Final report of the Quality Initial Teacher Education Review
– an important step forward
“T oday ‘s release of the final report of the Quality Initial Teacher Education Review is an import ant step fo rward for
I nitial Teacher E ducation (ITE),” National Catholic Education executive director Jacinta Collins, said.
“It builds on t he strength of current programs and practices to sup port the delivery of quality teaching and to
ensure Australian students receive a high qua lity education.
” T he report ‘s key recommendations are aimed at attracting high -quality, diverse can didates, e nsuring e vidence-
based preparation and inducting new tea cher s well.”
Ms Collins said Catholic ed ucation has been working in partners hip with the tertiary sector to develop a range of
strategies to support quality initial teacher education and ongoing support for educators.
“We recently laun ched a national prog ram to build teacher capacity and to add ress the teaching workforce needs
of Catholic schools, particularly in rural, regional and remote areas,” Ms Collins said.
” The program, a partnership with Austr alian Catholic University and the University of Notre Dame Australia, sees
teacher educati on students employed in Catholic schools as paraprofessionals to address the growing shortage of
teachers and provide paid, in -the -classroom experience.
“It enables teaching students to find employment and extend their experience in Catholic schools where the y are
most needed.
“It is part of a long -term strategy to place highly trained, workplace -ready graduates into Australian Catholic
schools and early childhood education centres where they will be s upported by mentors, school and tertiary
professional learning.”
NCEC is the peak body for Catholic Education in Australia and is responsible f or the national coordination and
representation of Catholic schools and school authorities.
There are 1,755 Catholic schools educating over 777,000 or one in five Au stralian students and employing over
100,000 staff.
