A discussion paper: the development of professional teacher standards in environmental education.

Cutter-Mackenzie, Amy ; Clarke, Barbara ; Smith, Phil 等

A Move to Teacher Standards in Australia

According to Teaching Australia (2007, p. 1), the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, the development of national professional teacher standards is necessary for three distinct purposes:

* provide inspiration to aspiring teachers and principals, clarifying the expectations of the profession about accomplished practice;

* offer guidance to members of the profession seeking to improve their practice through self-reflection and professional learning; and

* increase public understanding of the complexity and rigour of the work of teachers and principals.

Since the late 1990s professional teaching associations have led the development and implementation of teacher standards. The catalyst for this work has been:

* to affirm teachers' professional status;

* to articulate the distinctive knowledge, skills and attributes required of teachers;

* as a focus for professional learning;

* to enhance professional self-esteem; and

* to affirm a commitment to public accountability (Teaching Australia, 2007, p. 1).

In Australia this work commenced in 1999. From 1999 - 2001 Commonwealth-funded collaborative research was undertaken by the national Mathematics, Science and English/Literacy professional associations in partnership with academics in the Faculty of Education at Monash University. The focus was on the formulation of subject-specific professional standards for Australian teachers. These three projects have proved to be of national significance to the wider education community through providing leadership with respect to the development process in writing and implementing teacher standards. This work parallels similar initiatives in other countries, most notably the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) in the United States, which has developed models of subject-specific professional standards and assessments for the purposes of certifying "accomplished" teachers in a range of subject areas (Ingvarson, 1998; Zemelman, Daniels & Hyde, 1998).

With the strong support of the Australian Federal Government, respective State and Territory teacher registration bodies and professional teaching associations are being supported and encouraged to develop professional teacher standards with and for the profession of teachers. As shown in Figure 1, Teaching Australia has developed a model for advancing teacher standards.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

In accordance with the MCEETYA (Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs) framework, professional associations are being encouraged to consider four categories in organising professional teacher standards:

* professional knowledge;

* professional practice;

* professional values; and

* professional relationships (Teaching Australia, 2007, p. 8).

Prior to discussing the approach taken in the pilot project, it is important to first discuss the cautions and concerns that have been raised about teacher standards.

Cautions and Concerns--Teacher Standards

While there is a growing body of support for the development of teacher standards in Australia, concerns and cautions have been voiced. Specifically, Darling-Hammond (1999, p. 3) argues:

   By themselves, they [teacher standards] cannot solve the problems
   of dysfunctional school organisations, outmoded curricula,
   inequitable allocation of resources, or lack of social supports for
   children and youth. Standards, like all reforms, hold their own
   dangers. Standard setting in all professions must be vigilant
   against the possibilities that practice could become constrained by
   the codification of knowledge that does not significantly
   acknowledge legitimate diversity of approaches or advances in the
   field; that access to practice could become overly restricted on
   grounds not directly related to competence; or that adequate
   learning opportunities for candidates to meet standards may not
   emerge on an equitable basis.

Hargreaves (2003) has been particularly critical of standards suggesting that they corrode collaboration, exhaust leadership and diminish teachers' investment in their professional learning. Sachs (2005, p. 3) identified tensions in the literature concerning two approaches to standards, namely developmental versus regulatory standards. She maintains that "developmental standards give promise to a revitalised and dynamic teaching profession; on the other hand, regulatory standards regimes can remove professional autonomy, engagement and expertise away from teachers, reduce diversity of practice and opinion and promote 'safe' practice". It is important to note that Sachs' (2005) categorisations of teacher standards sets up a dualism or dichotomy that may not encapsulate all approaches. As shown in Table 1, Sachs characterises these approaches as:

In Australia both approaches are evident, with a significant focus on a developmental approach. In the United Kingdom and USA, in contrast, there is an increasing shift to a regulatory approach. Both Darling-Hammond (1999) and Hargreaves (2003) claim that such regulatory approaches are resulting in the severe decline of teacher autonomy and professional identity. According to Hayes (2006), in Australia, the pressing question is not whether standards should be developed, but rather how they might be developed and/or implemented. This may be the case for other professional associations, however given the lack of work in environmental education regarding teacher standards, both the need for and the preferred approach to teacher standards remain unresolved. The latter tasks form an important aspect of this project.

Why Should Teacher Standards be Developed in Environmental Education?

The question regarding the need for teacher standards in environmental education remains unresolved. As identified earlier, there are currently no teacher standards in environmental education in Australia (Cutter-Mackenzie & Smith, 2005). Other than general national and state environmental education statements and policies, only one policy document has been produced which contains environmental education standards (termed competencies) for Australian (specifically Queensland) teachers (Board of Teacher Registration, 1993). While the initiative was well received by environmental educators, the competencies were considered to be too broad to implement and/or impact environmental education practices in the wider teaching profession (Cutter & Smith, 2001a, 2001b; Spork, 1990).

Internationally there has been some development in this area. The NAAEE (North American Association for Environmental Education) (2000) undertook an environmental education standards project with a focus on guidelines for environmental education materials, learning, preparation and professional development of environmental educators, non-formal programs and trainers' bureau. The Preparation and Professional Development of Environmental Educators Guidelines encapsulates broad statements which could also apply to teachers. According to the guidelines, they are relevant to:

* pre-service teacher education programs and environmental education courses offered to students with varied backgrounds such as environmental studies, geography, liberal studies, or natural resources;

* professional development of educators who will work in both formal and nonformal educational settings, offering programs at the pre-kindergarten through 12th grade levels; and

* full-time environmental educators as well as for those for whom environmental education is just one of their responsibilities (North American Association of Environmental Education, 2000, p. 1).

The guidelines take a developmental approach with the broad goal of improving environmental educators' professional knowledge and practice in formal and nonformal educational settings. A significant flaw with the NAAEE approach, however, is that it is not situated in the context of individual professions. It thus disregards the unique professional knowledge, attributes and practice of these professions, including primary and secondary school teachers. In the early stages of the development of this project there was significant debate about the guidelines. In a special issue of the Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, authors critiqued the value of national standards with a specific focus on student learning and curriculum. This is not to say, though, that positions presented are not relevant to this current discussion concerning teacher standards in environmental education. Of particular significance, is that there were strong sentiments for students, teachers and learning communities to develop their own knowledge, ideas and concerns allowing for contextual differences (Wals & van der Leij, 1997). McClaren (1997, p. 1) further claims that:

   It is also important to recognise that standards can be used as a
   means of centralising power within a domain of practice, and of
   regulating and controlling those critical of current practices or
   of the regulators themselves. Used badly, standards can be powerful
   forces repressing creativity, invention, innovations, and
   criticism. They can be a means of entrenching conventional wisdom
   and current practices.

Such critiques have parallels with the arguments presented by Hargreaves, Sachs and Darling-Hammond. However, we query whether Wals & van de Leij (1997) and McClaren (1997) presuppose that all standards are regulatory, not considering a developmental approach to standards that Sachs (2005, p. 3) maintains may "give promise to a revitalised and dynamic teaching profession". That said, we have adopted the latter approach in this pilot project.

The problem is that we have relatively few consensual ideas in Australia and indeed internationally about high levels of environmental education teacher standards. While there is certainly a growing body of research about this, the wisdom we seek in this project is from the Australian primary and secondary teaching profession itself.

The broader research has two main aims:

1. to develop, in extensive consultation with the profession of teachers and environmental educators, environmental education professional teacher standards for accomplished primary and secondary school teachers across Australia; and

2. to develop appropriate professional learning models and/or recognition procedures for accomplished teachers in environmental education.

Accomplishment in Environmental Education

Developing accomplished teacher standards in environmental education is a complicated task. For example, what might accomplishment (standards in practice) in environmental education look like? By way of doing this in mathematics, the Australian Association for Mathematics Teachers worked with teachers in developing portfolio assessment items which met the associated teacher standards developed by and with the profession. In order to demonstrate "standards in practice", at an accomplished level, teachers were asked to prepare accounts showcasing their accomplishment of a particular standard. Table 2 illustrates possible portfolio items.

This framework could equally be applied to environmental education. Illustrated in Table 3, the same framework is presented applying the same core items.

With this in mind, two research/practice phases have been devised for the pilot project as outlined in Table 4. Our approach builds on the knowledge learned from the successful development of both Mathematics and English standards projects in Australia through adopting a highly consultative research/practice approach.

Research Phase 1

The first stage of research phase 1 consists of three focus group consultative workshops currently taking place in the State of Victoria. The aim of the workshops is to develop teacher standards for accomplished teachers in environmental education. Teachers were invited to participate in the workshop groups via the Australian Association for Environmental Education and related state/national networks. These teachers already have a commitment to and expertise in the area as evidenced by their involvement in the professional associations. 20 teachers are participating in the pilot study.

As part of this research phase, existing teacher standard frameworks (including professional learning and assessment models) are being critiqued. More specifically, the participants have been provided with an array of documents to review and analyse, thus providing a review through the lens of teachers of environmental education during the first workshop. Ultimately, the teachers are the researchers and designers in this project.

Research Phase 2

Building on the work from phase 1 and with further consultation with the phase 1 focus groups, 2 participatory action research phases are proposed. However, given the participatory nature of this project this approach may be deemed inappropriate after the completion of the first phase. Ultimately the participants (teachers) themselves will determine the precise methods of this phase. At this early stage it is proposed that the action research phase will involve a small number of teachers (10) documenting and evidencing their environmental education practices in relation to a particular standard. This process will be monitored through interview and observation. It is proposed that the submissions will be reviewed by members of the original focus groups so as to determine to what extent a particular standard has been met. The purpose of this review process could be seen as two fold. It is a valuable professional learning experience where teachers can critique and refine their own practice, in addition to potentially leading to recognition of teaching experience in environmental education.

As part of research phase 2, it is anticipated that teachers will be asked to provide documentation showing their accomplishment of a particular standard. In doing so, all participants will be provided with resources to document their environmental education practices. The profiles could include an evaluation component so as to provide feedback on the assessment/recognition process and on opportunities for professional learning.

Concluding Comments

In 1998, the Australian Senate Employment, Education and Training References Committee released a report on an inquiry into the status of teaching (A Class Act). In commenting on the issue of standards of professional teaching practice, "the Committee insists that establishing ... standards of professional teaching practice is possible, unavoidable and absolutely necessary" (p. 16). This underpins the growing commitment to "standards" in teaching in many quarters in Australia and elsewhere. The Committee also made a clear statement on its position in relation to the location of responsibility for developing professional teaching standards: "It is an essential characteristic of standards of professional practice ... that (the standards) are determined by the profession itself" (p. 17). The last sentiment encapsulates the ethos of this pilot project and paper; developing standards with and for the profession of environmental education applying a highly consultative research/practice approach.

References

Board of Teacher Registration. (1993). Environmental Education: An Agenda for Preservice Teacher Education in Queensland. Toowong: Author.

Cutter, A., & Smith, R. (2001a). A chasm in environmental education: What primary school teachers 'might' or 'might not' know. In B. Knight & L. Rowan (Eds.), Researching in contemporary educational environments (pp. 113-132). Brisbane: Post Pressed Flaxton.

Cutter, A., & Smith, R. (2001b). Gauging primary school teachers' environmental literacy: An issue of 'priority'. Asia Pacific Education Review, 2(2), 45-60.

Cutter-Mackenzie, A., & Smith, P. (2005). Taking environmental education from policy to practice: An initiative for the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (Discussion Paper): Australian Association for Environmental Education and Monash University.

Darling-Hammond, L. (1999). Reshaping teaching policy, preparation and practice: Influences on the National Board for Teaching Professional Standards. Washington: AACTE.

Doecke, B., Clarke, B., Bishop, A., & Prince, N. (2005). Developing portfolio assessment in english and mathematics: Insider and outsider perspectives on the implementation of professional teacher standards. Clayton: Monash University.

Hargreaves, A. (2003). Teaching in the knowledge society: Education in the age of insecurity. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Hayes, T. (2006). Professional teaching associations and professional standards: Embedding standards in the 'discourse of the profession'. Canberra: Teaching Australia.

Ingvarson, L. (1998). Professional development as the pursuit of professional standards: The standards-based professional development system. Teachers and Teacher Education, 14(1), 127-140.

McClaren, M. (1997). Reflections on "Alternatives to national standards in environmental education: Process-based quality assessment". Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 2, 35-46.

North American Association of Environmental Education. (2000). National Project for Excellence in Environmental Education. Retrieved February 21, 2008, from http:// www.naaee.org/programs-and-initiatives/guidelines-for-excellence/

Sachs, J. (2005). Keynote: Professional standards: Quality teachers for the future. Paper presented at the Sharing Experience: Ways forward on standards conference, Melbourne.

Spork, H. (1990). The classroom practices, professional preparation, attitudes and concerns of state primary classroom teachers in Brisbane North Region, Queensland, regarding environmental education. Unpublished master's thesis, Griffith University, Brisbane.

Teaching Australia. (2007). National professional standards for advanced teaching and school leadership. Canberra: Teaching Australia.

Wals, A., & van der Leij, T. (1997). Alternatives to national standards for environmental education: Process-based quality assessment. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 2, 7-27.

Zemelman, S., Daniels, H., & Hyde, A. (1998). Best practice: New standards for teaching and learning in America's schools. Portsmouth: Heinemann.

Endnote

(1.) While the term standards is used throughout this paper, it is important to note that the pilot project is only in its infancy such that the pilot participants may prefer to utilise a different concept.

Amy Cutter-Mackenzie ([dagger]) & Barbara Clarke

Monash University

Phil Smith

Australian Association for Environmental Education

([dagger]) Address for correspondence: Dr Amy Cutter-Mackenzie, Faculty of Education, Monash University, Peninsula Campus Office A3.32, McMahons Road, Frankston Victoria 3199, Australia. Email: Amy.CutterMackenzie@Education.monash.edu.au

TABLE 1: Two Tensions/Approaches (Sachs, 2005, pp. 4-5)

Developmental Approach

* A student centred approach to teaching
and learning

* Systematic forms of monitoring for the
purposes of accountability

* A view that teachers should be life long
learners

* A commitment to teachers improving their
professional knowledge and practice.

* Advocating the possibilities of professional
learning communities to transform
teachers' knowledge and practice

Regulatory Approach

* A focus on accountability

* A technical approach to teaching

* Monitoring teacher performance

* Compliance

* External imposition of the standards
by a government instrumentality

TABLE 2: Accomplished teaching standards in teaching
mathematics in Australian schools (Doecke, Clarke, Bishop,
& Prince, 2005, p. 4)

Domains        Core Item                      Option Items

Professional   Case Study--A detailed         Unit of Work
Knowledge      account of the mathematical    Student Work Samples
               progress of two children       Instructions Materials
               from the same class over an
               extended period of time.

Professional   Professional Journey--A        Testimonials
Attributes     detailed reflective account    Publications
               of the teacher's
               professional development
               over time.

Professional   Teaching and Learning          Video
Practice       Sequence--A detailed account   Classroom Story
               of the development,            Teaching Materials
               implementation and
               assessment of an extended
               teaching sequence with a
               class of students.

TABLE 3: Accomplished teaching standards in teaching
environmental education in Australian schools

Domains        Core Item                      Option Items

Professional   Case Study--A detailed         Unit of Work
Knowledge      account of two children's      Student Work Samples
               progress in environmental      Instructions Materials
               education over an extended
               period of time.

Professional   Professional Journey--A        Testimonials
Attributes     detailed reflective account    Publications
               of the teacher's
               professional development
               over time.

Professional   Teaching and Learning          Video
Practice       Sequence--A detailed account   Classroom Story
               of the development,            Teaching Materials
               implementation and
               assessment of an extended
               teaching sequence with a
               class of students.

TABLE 4: Research/Practice Approach

1. To develop, in extensive        * A series of focus group
   consultation with the             (interview) consultative
   profession of teachers and        workshops with primary and
   environmental educators,          secondary teachers in
   environmental education           Victoria.
   professional teacher
   standards for accomplished      * Document analysis of
   primary and secondary school      national/international
   teachers across Australia         teacher standards frameworks
                                     and professional learning and
                                     recognition and assessment
                                     models.

2. To develop appropriate          * Development and
   professional learning models      implementation of two action
   and/or recognition                research cycles of
   procedures for accomplished       assessment/recognition
   teachers in environmental         procedures with nominated
   education                         teachers in Victoria.

                                   * Teacher portfolios or
                                     profiles. Selected teachers
                                     identified to undertake
                                     recognition process.