4.0 Invest in professional learning and curriculum support
Teachers and education leaders are committed to maintaining up-to-date professional knowledge and skills. This commitment sees them engaged in activities that focus upon professional renewal, maintaining currency in professional matters, and keeping up to date with curriculum design and pedagogical practice. The Queensland education system is built upon this dedication of its educators. The significant and relentless pace of change over the past decade has seen requirements in the professional realm increase and expand. There have been major changes to the Australian Curriculum, an intense focus upon capability development and “improvement agendas”, and changes to preferred pedagogical frameworks. In addition, assessment, moderation and reporting processes are in a constant state of flux. It is the profession that has “absorbed” the costs associated with this important work by undertaking it in their own time, with insufficient resourcing or time provided to assist them in this endeavour.
Access to digital technologies for students and educators is impacted by many socio-economic factors. The current pace of technology growth is such that this is likely to be exacerbated. To avoid creating additional gaps in the digital divide, access to ICT, inclusive of AI programs, needs to be equitable. To keep up with 21st Century education requirements, our teachers and school leaders need additional training and support in the ethical use of generative artificial intelligence. Additional funding for technology grants, which will ensure equitable access to AI technology for our students, must be included in Budget considerations. There must also be a strong commitment by the government to continued representation of a teacher voice on advisory and peak decision-making bodies considering the use and implementation of digital technology in schools.
The goodwill and commitment of the profession is at breaking point, and it is essential that the 2024/25 State Budget allocates funds for measures that make up this deficit in funding and resources and support teachers in doing this crucial work.
This could be undertaken in the following ways.
4.1 Increased investment in professional development (PD) of teachers and education leaders
- Prioritise the development of a systemic culture that encourages and supports teachers and education leaders in accessing a broad scope of PD opportunities, not just those in areas that are current systemic priorities.
- Increase PD budgets for each school.
- Prioritise access to PD that is highlighted in collaborative capability discussions.
- Provide updated training modules on the ethical use of generative artificial intelligence.
- Reintroduce mentoring beginning teacher (MBT) professional development monies for the development of school-based MBT programs.
- Develop a district relief teacher (DRT) pool, with dedicated TRS support, to give small school principals access to PD opportunities and enable them to manage collaborative capability development conversations.
- Enhance availability of advisory visiting teacher (AVT) services to improve access to professional capability development in EAL/D, behaviour and inclusion.
- Provide improved services and access for First Nations employees to professional development and tertiary education that supports their career advancement.
- Provide dedicated learning hub spaces in schools with First Nations employees who wish to access tertiary education, to support their capacity to undertake further studies that advance their career options.
4.2 Increased resourcing for curriculum implementation
- Provide dedicated additional TRS resourcing to schools to manage the rollout of Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum (ACV9) in rostered duty time.
- Decrease the replication of this work on a school-by-school basis by ensuring centrally developed ACV9 resources are developed and accessible.
- Ensure that the ACV9 curriculum needs of different types of schools (small schools, multiage contexts, schools of distance education, correction centres, kindy programs) are met with appropriately developed resources.
- Develop a ACV9 “flying squad” to provide TRS relief in regional and remote locations in support of the familiarisation and implementation phases of ACV9 across the state.
- Provide additional TRS and support to assist schools with the transitions that will arise from the inaugural review of the new SATE system.
- Provide additional technology grants to ensure equitable access to digital technologies, including artificial intelligence programs for students.
4.3 Increased resourcing and support in the planning, teaching and learning cycle and reduced professional demands
- Planning and preparation - Teachers’ development and use of planning is a highly personal process. This must be valued.
▫ Develop a Joint Statement on Planning, Preparation and Differentiation that gives clear guidelines
about simplified planning expectations.
▫ Provide additional planning release time to allow schools to release teachers to collaboratively
develop school-based planning resources.
▫ Encourage professional autonomy for teachers to enable them to develop a meaningful weekly/ daily planning system that suits their professional practice.
- Differentiation
▫ Provide relevant and adequate resourcing to address the many and varied differentiation needs of students.
- Individual curriculum plans
▫ Provide additional release time for schools to enable release of teachers and education leaders to
develop ICPs during rostered duty time (RDT).
▫ Provide the additional resourcing and support needed to ensure that ICP needs are adequately
supported.
- Moderation
▫ Limit teachers’ participation in moderation cycles to two a year
- Data collection
▫ Negotiate a new joint statement with the QTU on the purpose and use of data, to reduce the data
collection undertaken at the school level.
▫ Provide resourcing to enable data to be uploaded by other employees within the school, via additional monies for teacher-aides and other support staff.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The following recommendations are consistent with the 2022 Productivity Commission report into education (Interim Report - National School Reform Agreement - Productivity Commission), which recommended supporting the profession to allow it to manage its workload and professional commitments:
24. Establish and fund a new school resourcing model that meets the needs of 21st Century educational contexts and the changing professional and curriculum environment.
25. Invest in professional development.
26. Increase resourcing for curriculum development and implementation.
27. Increase resourcing and support, and reduce the professional “demands” associated with the planning, teaching and learning cycle.
28. Provide sufficient release time via NCT and professional release time to allow for professional collaboration and capability development.
29. Negotiate new agreements with the QTU on classroom observations, capability development, planning and preparation and data collection.
30. Commit to reducing class sizes to assist in the management of complex 21st Century classrooms.
31. Commit to ensuring a teacher voice is represented on all peak decision-making bodies considering the use of digital technologies (inclusive of AI) in classrooms.
32. Commit to negotiating the enactment of a digital strategy that supports teachers and education leaders in managing professional/curriculum matters.
QTU State Budget Submission 2024-25