Final report on the development of standards for Indonesian project

Professional standards are important for the development of professional expertise in languages teaching and can be a resource for teachers to evaluate their own practice and identify and plan for their future professional learning.

The Report obtained data from:

• a literature review of teachers’ knowledge and other standards documents to inform the theoretical perspective of professional practice of language teachers;
• a survey of Modern Language Teachers Associations to gauge the way “accomplished teaching” is understood and how it is described by the profession;
• focus groups of language teachers that explored teachers’ understandings of professional practice and teachers’ professionalism; and
• a survey of pre-service language teacher educators to identify what standards should incorporate.

Draft Professional Standards for Teaching Languages and Cultures and guidelines were developed from consultations with practising teachers and pre-services educators.

An independent evaluation consisting of sixteen highly experienced teachers of Indonesian in NSW and South Australia used the draft Standards and Guidelines in their work for a month.

The evaluation unanimously found the Standards provide a useful basis for self-review and for identifying personal professional learning needs.

Key Findings of the report include:

• The survey of pre-service education for languages teachers revealed a number of gaps between the qualities valued in the profession and the current provisions of language teacher education programmes.
• Language-specific annotations to the generic standards for languages and cultures are a valuable aid for teachers to interpret the standards in the context of their teaching a specific language.
• The ability of language teachers to improve their skills and grow professionally is in part influenced by the context in which they work. Whole school support for language teaching may strengthen language teaching and learning outcomes for students.

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