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| Madam Speaker, I welcome the students, it is great to see them here. I move that the bill be now read a second time. The purpose of this bill is to amend the Teacher Registration (Northern Territory) Act to enhance the existing legislation to better enable the Teacher Registration Board of the Northern Territory to meet the objectives of the act. The Teacher Registration (Northern Territory) Act was passed in 2004, with the objective of ensuring only persons who are fit and proper, and who are appropriately qualified, are employed as teachers in the Northern Territory. It is the role of the Teacher Registration Board to administer the scheme of teacher registration which has existed in the Territory for five years, and also to facilitate the continuing competence of our teachers. In the five years since the act was passed, there have been a number of developments nationally. The bill seeks to implement critical reforms identified in the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs National Framework 2003, and the Council of Australian Governments Improving Teacher Quality National Partnership agreement signed in 2008. The bill also proposes a number of amendments to assist the board in its administration of the act. The changes proposed will strengthen the act, which in turn will have a long-term benefit for students and teachers in our schools. The bill provides for the introduction in the Northern Territory of new teacher registration categories and requirements which will support, enhance, and improve quality teaching. These new practices are fundamental to longer-term reforms, aimed at developing national consistency in teacher registration across jurisdictions, and a national accreditation system for pre-service teacher education courses. This bill also proposes important changes to the way in which the board conducts complaints and inquiries. Holistically, this bill aligns the Northern Territory with other jurisdictional authorities. First, the Teacher Registration Board will accredit initial teacher education courses for delivery in the Territory. Currently, the act does not explicitly empower the TRB of the Northern Territory to accredit pre-service teacher education programs. The act needs to be amended to ensure programs delivered by tertiary institutions in the Territory can be recognised for teacher registration purposes. This bill contains provisions to achieve the amendments necessary to support the national agenda, and to accredit home-grown initial teacher education programs. This is particularly important at a time when the education revolution aims to attract the best and brightest into teaching. This is particularly important at a time when the education revolution aims to attract the best and brightest into teaching and the Northern Territory has to be part of this. The second key change is that this act proposes to introduce two categories of registration - provisional registration and full registration. The current legislation only allows one category of Registered Teacher. Under the provisions of this bill, new graduates will be granted provisional registration and only experienced teachers will be granted full registration. This is an important initiative because it recognises that teachers new to the profession need a period of supported induction into the profession. The category of provisional registration will also include teachers returning from extended periods of leave; teachers from overseas who have no teaching experience in Australian schools; and applicants from other jurisdictions whose registration has lapsed, as well as those teachers from New South Wales who come to us with a provisional accreditation from that state. The introduction of this new category of registration sends a clear message that the Northern Territory places great importance on the currency of practice, and ongoing professional competence of our teachers through our registration processes. The Teacher Registration Board has developed professional standards of practice for graduate teachers and for competent teachers. These standards align with the Ministerial Council and the national framework and they have established clear rigorous expectations against which provisional and full registration may be granted. The third key change to registration procedures that this bill introduces is that once granted full registration teachers will then be required to demonstrate that they have maintained their competence and professional experience as teachers as part of the registration renewal process. Under the existing provisions of the act, the board is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the continuing competence of teachers. However, the board has no power to refuse to renew a teacher’s registration as long as the teacher pays the fee and completes the renewal application form. The bill before members will require teachers registered in the Territory to demonstrate ongoing professional competence every five years. These new initiatives are important in ensuring not only that the Northern Territory teachers are competent practitioners, but also because the bill would bring registration practices in the Territory into line with registration practices in other Australian jurisdictions and with the New Zealand Teachers Council. All other jurisdictions with regulatory authorities impose registration renewal requirements by which registered teachers are required to demonstrate ongoing competence and good character, meaning that teachers maintain their professional competence and meet current standards of professional practice. It is time that Territory teachers did the same. A substantial part of this bill is made up Part 6 of the act, which concerns the Teacher Registration Board’s inquiry and complaints function. These functions provide for the board to investigate matters that call into question whether a teacher is a fit and proper person, or is competent to teach. The proposed amendments largely correct anomalies in the current act and refine the board’s capacity to better meet the objectives of the act. The amendments include clarification of when the board may undertake a preliminary investigation into a matter brought to its attention, and when it must take the more costly option of going to a full inquiry that must be chaired by a member of the legal profession. The purpose of amending this part of the act is to ensure that an investigation of matters is not unnecessarily escalated to an inquiry which is the case owing to the ambiguity in the current legislation. In addition, this bill extends the scope of protection from liability for relevant persons providing information to the board. This ensures that the board can undertake preliminary investigations in an efficient and effective way and safe guard those relevant persons who provide information to the board. The community must be confident that the Teacher Registration Board has powers to rigorously investigate matters of concern properly, and that the teaching profession needs to know that individuals who bring the profession into disrepute will be dealt with appropriately. Students in our Territory schools deserve nothing less. Finally, the House should note that in refining the board’s capacity to seek additional information about teachers applying for registration, or registration renewal in the Northern Territory, proper attention has been paid to compliance with privacy and information legislation. Madam Speaker, I commend the bill to honourable members and table the explanatory of statement to accompany the bill. Debate adjourned. |