Teacher Registration Board of Western Australia Annual Report 2023–24

Under the Teacher Registration Act, we must establish at least one disciplinary committee and an impairment review committee. We may establish other committees to help us perform our functions.

We are supported by:

• 2 disciplinary committees which consider complaints we refer to them
• an impairment review committee which considers impairment matters we refer to it
• an interim order committee which has the authority to make an interim order.

For information about the activities of these committees in 2023–24, refer to Disciplinary and impairment matters.

The Department of Education’s Teacher Registration directorate provides secretariat support to the Board which includes:

• processing teacher registration applications and initial teacher education program accreditation applications for our consideration
• assisting us to administer our disciplinary function
• supporting our work on policy matters.

We have delegated certain powers such as granting teacher registration to the Director, Teacher Registration, who refers matters that require further examination to us.

For financial matters and performance indicators related to the Teacher Registration directorate and the Board, refer to the Department of Education’s annual report financial statements and performance indicators.

Our operations are funded by fees collected in accordance with the Teacher Registration Act and the Department of Treasury’s Costing and Pricing Government Services guidelines. During 2023–24, we applied a consumer price index rate of 3.25% to our fees, effective from 1 July 2023.

Implementing amendments to the Teacher Registration Act

The Teacher Registration Amendment Act 2023 (WA) came into effect on 19 December 2023 to achieve the following objectives:

• Strengthen our powers to respond to matters of child safety involving teachers, consistent with recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
• Ensure an effective registration system that allows teachers to move between registration categories and improve fairness for teachers returning after an absence.
• Allow Western Australia to participate to a greater degree in the Australian Teacher Workforce Data initiative, providing a clearer picture of the national teacher workforce.
• Promote a skilled teaching workforce.

An implementation working group coordinated and rolled out significant changes to policies, processes, forms, online systems and website content. At the same time, a communications strategy guided our interactions with stakeholders on the changes. Our webinars were successful as a means to inform our stakeholders of the changes and gather their feedback.

The amendments to the Teacher Registration Act included changes to the teacher registration categories. Non‑Practising Registration was changed, with teachers in this category no longer permitted to teach as a registered teacher in any Western Australian school or early childhood service. To ensure a seamless implementation of this change, we provided the opportunity for all teachers holding Non‑Practising Registration to change their registration category so that they could continue to teach if this suited their current circumstances. We moved teachers holding Non‑Practising Registration who were teaching to the appropriate registration category so they could continue to teach.

We created 2 new categories of Provisional Registration:

• Provisional Registration (Graduate Teacher) − generally for teachers who have graduated from an Australian initial teacher education (ITE) program within the previous 5 years
• Provisional Registration (Returning Teacher) − for all other graduates, Australian and overseas qualified, who have not yet demonstrated competence against the Professional Standards for Teachers in Western Australia at the proficient career stage within the previous 5 years.

Policy framework

To align with the amendments to the Teacher Registration Act, a policy reference group reviewed, revised and implemented 16 policies and 2 guidelines, following stakeholder engagement.

Supporting the challenges of teacher supply

In response to teacher supply issues in Western Australia, we continued to register a higher number of teachers under Limited Registration. This includes pre‑service teachers in the final year of their degree, who were eligible to apply for the Department of Education’s pre‑service teacher employment pools.

Strengthening child safety

We continued to play a significant role in promoting and protecting children’s safety through our scheme of teacher registration. We worked with regulators, national authorities and other relevant agencies to ensure that only fit and proper teachers are registered to teach in Western Australia.

New procedures were developed for interim orders to strengthen the powers of the Board to respond to matters of child safety involving teachers, consistent with recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

In particular, amendments to the Teacher Registration Act enable the Board to make an interim order suspending a teacher’s registration if it believes a teacher poses a risk of harm, rather than waiting for the risk to become imminent.

In March 2024, we published an Information Sheet, setting out the key arrangements and legislative mechanisms enabling us to share information, locally and nationally, to enhance regulatory decision‑making. The Board will share information having regard to the best interests of children as the paramount consideration, and when it is in the public interest to do so. The information sheet outlines relevant considerations when sharing information.

We also commenced work on a memorandum of understanding to facilitate information‑sharing between the Board and the Education and Care Regulatory Unit of the Department of Communities.

As the regulator of teaching in Western Australia, we have regard to the nationally developed ‘Best Practice Framework for Strengthening Child Safety and Wellbeing through the Regulation of Teachers’.

Strategic direction

We are finalising a new Strategic Direction 2024–2028 to reflect how we will achieve our vision and fulfil our goals over these years. We are finalising a new Strategic Direction 2024–2028 to reflect how we will achieve our vision and fulfil our goals over these years.

Australian Teacher Workforce Data

In 2023, facilitated by the changes to our legislation, we provided the first upload of teacher registration data to the Australian Teacher Workforce Data (ATWD) initiative. The ATWD initiative unites and links data on initial teacher education and the teacher workforce to build a national picture of Australia’s teaching profession.

National partnerships

We continued to work with stakeholders on projects of national significance and signed a memorandum of understanding to facilitate information exchange between teacher regulatory authorities.

Online applications for Limited Registration

A project is underway to move applications for Limited Registration from a paper to an online format for all educational institutions. Applications for Full Registration and Provisional Registration have been available online for several years through the Teacher Login platform on our website.

Applications for Limited Registration will be accessed through the Teacher Register Information (Professional) online service (TRIP). Planning is ongoing to ensure all education institutions have access to this online service.

Initial teacher education reform

In December 2023, Australia’s education ministers agreed to amendments to the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership’s Accreditation of initial teacher education programs in Australia: standards and procedures. These amendments include:

• the addition of core content and embedding core content into initial teacher education (ITE) programs
• revising program standard 3.5 to ensure ITE students sit the Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education (LANTITE) prior to the end of the first year of their degree, and to provide recognition for First Nations language proficiency.

In light of this, we are considering proposed amendments to the Western Australian Standards for the Accreditation of Initial Teacher Education Programs. Upon our advice and recommendation, these amendments will be the subject of endorsement by the Minister.

National Teacher Workforce Action Plan

We continued to collaborate with relevant stakeholders on proposed actions in the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan December 2022, particularly those which may have a bearing on our core functions of teacher registration and accreditation of ITE programs. The plan, developed to address the national issue of teacher workforce shortages, identifies 5 priority areas:

• improving teacher supply
• strengthening ITE
• keeping the teachers we have
• elevating the profession
• better understanding future teacher workforce needs.

Automatic mutual recognition of occupational registrations

Teachers who hold teacher registration in other Australian states or territories or in New Zealand may apply for registration with the Board through mutual recognition. The Australian Government and state and territory governments have agreed to introduce a uniform scheme for the automatic mutual recognition of occupational registrations to facilitate automatic deemed registration.

A 5‑year exemption from the automatic deemed registration scheme was approved in June 2022 for the occupation of teaching in Western Australia. Applicants from other Australian states and territories and New Zealand may continue to apply for mutual recognition under current arrangements to be registered as teachers in Western Australia.