Improving teaching quality in the Pacific

Enabling teachers to positively support and engage students is a priority in the Pacific Islands. At a policy level, this means that teachers need to be empowered through opportunities for continuous development, shared understanding and accountability.

Through a long-term partnership, ACER is supporting the Educational Quality and Assessment Programme (EQAP) to achieve the objectives of the Pacific Regional Education Framework (PacREF). Since 2019, ACER has supported EQAP in leading the revision of the Pacific Regional Standards for Teachers. The Standards were developed in 2010, with the revised version formally endorsed by 15 Pacific Island countries in 2023.

In August, ACER researchers Elizabeth Cassity and Hilary Hollingsworth participated in a sub-regional workshop on implementing the Pacific Regional Teacher Standards for Ministries of Education and Teacher Training Institutions (TTIs) in Fiji. Eight countries – Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu – sent representatives from both TTIs and Ministries of Education to participate in the workshop.

The workshop was a result of recommendations at the Pacific Heads of Education Systems (PHES) meeting in March 2023, that TTIs be involved in conversations and implementation around the use of teacher standards to support teacher development and improve teaching quality and student learning outcomes.
 
As a result of the workshop, participants gained a shared understanding of the role of teacher professional standards in facilitating teacher learning and improving student outcomes. There was also a shared commitment by TTI representatives to include teacher standards in their teacher education courses, and to collaborating and sharing experiences and actions with each other.

An initial mapping of the Pacific Regional Teacher Standards to TTI teacher education courses was conducted as part of the workshop. Each country also drafted action plans, including implementation activities and timelines to introduce the Teacher Standards in initial teacher education courses, in-service activities, and for certification processes.

The workshop provided opportunities for rich conversations between Ministries of Education and TTIs about how countries might start to implement the Teacher Standards in coursework and as part of in-service activities and overall teacher certification and registration. There was extensive discussion about challenges and opportunities in operationalising the Regional Standards in national contexts. For a number of the participating countries, it was the first time that Ministries of Education and TTIs met and discussed their roles in embedding the Teacher Standards in policy and practice.
   
As part of the workshop, Hilary shared the experience of Australia in developing the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers and discussed the use of teacher standards in teacher education programs.
 
EQAP and ACER will continue to support the implementation of the Pacific Regional Teacher Standards. Possible next steps include developing a Community of Practice and a Regional Teacher Standards Repository housed at EQAP. In addition, countries may request specific support as they embed Teacher Standards in initial teacher education and in-service programs.