Over the past five years, successive Australian governments have struggled with how we better equip teachers to meet the needs of students in their classrooms.
It is imperative that the current review into teacher quality finds answers. We know the quality of the teacher is the greatest influence over student performance, and we know an alarming number of new teachers leave the profession within three years.
This issue is too important to be hijacked by vested interests with a political agenda.
Change is necessary. But much of the change we seek must focus on how we train and prepare new teachers for the challenges of today's classrooms.
The National Professional Standard for Teachers established by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership recognises that "the greatest resource in Australian schools is our teachers. They account for the vast majority of expenditure in school education and have the greatest impact on student learning, far outweighing the impact of any other education program or policy".
In the same way students today are expected to take responsibility for their own learning, we should expect no less from our teachers.
The institute's professional standards have been adopted across the country, which has helped promote higher quality professional development for teachers.
What they need now is a clear framework incorporating the knowledge, practice, professional development and engagement they need to have over their career, to raise the bar of teacher quality across the board.
A particular challenge for institutions is how effective they are in ensuring trainees and new teachers are motivated and can cope with the rigours of what can be a stressful and demanding profession. This goes beyond focusing on academic performance at the start of university courses – factors such as resilience, motivation, commitment, responsiveness and empathy with students are just as important, if not more so.
In his latest Grattan Institute report, Making time for great teaching, author Ben Jensen points out that high-performing systems around the world seek to increase the quality, not quantity, of teaching because "they know teaching improves when teachers learn from each other".
Jensen cites Shanghai as being among the best in professional development of teachers in the world because "classroom observation and feedback is high, and collaboration is frequent".
More emphasis on teacher peer review and feedback is certainly important. So too is the prospect of creating stronger links between teacher trainers and employers. Apart from a few research partnerships between universities and some schooling sectors, little else has been done.
The government's review of teacher training provides a rare opportunity for schools, as teacher employers, to work with universities as teacher trainers. Together, they could examine essential elements that support better retention rates for early career teachers, leadership development opportunities in schools and a greater commitment to generally support teachers over their career.
Researchers such as Professor John Hattie have highlighted the critical role teachers have beyond the academic outcomes for students, such as their influence to motivate and empower students to drive their own learning and prepare them for successful and productive lives.
One of the first hurdles many young teachers face, of course, is that they often begin their careers in high-needs communities. While it may encourage innovation and opportunities to test conventional teaching approaches, the pressure of these environments too often forces new teachers out of the profession.
A survey of beginning teachers by the Australian Primary Principals Association noted that a significant number of teachers didn't believe they'd been adequately prepared for the realities of the classroom.
A study of teacher retention published in the Australian Journal of Teacher Education offers further evidence of this, with the authors revealing a constant complaint from early career teachers that they "were unprepared by both their theoretical studies at university and the professional experiences (practicums) for the problems of managing unruly classrooms".
Teachers need a strong knowledge and understanding of the subjects they're going to teach, but it is irrelevant if they cannot control a classroom or become overwhelmed by the difficulties they face as inexperienced teachers.
Evidence-based studies continue to emphasise the need to focus on the quality and rigour of teacher training courses, how much time they spend being mentored by experienced teachers in a classroom environment, and the support they receive as they progress in their careers.
The federal government's review of teacher quality, along with the education curriculum and school autonomy, proffers a rare window of opportunity to create a new dynamic and model in the way we teach our teachers for the benefit of our children's education.
Stephen Elder is executive director of Catholic Education.
