Sociology Essay: Quality Teaching and Teacher's Roles in Australia

This sociology essay critically examines the concept of quality teaching and its significance in the Australian educational landscape. It explores the importance of teacher quality, the impact of teaching skills on student success, and the challenges to teacher professionalism, including issues of pay, working conditions, and inadequate professional development. The essay also delves into factors influencing the teaching process, such as teacher enthusiasm and cognitive learning, and recommends curriculum development and various teaching approaches to address identified challenges. It emphasizes the need for the Australian government to support teacher training, promote leadership in schools, and invest in initiatives that enhance the quality of teaching, ultimately aiming to improve student outcomes and contribute to the nation's economic and social development. The essay underscores the ongoing nature of teacher learning and the crucial role of quality teaching in achieving successful educational outcomes.

Running Head : SOCIOLOGY
SOCIOLOGY
Name of the Student
Name of the University

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Introduction
Quality teachers including teaching, backed by proactive professional development, are
the core concerns for learning experiences and performance. In the first place, teaching is a
cultural practice and teachers ' standards have changed over time as societies have modified their
beliefs and concerns. In addition, numerous individuals and organizations can have very different
opinions on the standard of the instructor at any time (Gunn, 2018). An analysis of past teacher
quality concepts can provide a framework for understanding current definitions. High moral
character is a common criterion for teacher efficiency. Teachers are also supposed to act as
positive role models and the highest social property expectations. Throughout the early 1900s,
this view of the standard of the instructor was especially strong. However, today's society
requires high-quality teaching including teacher learning. Educators must have excellent
expertise and skills in both teaching methods and evaluation processes to fulfill these quality
teaching criteria and expectations (Üstünlüoğlu, 2016). Quality teaching is a significant concern
as the educational environment is rapidly evolving. This essay aims to critically analyze the
concept of quality teaching and current issues contributing to professionalism and teacher works
in Australia.
Discussion
Importance of quality teaching and teacher quality
Teacher quality as well as teaching quality seem to be the most important factors in
training, although both have been scrutinized and described for several years confusingly.
According to Digital Learning Standards (DTL), teachers should be committed to delivering
customized digital education for K-12 students to be effective in college, to profession and also
as active people with international involvement. The pressures upon teachers and administrators

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are becoming more challenging, while their functions are central to the training of students for
the advanced abilities needed for an intelligence-based society (Goos & Salomons, 2017). 21st-
century teachers are often expected to tackle "multiple languages and student backgrounds,
respond effectively to disadvantaged students, use emerging technology effectively, adapt to
meet the variegated requirements and learning styles effectively, and keep them up to date on
both the rapidly evolving areas of information, expertise and pedagogy". The teacher's quality
and instruction are the key factors affecting as well as enhancing the academic achievement as
well as the overall success of the students. Quality of the teacher is also indirectly determined by
the emphasis put on student’s performance or the availability of professional credentials,
including credentials, expertise and vocational training.
“There is now almost universal recognition around the world that ‘teaching matters’ and that
the quality of teaching is crucial in social and economic development.”
This is reflected in the broad impact of international rankings and surveys, including OECD
PISA and TALIS surveys, comparing school students ' results, and Mckinsey reports comparing
nation economic output (McKinsey & Company. 2016).
Skills
Teaching can indeed be described as a partnership with students to allow them to
recognize as well as apply information, principles and procedures. It involves design, choice of
content, distribution, assessment as well as reflection. Teaching includes learners, so teaching
requires students in the active creation of knowledge. A teacher requires knowing not only the
subject, but also how to turn the students into active pupils (Hascher & Hagenauer, 2016).
Effective teaching therefore includes a dedication to education systematically. The objective of

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the teaching is to not only communicate information, but also to develop students through
passive information receivers into active creators of the knowledge, as well as of others.
Challenges in professionalism of teaching
The most critical obstacle in fragile contexts to quality professional development are the
harsh conditions in which teachers work. Lack of pay (irregular, late or small), inadequate
classrooms, the possibility (or likelihood) of sexual harassment, the lack of respect from school
administrators and the members of the community, and the lack of learning and teaching content
all contribute to challenging working conditions.
The efficacy of the teacher's beliefs is closely linked to teacher quality. Teachers with
great self-efficacy feel they can teach students well and think they have some influence over
their success and teaching and learning processes (Wong et al., 2017). Efficacy also refers to the
belief of teachers that students will excel in academics. Teachers who are poorly trained; they
may often lose confidence in their abilities as teachers if they receive little or inadequate
professional support — especially if they teach children with acute emotional or academic
requirements.
Fragile environments also lack qualified staff who can assist teachers to master content or
study, such as validated curriculum or assessment strategies (Oecd.org. 2019). There are still no
programs and opportunities to promote and improve teachers ' work at many educational
institutions in Australia. Furthermore, the lack of curriculum assessment and pedagogy which are
the three main message systems affects the commutation among the teaching professionalism
within the system of education (Rodríguez & Rubio, 2016). Poorly designed professional
development furthermore leads to inadequate exposure to qualified professionals in the teaching
profession in Australia.

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A significant number of teachers are unskilled or undertrained in the present scenario.
The condition is not really promising in many regions. Teacher or the educators have been
shown not to be trained or properly dedicated. This degrading standard of pre-training has
demonstrated the worsening situation (Quin, Hemphill & Heerde, 2017). The “Australian
Professional Standards for Teacher(APST) by the government of Australia although has taken
some steps for ensuring teachers engagement and quality in teaching for the success of the
students, the results are not at all satisfactory. Although the initial teacher preparation programs
have been completed, this system nevertheless does not meet the needs of technically qualified
and dedicated teachers. Most educational institutions do not meet the requirements and
guidelines. Apart from all these challenges, excessive stress, low paid salaries and lack of
training among the teachers are contributing to some of the major issues and challenges in the
teaching process and teacher’s professionalism (Mishra, Jain & Hooda, 2016). Apart from this,
the training of inclusion, respect towards diversity contributes to the challenging factors of this
profession. According to the research studies gathered from the Australian data, it has been
found that majority of the teachers are not trained under the DTL norms. Often this results them
to discriminate students on the basis of their race, disability or cultures.
The global repots gathered from OECD PISA and TALIS, the quality of teaching in the
countries are being judged and evaluated on the basis of the comparison of the performance of
the school students. Since quality teaching aims to build or develop a successful and efficient
child in the near future, the teaching quality is also linked to the economic performance of the
nations (Scherer & Gustafsson, 2015). The nation with highest rank in the economic
performance within the entire world is considered to have the best quality of teachers and
teaching facilities in its educational institutions. This evaluation and assessment by the Mckinsey

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Reports and National Assessment program- Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) are putting
pressure and unnecessary stress and burden over the teacher and the professionals involved in the
system of teaching.
The factors influencing teaching process
The standard of teachers stresses a larger variety of personalities and attributes —
including enthusiasm, anticipation, and compassion. Learning by teachers is an ongoing process
that promotes teaching skills, learns new knowledge, develops new skills that in turn helps to
enhance learning among students (Yadav et al., 2016). Earlier studies have shown that educators
have a high level of effectiveness in their classroom management, and show more interest in the
curriculum topic. A increasing amount of research has shown that teachers make a meaningful
improvement in student success. High-quality instructor instruction, according to Brandon et al.,
(2018), affects the outcome of student-learning. Teachers need to experience cognitive and
metacognitive learning processes so that they can reach their learning outcome by trusting in
their practice or, even better, modifying their actions. Teachers with high-quality training
continue to learn from their own skills, crack the limits of learning, seek for new subjects and
methodologies. Moreover, continuous professional growth needs to be incorporated in their
schedules in order to reach their full potential.
Recommendation
In the teaching profession, "Curriculum Development," is extremely essential. It is the
mechanism for deciding on the students ' expertise, skills and values in a curriculum and how
such lessons will be designed, evaluated and assessed (Masters & Geoff, 2016). The curriculum
design method takes many steps to make learning process, a successful one.

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A detailed collection of considerations that must be considered when developing a
language program. These considerations can be divided into three main fields: environmental
analysis; needs analysis; and concepts (or interpretation of the research). They are done by a
sequence of subprocesses. Environmental analysis relates to the study of various factors that
affect the learning situation or its environment (Oecd.org. 2020). Additionally, the needs review
includes the students ' assessment of language program goals, objectives and requirements.
Eventually, empirical findings in the field of language education reflect the concepts behind the
curriculum design process (Confait, 2015). It is important for the teachers to develop the
curriculum for a certain purpose in instruction. The ultimate aim is to boost learning for students
by the assessment of the learning and promote effective pedagogy which includes interaction
among teachers and students as well as the tasks and learning environment. The four types of
teaching approaches that the teachers needs to consider for addressing the challenges and the
issues faced in this profession includes formative, diagnostic, interim and summative (Edwards,
2018). These assessment approaches should be implemented for practicing pedagogical
approaches.
Behavioral theory in a classroom comprises an approach where information in a
curriculum should be provided in which each subject is discreetly instructed. Constructivist
pedagogy places the child at the center of education, often referred to as' invisible pedagogy. The
constructivist approach will integrate project research, training centered on investigation (Knight,
Shum & Littleton, 2014). Pedagogy of social constructivism may be seen as a combination of
two priorities: teacher directed, and student oriented.

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A liberationist approach is something that positions the pupil's perspective at the core,
and puts a democracy well into the curriculum. Emphasis is put on making the instructor as a
student and on making the class explore topics.
It is important to improve the NSW Quality teaching model for an inquiry and problem
based learning for the teachers so that they can provide a hassle free quality teaching to the
students (McLachlan, Fleer & Edwards, 2018).
The Government of Australia appreciates the dynamic role of the teaching profession as
well as the essential duty of teachers towards guiding children for leading good and productive
lifestyles. Important advances need to be made in enforcing the Government's response to the
suggestions of the Report of the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Committee, Action
Now–Ready Teachers Classroom. Which includes the Initial Teacher Education Students
Literacy and Numeracy Exam (Black & Wiliam, 2018). The government acknowledges that
leadership in high-quality schools has a direct effect on student performance, and is committed to
promoting leaders in the schools. Hence, it is important for all the teaching professionals to
engage in active leadership traits while delivering quality teaching to the students. By funding
Teach For Australia to test the new Future Leaders Initiative, the Government must invests in
developing the school leadership infrastructure in Australian national and rural schools.
Conclusion
Education is one of the main factors in development in all respects. Without significant
investment in human resources no nation can attain sustainable economic growth. Education
enhances the comprehension that people have about themselves and the country. Hence
attainment or the achievement of proper quality education is essential for the students. This in
turn demands quality teaching by the teachers. For student success, quality teaching and

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professional development of the teachers are critical. Teacher learning is an ongoing cycle that
encourages learning skills for teachers, learns new knowledge, creates new skills that will also
improve learning for students A balanced system of education helps all students gain the
knowledge, skills and success they need to participate in society. Furthermore, providing a fair
start to all children will lead to improved social and economic results for individuals,
communities and the country.

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