Great news (I think), all new teachers in NSW, Australia will be required to undergo a minimum of 100 hours of professional development over 5 years, and will be required to keep an “online log” of their PD! according to New measures for quality teaching in New South Wales schools, a statement put out by Carmel Tebbutt MP, Minister for Education and Training, New South Wales

The Institute will develop a public register of approved professional development courses. All teachers will maintain an online log of their participation to track their professional learning needs and to use as evidence of their professional commitment. All registered courses will be evaluated online by teachers, which will provide valuable feedback for others. These changes will apply to approximately 10,000 new teachers over the next three years, which will grow to 75,000 teachers over the next decade or so.

Examples of the types of courses that will be registered include:

  • Managing adolescent behaviour in the classroom for better learning
  • Using information technologies in the classroom
  • Best practice in the classroom: updating your teaching skills
  • What’s happening in the world of science?
  • Playing the numbers game
  • Firing up literacy in the classroom
  • Teaching Shakespeare for the 21st century
  • Improving literacy in the classroom
  • Listening to your students: how to use class discussion to promote learning

Seems the classrooms will be here to stay 😦 and to be honest, this “online log” could mean anything to the chain of command, and probably won’t mean open networked blogs. We all must take this opportunity to praise Carmel for her visionary leadership and call for blogging and ICT training!

Now, off to find any record of that “extensive consultation process” Carmel mentioned…


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