Helen's Tips:
Be committed to this process and ensure the evidence you collect is authentic; it can be supported by colleagues as having impact on their teaching practice and also shows direct impact on them; speaking with parents also.
Some of the indicators (Standard 7) ask for impact on the greater community – so you may need to involve yourself in the wider community (school/teaching profession) to ensure this indicator is met. For example, I spent time at the BETA conference (Beginning/Early Teachers Association) hosting a table at a breakfast function with 10 early/beginning teachers answering their questions etc. and I maintain contact with them as a mentor outside of their school. This breakfast was part of a three-day conference for early/beginning teachers across Queensland, where experienced teachers hosted workshops on a variety of topics.
Forward planning is the key — gather your evidence, ensure it is authentic and will stand up to the rigorous assessment by the HAT/LT assessors, and can be validated by other people at your school. Then match the indicators to this evidence and annotate to further detail the impact the evidence has on your teaching practice, the teaching practice of other teachers and the students.
Some of the indicators (Standard 7) ask for impact on the greater community – so you may need to involve yourself in the wider community (school/teaching profession) to ensure this indicator is met. For example, I spent time at the BETA conference (Beginning/Early Teachers Association) hosting a table at a breakfast function with 10 early/beginning teachers answering their questions etc. and I maintain contact with them as a mentor outside of their school. This breakfast was part of a three-day conference for early/beginning teachers across Queensland, where experienced teachers hosted workshops on a variety of topics.
Forward planning is the key — gather your evidence, ensure it is authentic and will stand up to the rigorous assessment by the HAT/LT assessors, and can be validated by other people at your school. Then match the indicators to this evidence and annotate to further detail the impact the evidence has on your teaching practice, the teaching practice of other teachers and the students.
Dwayne's Tips:
Start to compile your evidence now – it would be the biggest piece of advice I would give someone if/when it starts going live. Spend the year before you want to apply making sure you are collecting the evidence, then the year that you apply, use all that in your application, don’t try to be collecting evidence as you develop your portfolio.
A good tip is if you have got a team of teachers at the school doing it, it’s really helpful to bounce ideas off people and what their understanding is.
I honestly think if you are investing your cold hard cash, to make it more certain, do it the year before, make sure you have got it all there so you know that you have covered everything before you put some money down to actually go through the process.
A good tip is if you have got a team of teachers at the school doing it, it’s really helpful to bounce ideas off people and what their understanding is.
I honestly think if you are investing your cold hard cash, to make it more certain, do it the year before, make sure you have got it all there so you know that you have covered everything before you put some money down to actually go through the process.