Assessments, Standards & Marking

Reporting responsibility of the mentor teacher

Mentor teachers will report on a pre-service teacher’s performance by completing an interim report and final report. These reports will be sent to you from your pre-service teacher’s online tutor.

Interim report

The interim report is returned to your pre-service teacher’s online tutor on day 10 of the placement. This is where you assess the progress against each Domain of Teaching. At this point if you have any concerns or would like to clarify anything please do not hesitate to contact your pre-service teacher’s online tutor. They will be able to assist you in completing the interim report and form a plan of action if required.

Final report

On the final day of placement, the final report is to be completed by you. The final report assesses the level achieved against each of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Graduate). With the final report, a 1, 2, or 3 needs to be placed beside each standard. This will indicate the level achieved. Please note, any 0 or N/A grade beside any standard will be deemed a fail of the placement. If you feel a 0 or N/A is required, please contact your pre-service teacher’s online tutor prior so they can assist you with this.
Please be sure to give a signed copy of both these reports to your pre-service teacher for their records.

Interim & Final report submission

As these reports are assessed by the eLearning Advisor rather than Student Services, please kindly submit the report directly to the pre-service teacher’s eLearning Advisor. eLA contact details are provided prior to the commencement of the placement, however, if you require these again, please contact Student Services.

Standards of assessment

The students are assessed against seven AITSL standards for graduate teachers https://www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/standards.

The Standards let our pre-service teachers know what they should be aiming to achieve at every stage of their career. This will support improved practice inside and outside of the classroom. Each of these key standards has a number of different focus areas within them and are introduced at various stages throughout each placement. The standards which are being assessed are clearly outlined in the Pre-service Teachers Final Report.

Standard 1: Know the students and how they learn
Standard 2: Know the content and how to teach it
Standard 3: Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning
Standard 4: Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments
Standard 5: Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning
Standard 6: Engage in professional learning
Standard 7: Engage professionally with colleagues, parents/carers and the community

The standards which are being assessed are clearly outlined in the Pre-service Teachers Professional Experience Assessment Report.

Final report grading

Final Report – Level Achieved against each of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Graduate)

For each of the standards, Pre-service Teachers will be assessed as:

0 Not demonstrated: The student has not demonstrated the professional standard at a relevant level. If a Pre-service Teacher is awarded a 0 for any of the standards they must receive an UNSATISFACTORY overall result.
1 Demonstrated: Occasionally the student has been able to demonstrate the professional standard at a relevant level, albeit occasionally. It is accepted that Pre-service Teachers enrolled in EDU10001, EDU20006 and EDU60015 may mostly reflect this level in their Interim and final assessments.
2 Demonstrated regularly: The student has demonstrated the professional standard regularly during their professional experience. It is accepted that Pre-service Teachers enrolled in EDU30003, EDU30015 and EDU70012 may mostly reflect this level in their Interim and final assessments.
3 Demonstrated consistently: The student has consistently demonstrated the Professional standard throughout their professional experience. It is accepted that Pre-service Teachers enrolled in EDU40005, EDU40006, EDU40012 and EDU80015 may mostly reflect this level in their Interim and final assessments.

In contrast, a zero indicates a cause for concern and that intervention is needed. If this is raised at the halfway-point of the pre-service teacher placement, then we will put in place a support plan (link).

Please be aware that only Levels 0-3 can be indicated on a Professional Experience Assessment Report. Any other mark or result (including N/A) is invalid and will result in a student failing the placement.

Giving constructive feedback

Receiving constructive feedback on planning and delivery of lessons is an essential part of the pre-service teacher development. You can obviously give your feedback face-to-face throughout the placement, however there is a comments section that has also been included on the Assessment Report. We encourage you to fill this section out as it provides a really useful record for the student’s future planning/goal setting.

Relevant National and/or state or Territory curriculum

Students at Swinburne Online become familiar with the Australian National Curriculum as well as the curriculum used in their state/territory (if not the Australian Curriculum).

The Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment (GTPA)

Swinburne University has joined the GTPA collective, a group of Australian Higher Education Institutions implementing the AITSL endorsed Teaching Performance Assessment. The GTPA is incorporated into the final-year primary and secondary professional experience units.

Through their GTPA, pre-service teachers will demonstrate their competence in classroom practice assessed against the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers at the Graduate level. The teaching performance assessment as a GTPA effectively connects the academic program and the professional experience. By connecting research, theory and practice, the GTPA provides quality assurance of graduate readiness.