One of the important pieces of work undertaken by the Teachers Registration Board is the accreditation of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programs.  Higher Education providers in South Australia go through a cycle of accreditation and review, to be able to offer their Bachelor and Masters courses for teacher registration.  The TRB convenes sub-committees to assess these submissions against the AITSL standards for program accreditation.

This ensures that graduating teachers from universities all around the country have finished a degree that meets consistent national standards, and which qualifies them for registration, and to enter the teaching profession. 

These sub-committees rely on practicing teachers, and teacher educators, to contribute their knowledge, experience, and professional expertise as part of the accreditation process.  There is always a need to recruit new sub-committee members with backgrounds in early childhood, primary, or secondary teaching.  Training is provided by AITSL, and support for new sub-committee members is provided by the TRB.

If you are interested in being trained to sit on accreditation sub-committees, we would love to hear from you.  For more information about the accreditation process please email professional.standards@trb.sa.edu.au.

This is what some of the teachers who have sat on sub-committees this year have to say about their experience.

Being a part of an ITE accreditation panel was a rewarding process as an Educational Leader. To be able to reflect on the teaching standards and review how these are applied to our current Initial Teacher Education programs not only gave me insight to what our graduate teachers are learning and the skills they are developing but allowed me to give back to my profession. To support and promote Early Childhood educators on their journey is vital for the education and success of our future generations and the accreditation process is a thorough review of the university course designed to ensure our graduate teachers are knowledgeable, capable and have experience across a variety of settings when they graduate.

Rebecca Stevens, Head of Teacher Development - Accreditation, Seymour College (pictured above).

The panel experience was rewarding for me, as it connected me to the good work in schools and to the good work in universities. It was wonderful to be part of the process which has a direct view of how, our excellent Australian Universities, teach every focus area descriptor of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.

James Ellis, Lead Teacher, Trinity Gardens School