registered as a teacher or be granted a permit-to-teach by TQI. TQI commenced the initial phase of this work with a school by school roll-out of an online registration application process for teachers currently employed. This process included transitional arrangements for teachers employed in 2010 and
2011.

The key features of this work included:

• the development of a customised online registration application form, relational
• database and TQI web client application with Dialog Information Technology
• a cross-sectoral pilot of the online application process undertaken in the last week of term 1, 2011 by teachers at Amaroo School, Holy Family Primary School, St Francis Xavier College and Brindabella Christian School
• school by school support to assist principals and registration coordinators in
• preparing for and managing the registration application process
• regular communication with teachers to outline registration procedures and provide ongoing assistance throughout the process.

Following the pilot, the online registration application process for currently employed ACT teachers commenced operations on 9 May 2011. By 30 June 2011, 5,767 teachers had submitted an online application.

For more information contact:
The secretariat, the Chief Executive Officer or the Board Chair of TQI:

Secretariat
ACT Teacher Quality Institute

Ms Anne Ellis
Chief Executive Officer
ACT Teacher Quality Institute

Professor Denis Goodrum
Board Chair
ACT Teacher Quality Institute

PO Box 263
JAMISON CENTRE ACT 2614
(02) 6205 8867
Email: tqi@act.gov.au

TQI chair letter