What does this descriptor look like at different levels?
Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area is the sixth descriptor of the second standard of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.
This descriptor covers how teachers implement technology in their teaching. A wide range of digital platforms and programs are available for teachers to use that can support student learning and enable teachers to track student progress easily. Being able to use these different resources to enhance their teaching is something that Australian teachers are expected to do.
See more: Australian Professional Standards for Teachers Terminology Explained
Graduate
What does it look like?
At the Graduate level, teachers are expected to implement teaching strategies for using ICT to expand curriculum learning opportunities for students.
Unlike many of the Graduate level descriptors, this focus area expects Graduate teachers to already be able to implement ICT in their classrooms. Many of the Graduate descriptors for the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers simply require you to know how to do something. For this descriptor, you’re going to need to actually do it.
To make sure that you meet this standard, you will need to make sure that you use your time on placement to experiment with ICT and use some different digital resources in your teaching. This can include videos, digital drawing or modelling tools, using a platform such as Education Perfect, or getting your students to use specific software such as Tinkercad or Makers Empire.
What evidence can I collect?
You will of course need to have evidence that you’ve used ICT in your lessons. This could come in a few different forms:
- Lesson plans with explicit use of ICT. These should include a reflection after the lesson to show that you did actually deliver it.
- Notes from your mentor teacher that state how you used ICT and how effective it was.
- Samples of student work that show them using different digital resources.
If you can get a range of evidence, it will clearly show that you’ve met the Graduate level of this focus area.
See more: 7 Ways to Build a Strong Relationship with Your Mentor Teacher on your Teaching Placement.
Proficient
What does it look like?
At the Proficient level, teachers are expected to use effective teaching strategies to integrate ICT into learning and teaching programs to make selected content relevant and meaningful.
This descriptor is another step above what you’re expected to do as a Graduate teacher. To become a Proficient teacher, you need to show that you’ve integrated ICT and that it has enhanced your content.
While you may have gotten away with showing a movie or playing around with some software at the Graduate level, you now need to use ICT to enhance learning. It must be relevant to your lessons and not shoehorned in. You’ll need to think about why you’re using ICT to meet this career stage and be selective about what resources you use.
What evidence can I collect?
The key difference between this focus area’s Graduate and Proficient levels will be in your annotations. You can still collect the same evidence as above, but now you’ll need to explain in greater detail how they add to your learning program.
You may want to include some lessons that could have gone better in your evidence set for this descriptor. This will show that you’ve experimented to find something that can be truly embedded into your teaching.
Student data will be another important piece of evidence against this particular descriptor. This can be improved student grades or levels of understanding after implementing the ICT strategy or samples of student work that show that using ICT has enhanced student learning.
Highly Accomplished
What does it look like?
At the Highly Accomplished level, teachers are expected to model high-level teaching knowledge and skills and work with colleagues to use current ICT to improve their teaching practice and make content relevant and meaningful.
At this career stage, you’re going to need to be a little more flexible and open to experimentation. This descriptor specifically states that you need to use current ICT, which means that you can’t just use the same resources for every lesson each year.
You will also need to model high-level knowledge and skills to your colleagues. This can be done in a few ways:
- Presenting professional learning on the digital platforms etc. that you are using.
- Encouraging other teachers to observe your use of ICT in your lessons.
- Sharing your practice in meetings.
- Informally sharing your strategies and resources with other teachers and mentoring them to use them in their teaching.
See more: How to Present a Great Professional Learning Workshop
What evidence can I collect?
However you choose to meet this descriptor, you’re going to need some good evidence. Because you need to model your use of ICT, minutes of meetings, resources that you’ve made for professional development workshops, or formal communication such as emails can be great pieces of evidence.
Whatever evidence you collect, make sure that you include annotations. You can use these annotations to tell a bit more of the story and link your actions to the descriptor for this standard.
Lead
What does it look like?
At the Lead Teacher level, teachers are expected to lead and support colleagues within the school to select and use ICT with effective teaching strategies to expand learning opportunities and content knowledge for all students.
At this career stage, you’ll need to be the one doing some research. This descriptor expects you to be more critical about the different ICT resources that your school uses and lead the implementation of the most effective ones.
To reach this career stage, look at what your teachers are currently using and support them to improve their pedagogy. Great ICT resources are only as good as how you use them, and this is something that you might want to focus on to become a Lead Teacher.
What evidence can I collect?
As with most standards at the Lead Teacher level, student data is a great piece of evidence. Collecting evidence about how your teachers and students use ICT is the first step towards making a sound judgement on how to lead your site towards better use of ICT.
You’ll need more than student data, though. You will need evidence of what you planned to do, how you did it, and what the impact was. You can include your observations of teachers’ lessons, project briefs or minutes of meetings where ICT strategies were discussed, and feedback on how new strategies are being implemented.
See more: Lesson Observations – Common Questions and Concerns for Teachers
Learn more about the other focus areas and descriptors for Standard 2:
2.1 Content and Teaching Strategies of the Teaching Area
2.2 Content Selection and Organisation
2.3 Curriculum, assessment and reporting
2.4 Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People to Promote Reconciliation
