Teacher registration and accreditation of teacher education programs: Crucial issues for the teaching profession and Australia

Australia is a country with fewer than 18 million people and yet, unlike some overseas systems serving larger populations, there are no nation-wide teacher registration standards for those preparing to teach in government or non-government schools. Each school system supports its own bureaucracy for teacher employment. In the case of employment in government schools, each state or territory is responsible for setting its own minimum qualifications for employment. The qualifications established by each school system, or individual school in the case of some non-government schools, may be waived in times of teacher shortage or convenience. These procedures make teacher mobility between states and territories almost impossible for Australian qualified teachers. It is ironic that teachers who qualified overseas must have their qualifications recognised by a national organisation to teach in Australia. Similarly, there is no Australia-wide accreditation of teacher education courses which would provide a measure of quality control for an often sceptical public. Finally, there are no standards for the registration of teacher educators. This paper addresses these issues drawing on the recent experience of several overseas countries including Canada, England, New Zealand, Scotland and theUnited States of America.