Quality practice template

The Quality Practice Template: the Standards for the Teaching Profession 

in your setting

This template is not for individual teachers to complete as an appraisal record!

Getting to know the Standards for the Teaching Profession is essential for making appraisal valuable, manageable and learner-centred for all teachers and leaders. Knowing the standards and having a shared understanding of what they look like at your place allows you to focus your appraisal attention around your goals or inquiry.

Completing the Quality Practice Template together means you together with colleagues identify the Standards as practices in your context. It makes it easier to see the naturally occurring evidence available for discussion/analysis.

When it’s completed if you find it hard to undertake any of the agreed practices, you can speak to your appraiser to talk about what needs to happen to make sure you can do it. Similarly, if an appraiser notices that some of the agreed practices are not happening, then they can have a conversation with the appraisee.

Completing the template -download as paper or electronic file

Leading your colleagues to make a start

1. You will need to dedicate half an hour of staff meeting time (could be two 15 minute sessions) to making a start.

2. Explain the purpose for completing the template. Have everyone work in pairs/small groups to record what this standard looks like in practice (what you already do-that is viewed as quality practice and also what you do/plan to do at the aspirational level). Refer to the standard and work in column three. Refer back to the elaborations as you go for further explanation. You do not need to be matching an quality practice to each elaboration.

3. You can leave the evidence column at this stage if that works for your groups.

4. Have pairs/small groups pass these around for others to compare, discuss and add to what is there. Or have the pairs groups complete another standard.

 

Refining the template

1. Display the draft template pages in a shared area e.g. staff room/meeting space so you can all add to or amend it over the next weeks. Leaving post-its nearby encourages participation.

2. Pass the sheets around again and have groups or pairs think about any professional learning and development responses you are currently working on e.g. Kāhui Ako achievement challenges, Te Whariki. Also use national documents e.g. The New Zealand Curriculum; Ka Hikitia; Success for All; Pasifika Education Plan; Tātaiako; Te Marautanga o Aotearoa). You could also use research publications relevant to your context, goals and strategic plan add to/amend/remove anything recorded as a quality practice.

3. Talk about whether any of these are ‘must dos’ or ‘might dos’ because they relate to particular roles etc.

 

Thinking about evidence

1. Talk with your colleagues about the evidence you use/analyse as part of these practices. Record it in column four. This evidence already exists and does not need to be ‘gathered’ ‘hyper-linked’ or ‘identified in any additional manner for the purpose of appraisal unless it forms part of a teacher’s goal or inquiry record that they may be using for appraisal.

 

Including the findings from teachers’ inquiries

1. As teachers complete inquiries or self-reviews, discuss and analyse their new understandings/knowledge about quality practice. Add these to your template document.

2. Use this reference document for goal setting and in appraisal conversations. It will also be valuable for your internal evaluation. You might even share it with your board members.