Performance and Development for Teacher Class Employees

Introduction

‘If students are to learn at higher levels, processes must be in place to ensure the ongoing, job-embedded learning of the adults who serve them’ (Dufour and Marzano, 2011).

High-quality teaching and leadership in every school is essential to Victoria’s success in supporting students’ achievement, wellbeing and engagement. To achieve this, our education system must empower and support teachers, leaders and support staff at every career stage to be the best they can.

The whole-of-practice approach to performance and development (the approach) outlined in these Guidelines promotes a consistent process and a common language for the evaluation and support of teacher performance and development in Victorian government schools. It is developmentally focused, and is designed to enable individual accountability and collective responsibility, to support collaborative professional learning and to improve the quality of teaching in every classroom. The approach:

• promotes the development of thriving school cultures where continuous development of professional skills, knowledge and engagement are the norm, and are based on collaborative and mutually supportive workplaces
• encourages teachers and school leaders to set high expectations and establish clear accountabilities for professional practice in a collaborative environment which values high quality, meaningful, and developmentally focused feedback
• acknowledges the highly skilled and complex nature of quality teaching and builds on the excellent practices that already exist in many Victorian government schools and across the teaching profession

These Guidelines describe the whole-of-practice approach to performance and development as it applies to teachers. Key elements of the approach and what teachers, principals and reviewers need to do at each stage of the performance and development cycle are also described. This includes an outline of the relevant professional standards and advice on goal setting, collection of evidence and the provision of effective feedback.

To complement the approach, the Department will provide tools and resources to assist schools to advance their professional practice.