The Accreditation Standards and Procedures set out the requirements that an initial teacher education (ITE) program must meet to be nationally accredited. They were initially developed in 2011 and revised in 2015, with further updates made in 2018, 2019 and 2023. The 2023 update has been developed as an addendum to be read alongside the Standards and Procedures. The Accreditation Standards and Procedures, including the addendum, draw on the expertise and vision of the key experts in the sector and embody a commitment to driving improvement in ITE.
These Standards and Procedures set out the requirements that an initial teacher education program must meet to be nationally accredited. They draw on the expertise and vision of teacher educators, employers of teachers, those in the teaching profession, in schools and early childhood settings and the broader education community, and embody the ongoing sector-wide commitment to driving improvement in teacher education.
These Standards and Procedures reflect high expectations of initial teacher education and the interest of all Australian governments in maximising our collective investment in the development of pre-service and graduate teachers. They also represent a collective sense of accountability and acknowledge that evaluation of initial teacher education is a shared responsibility. Quality assurance of teacher education programs is essential to ensure every program is preparing classroom ready teachers with the skills they need to make a positive impact on school student learning.
They are designed to ensure that all graduates of initial teacher education meet the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers at the Graduate career stage. This is the foundation of the accreditation process.
These Standards and Procedures demonstrate an approach to accrediting initial teacher education programs that is based on an assessment of their impact, drawing on two distinct but related types of evidence: evidence of pre-service teacher performance, that is evidence that is collected from within a program in relation to a pre-service teacher’s performance; and evidence of graduate outcomes, that is evidence that is collected following completion of a program in relation to the achievements of a program’s graduates.
These Standards and Procedures include processes and structures that ensure a rigorous and nationally consistent accreditation process. They are supported by supplementary materials that provide clarity both to providers submitting applications and to panel members assessing them on what it means to meet the Program Standards.