THE PERFORMANCE and DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK (for NSW teachers)

The Performance and Development Framework was touted, at the beginning of 2015, as a process and schedule that would not add to a teacher's workload and, even more importantly, not distract him/ her from the core business of teaching and learning within their classroom. 

Well, one colleague mustn't have received that memo. In a letter to 'Education' earlier this week (October 26, 2015), Julie Ross writes........ 

'The issue of workload is raised regularly at both Council and Annual Conference. Teachers are overwhelmed by the reform agenda and its impact on their daily teaching practices: an AEU survey of more than 2000 teachers this year found that 73 per cent believed their workload had significantly increased in the past two years. 

The imposition of the Performance and Development Framework, together with the professional development plans and goals, observations and feedback and formal review meetings is adding to the workload of classroom teachers and their supervisors. 

Linking goals to school plans and faculty/ stage plans, identifying professional learning required and finding time to engage in professional discourse with supervisors is leaving little time for quality lesson planning and delivery and contributing to teachers’ stress levels. 

The workload of principals, deputies, assistant principals and head teachers has increased dramatically with the responsibility for teacher accreditation shifting from BOSTES to school leaders. Principals or their delegates, as Teacher Accreditation Authorities, are now required to determine whether a staff member reaches the benchmarks for accreditation at Proficient level. If the teacher does meet the standards an Accreditation Report must be completed by the supervising teacher.

 

Each of the seven standards must be addressed and descriptions about how the teacher’s practice aligns with the standards must be included. 

A quick look at the BOSTES teacher accreditation website will give you an indication of exactly how much work is required in this process. This all has to be verified and signed off by the principal, now the Teacher Accreditation Authority.

So when I hear that the new measures replace TARS and EARS (teacher and executive assessment reviews) and that they should not create any additional work and should capture what we are already doing as quality teachers I am at best cynical, and at worst……….. '