But it will “consider” proposals for reform

Australian Catholic U was quick to congratulate Mark Scott and colleagues’ paper for the feds on improving initial teacher education, (CMM yesterday) – adding at length, what a splendid job the university is already doing.

Specifically, education and arts dean Mary Ryan, “welcomed the discussion paper’s commitment to providing greater consistency and improved school placement experiences for Australian teaching students.”

But ACU is silent on the paper’s proposal for publicly available performance measures of ITE courses, “to increase accountability and inform student choice.”

Overall ACU acknowledges the paper’s “proposals for reform that are important for ITE providers nationally to consider.”

Good-0, except that it is not likely to be universities that ultimately do the considering.

Recommendations based on the paper and responses to it (due by April 21) will go to the Commonwealth by end June. Education Minister Jason Clare has previously committed to taking recs to state and federal ministers (CMM November 4 2022). And as he told TEN TV News yesterday, “I  know education ministers right across the country understand how serious this.”

Whether the ITE establishment likes it or not, things could have been way worse than the Scott proposal for accountability.

Coalition education minister Alan Tudge actually warned the then government would use “the full leverage” of the $760 it provided for teacher ed if universities did not  teach, “highly effective” methods (CMM October 25 2021)

Of course Professor Scott is way too subtle to ever suggest such a thing but it might appeal to “Danger Mouse” backbench MPs, game to get it in on the policy agenda.