Research centre to help teachers

A consensus has emerged that quality of teaching is the most vital factor in a child’s education. An individual teacher can profoundly impact on the child and help unlock the future.

The International Teacher Education Effectiveness Research Hub, led by Associate Professor Janet Clinton, within the Melbourne Graduate School of Education’s Centre for Program Evaluation, will provide rigorous science and measurement to the improved training of our teachers.

To make teacher education a more evidence-based profession, training institutions need to consider and debate what effective teacher education is. Associate Professor Clinton believes, now more than ever, education needs a central cohesive research centre on effective teacher education.

“This will allow us to increase the quality and readiness of graduate teachers, with a focus on selection processes and keeping an eye on the progress of the student teachers,” she says.

“We intend to reach a consensus, on how to improve excellent teaching. We want to collate evidence to improve teaching practice.”

One of the greatest challenges we face in teacher education is understanding the magnitude of impact we can expect and whether all graduates are indeed “classroom-ready”.

Until now, there have been very few institutions that specialise in researching the effectiveness of teacher education programs. This hub – with its international collaborative focus – has the chance of being a game-changer in promoting and creating the research base in this critical area.

With several forums planned for later in the year and for 2016, the knowledge-sharing, collaborations and benchmarking of standards will influence the next generation of teachers.

The report card is looking good.

“High quality research and global knowledge will lift standards in the teaching profession. This will be critical for driving practice and policy change,” Associate Professor Clinton says.