Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment: An intervention project at the intersection of standards, professional knowledge and assessment

The benchmarking of education systems has been accompanied by an increasing policy interest in the evidence base for initial teacher education and the related claims about graduate quality. In some countries, this has also fuelled the move to install standards that seek to specify competence on entry to teaching and at stages of career progression. In Australia, referents for these efforts include the Australian professional standards for teachers: Graduate teachers (AITSL, 2011), and National Program Standards (AITSL, 2015). It was in the context of policy-driven reform in Australian initial teacher education (ITE) that a consortium of 13 ITE providers from states and territories came together to trial the Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment (GTPA). Underpinning the work from the start was the recognition of the need for collective action and collaborative professionalism in authentic cultural change. In this paper I will present some insights into the lived experience of the GTPA, identifying both conceptual and practical aspects and some lessons learned.