Smarter school national partnerships

2012 Significant Achievements / Highlights

The success and further development of the Leadership Program was a highlight for AISSA. The program continued to receive strong support from school leaders.


Feedback from principals and other school leaders indicates the important impact of the AISSA Leadership Program.
The AISSA has been able to develop and implement a high quality program that has regard to changing needs of school leaders, particularly in leading change and school improvement, the national education agenda and developments, such as the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) publications.

Feedback from principals and other school leaders indicates the impact of this program and its mechanisms for sustainability have been significant with leaders gaining increased capacity and confidence to develop and implement school improvement initiatives and to improve student’s learning. The program has been designed to be complementary with other major AISSA school improvement initiatives.

The CESA Community of Practice approach that engaged teachers in collaborative development of assessment resources, was a highlight for 2012, significant for the ways in which it built on the expertise and continuous improvement of teachers to implement the Australian Curriculum.

Eighty five teachers and curriculum leaders deepened their understanding of standards, referenced assessment within the Australian Curriculum and, in collaboration with Catholic Education Office consultants, developed rubrics to describe levels of achievement in relation to the Achievement Standards in English, Mathematics, History and Science.

A further 60 teachers participated in professional learning and trialling of the rubrics at their schools and provided feedback. Forty four teachers attended a formal feedback session with suggestions for refinement and many of these teachers provided assessment tasks and student work samples.

In the midst of this work, a group of 16 teachers engaged in collecting student work samples in history for feedback to the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority work sample project. In addition, the Key Literacy Teachers Network and Numeracy Primary and Secondary Teachers Networks engaged in professional learning in relation to assessment and learning.

In total, 329 teachers from 85 Catholic schools attended professional learning sessions regarding assessment and learning in 2012. Other professional learning in subject specific and implementation strategies were held, as well as information sessions for principals and school leaders.

Two significant achievements in the Government sector relate to development of leaders and school support staff. The quality of teachers’ work is directly affected by the quality of their site leaders and the support staff working with them to achieve improved student learning outcomes. Government sector initiatives focused on improving leadership professional development and expanding the number and the relevance of accredited training options available to support staff. An aging workforce and predicted increases in retirement of the experienced leadership workforce were key considerations in customising leadership programs for both aspiring and beginning leaders to develop skills and capabilities aligned with the National Professional Standard for Principals and the work of developing an education community. In 2010 a Government sector work review of school support staff showed this was a largely unqualified workforce. In order to build capacity within sites and create an interest in accredited training, in 2012 grants were offered to sites that committed to enrolling support staff in the accredited training programs and creating multi-disciplinary teams of teachers and support staff working together to improve student learning outcomes. The significant uptake of relevant accredited training by school support staff has now been further supported in the new enterprise agreement, which provides scope for an additional criteria-based pay increment for school support staff obtaining an accredited certificate/ qualification(s).

Support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students

The AISSA Indigenous Mentoring Program provided one-to-one mentoring by teachers and leaders in independent schools and/or in-school experiences and career guidance to assist participants to achieve their professional and personal goals.

In CESA, support to schools was provided to case manage Indigenous students and for family consultation and advocacy. Individual Learning Plans for all Indigenous students are now the cornerstone of the student support program.

The construction of the Individual Learning Plans occurs through a form of professional coaching, with Indigenous Education Consultants modelling the process with educational staff in local settings. Copies of students’ Individual Learning Plans are retained in a central repository, and are available to families and school communities to assist in times of transition. Student review meetings have been adapted to ‘four way’ meetings - consultant, school-based educational staff, parents and students. This process is complemented by whole staff professional learning. The Indigenous Education team works closely with the Special Education, Behaviour Education and Vocational Education teams in this process.


24 students are currently in the Aboriginal Teaching Scholarships program in the Government sector, which provides financial support and permanent employment as they undertake a teacher education program.
The Government sector responded to the identified need to increase participation of Aboriginal people in the workplace and the number of Aboriginal employees in teaching by placing the greatest emphasis on accreditation and pathways into teaching for Aboriginal employees. A significant increase in Aboriginal employees undertaking accredited training was initiated with a career intention survey conducted to identify aspirations to enter a teaching career pathway. This resulted in Aboriginal employees being selected to participate in newly designed teacher education programs.

The Aboriginal Teaching Scholarships program provides financial support and permanent employment for Indigenous students as they undertake a teacher education program. There are currently 24 students in this program.

DECD is participating in the National Alliance Remote Indigenous Schools (NARIS) initiative which is identifying and targeting high achieving Indigenous students in remote NARIS locations and providing support to undertake tertiary education programs upon completion of their SACE. A range of financial incentives and intensive mentoring support is available to recipients.