
The Sub-Regional Teachers Standards workshop in 2024 provided a platform for discussions with teacher training institutions on ways to incorporate national professional teacher standards into the teacher education courses and be part of the certification of teachers.
The Pacific Community (SPC) convened participants from eight Pacific Island countries with Teacher Training Institutions in Nadi, Fiji, from 13 to 18 August 2024 to participate in this four-day workshop.
Dr Hilary Hollingsworth from the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) explained that the workshop “provided opportunities for rich conversations between Ministries of Education and Teacher Training Institutions (TTIs) about how countries might implement teacher standards in coursework and as part of in-service activities and overall teacher certification and registration”.
Dr Hollingsworth added that the workshop resulted in a shared understanding of the role of teacher professional standards in facilitating teacher learning and improving student outcomes, “An initial mapping of the Pacific Regional Teacher Standards to TTI teacher education courses was conducted as part of the workshop.”

“There was also a shared commitment by TTI representatives to include teacher standards in their teacher education courses and to collaborate and share experiences and actions with each other,” she said.
SPC’s Team Leader for Curriculum and Assessment, Doreen Tuala, added that the workshop focussed on conversations around using teacher standards to support teacher development and improve teacher quality and student learning outcomes.
“A regional workshop was held last year with participants from 15 countries, and one of the key outcomes of the workshop was the enhancement of understanding of the background behind the teacher competency standards,” said Tuala.
She further explained that the teacher standards workshops are initiatives under the Pacific Regional Education Framework (PacREF) aimed at enhancing the understanding of the process and the use of professional standards at both national and regional levels.

“The commitment to the contextualisation of regional standards into national standards, with a regional perspective and purpose; and enhanced awareness of the need for a governance structure to guide and guard the use of teacher standards across the region.”
Paul Auin, Papua New Guinea’s Department of Education Officer, explained that having teacher standards will improve learning outcomes for students and “will help our teachers to measure up to the standards that we have set for the region.”
“The value, the intent, the spirit behind this sub-regional workshop is to make sure we take on board our teacher training institutions so that our teachers and trainees are made aware of the standards before they go out into the teaching field, “said Auin.
Dr Hollingsworth added that during the workshop, each country drafted an action plan, including implementation activities and timelines to introduce teacher standards in initial teacher education courses, in-service activities, and certification processes, “The action plans included ways that the work of TTIs and Ministries could be collaboratively coordinated and supported.”
SPC's Educational Quality and Assessment Programme (EQAP) has recorded important decisions made during the workshop and will continue to work with its member countries to contextualise the regional teacher standards to country specifications in 2025.