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    The TPA is an approved assessment tool used to assess the practical skills and knowledge of Pre-Service Teachers against the Graduate Teacher Standards.

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Quality Teaching Performance Assessment (QTPA)

What is the TPA?

The TPA is an approved assessment tool used to assess the practical skills and knowledge of Pre-Service Teachers against the Graduate Teacher Standards. It occurs in the final year of Initial Teacher Education programs and is a national accreditation requirement for graduation for all Pre-Service Teachers from 2020.

The Accreditation of Initial Teacher Education programs in Australia requires that all Pre-Service Teachers successfully complete a rigorous assessment (Teaching Performance Assessment) that covers the breadth of teaching practices to ensure that they are classroom ready at graduation.  The TPA aims to lift the standard of graduates leaving ITE programs and give reassurance and confidence to the community that beginning teachers are well-equipped to manage a classroom and have a positive impact on student learning from day one in their first teaching role (AITSL, 2020).  All TPAs are required to be reviewed and approved by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) Expert Advisory Group (EAG).

The TPA:

  • is completed using student data and evidence of classroom practice collected during the final year professional experience
  • has a sustained focus on the teaching and learning cycle to plan, teach, assess and reflect
  • uses data and evidence to show impact and differentiation of teaching for two focus students
  • is a valid assessment of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) at the graduate level
  • is a reliable assessment using moderation processes to ensure consistent judgements are made by the assessors.

Quality Teaching Performance Assessment (QTPA) tool

ECU School of Education will use the Quality Teaching Performance Assessment (QTPA). The QTPA is a consortium of Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Edith Cowan University (ECU) University of Sunshine Coast (USC) and Murdoch University. The QTPA has been approved by the AITSL EAG. The Quality Teaching Performance Assessment (QTPA) requires Pre-Service Teachers to be reflective practitioners with the capacity to critique their own performance and to benchmark it against the Graduate Teacher Standards of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APSTs).

The QTPA is positioned at the end of the pre-service teacher’s course following their final Professional Experience placement. All pre-service teachers are required to have successfully passed their final Professional Experience before they can sit the QTPA.

The QTPA comprises four elements:

  • Component A: A Personal Teaching Statement
  • Component B: Planning for Teaching and Learning
  • Component C: Demonstration of Impact
  • Component D: Oral Presentation.

This new reform responds to the 2014 TEMAG Report and findings in the 2018 Report of the Review to Achieve Education Excellence to improve the classroom readiness of graduate teachers.

Refer to the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) for an overview of the TPA.

Claire Hall
QTPA Academic Coordinator
School of Education, Edith Cowan University
Phone: +61 8 6304 5489
Email: c.hall@ecu.edu.au

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