Professional learning ensures that teachers maintain their professional ‘currency’ as educational contexts change over time (e.g., preparing for AI use in classrooms). Undertaking professional learning is not unique to teachers but a mandated requirement for a number of other professions, such as engineers, nurses, doctors, lawyers, and certified practicing accountants.

In South Australia, a total of 10 500 teachers declared they completed 60 hours of professional learning as part of their renewal of registration in 2024. A total of 350 (3.3%) of these teachers were selected randomly for inclusion in the Teachers Registration Board annual professional learning audit. Teachers were given four weeks to check and update their records before the audit of records commenced.

The Teachers Portal was used by most teachers to provide their records with a small proportion being submitted as hardcopies. In general, records entered electronically tended to move through the process more quickly as the portal provides the key components required by the TRB. Hardcopies often did not provide all the required information with teachers having to submit additional information via email to complete the process.

Teachers demonstrated an array of professional learning opportunities including:

• formal study towards a higher degree
• online learning, such as videos and podcasts
• site-based projects
• targeted professional learning provided within individual sites
• personalized reading appropriate to the teacher’s roles and responsibilities

The Teachers Registration Board recognizes the importance of all these different types of opportunities to access professional learning and does not require teachers to attend face-to-face workshops that can be very expensive. This point is crucial to ensure that those teachers who are working part-time, as Temporary Relief Teachers or not currently teaching are not disadvantaged.

The majority of teachers met the requirements around professional learning although some activities are still being included that are not accepted, such as:

• developing lesson plans or units of work; and,
• attendance at staff meetings (which are generally administrative in nature). The exception would be if an invited speaker attended to provide professional insights around a particular educational aspect (i.e., developing problem-based tasks encouraging students to demonstrate deeper thinking around the application of knowledge).

While these activities do align to the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers this is because they are part of a teacher’s professional practice (i.e., the roles and responsibilities of the position).

For clarification regarding what constitutes professional learning and how to record various types of professional learning access Professional learning | Teachers Registration Board of South Australia (trb.sa.edu.au) or contact the helpful TRB staff on 8253 9715.