Framework
The College holds the view that a project of this magnitude must sit within an educational framework that has empirical validity, and which will simultaneously support the teachers own development. The framework that was chosen was the NSW Department of Education and Training “Quality Teaching Framework”. Growing out of extensive research by the University of Queensland into factors for successful learning, the NSW framework recognises three key ingredients for student learning:
- Intellectual quality
- Quality learning environment
- Significance
It has been shown to improve the academic outcomes of all students. It respects the work of teachers and provides them with a practical and useful framework for professional dialogue, for planning and redesigning lessons and for reflecting on the quality of what they do in the classroom.
Quality Teaching has helped focus teachers’ attention on HOW they teach as much as on WHAT they teach. Each of the three dimensions of pedagogy can be described in terms of a number of elements. The three dimensions should be present in every project, but not necessarily all of the 18 elements.
