Teacher Effectiveness in Australia

This chapter explores the concept of teacher effectiveness as it relates to the Australian schooling context. The chapter delineates some of the important aspects connected to the concept of teacher effectiveness within Australian education policy now and over recent times. It discusses some of the major contextual elements involved in schooling which situate classroom teachers as the variable with the most influence in enhancing student achievement scores. The field of Australian school education has undergone significant change in recent decades with policy-maker calls on classroom teachers to enhance school system productivity via teacher effectiveness. The chapter will traverse the significant economic and educational change marking the emphasis on the concept of teacher effectiveness connecting it to the current Australian education policy framework that emphasizes the continuous development and performance of individual classroom teachers and their pedagogic effectiveness.