PD 2000 Australia: a national mapping of school teacher professional development

The objectives of this project were to: enhance the professional role of teachers to support national initiatives in schools education by informing the Commonwealth’s ongoing commitment to professional development in priority areas; support and inform the development of the Quality Teacher Programme; and support improvements to the quality of teaching and learning through the distribution of project findings to stakeholders.

Major findings of the project:

1. There is a wide range of programs in operation in each State and Territory education sector to support teacher professional development. They differ in nature, scale and mode of organisation, but not in focus of activity.
2. Three particular factors are identified as being of significance to the direction and conduct of PD in Australian schools: a) State and Territory government curricular initiatives; b) The availability of Commonwealth funding, either directly for the purposes of PD or as a component of targeted programs; c) Variations in operational scale have an influence on the level and nature of PD activity that appear to be more significant than any differences between sectors.
3. Most of the Commonwealth priority areas are well serviced by agencies, external providers and by schools, and most have drawn comparatively high levels of participation from teachers. A significant exception is Indigenous education, with a low rate of participation from teachers in schools with indigenous students.
4. Nearly 60% of respondents to the survey of teachers indicated that PD had a very high priority in their working lives.
5. The vast majority of teachers engage in PD.
6. The types of activity that are the core formats for teacher PD at present are workshop discussion, listening to a speaker followed by discussion, and conference attendance.
7. Engagement in PD increases with levels of experience and responsibility.
8. Access to PD seems not so much related to level and range of supply as capacity to participate. The biggest issue is time, lack of time being cited as a major barrier to PD.
9. Data suggests that teachers are interested in big ideas, educational trends and new knowledge not immediately applicable in the classroom.
10. Almost all schools surveyed had specific budgets for PD purposes. Some teachers spend a considerable amount of their own money on PD activity, but the majority spend relatively little.

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