Quality Teaching Rounds – Professional Learning with Impact

At Portside Christian College, we value the development of our teachers in their professional practice and teaching pedagogy. Through Quality Teaching Rounds, student outcomes are elevated, teachers are empowered, and a culture of continuous improvement and collaborative learning is built. Quality Teaching Rounds are underpinned by extensive and ongoing educational research at Newcastle University into what constitutes quality teaching to improve student achievement. Each Quality Teaching Round allows teachers time to engage in professional discussion, inspire one another, and develop, reflect on, and refine their teaching "tools". By creating a safe place to discuss practice, beliefs, values, and techniques, we benefit not only each teacher but also the overall learning outcomes for our students.

Launching our initial phase of the QT model is a team of our teachers participating in Newcastle University's federal government-funded Strengthening Induction through Quality Teaching Rounds project. This project has our early career teachers participate in Quality Teaching Rounds alongside more experienced Colleagues. Working as a cross-campus professional learning community, this team of teachers uses the QT Framework to build their capacity to understand what teaching looks like in other College areas and reflect on their practice. Seeing how other teachers deliver their lessons and begin to witness firsthand the learning experiences of students is central to the model.

Over the next 18 months, our College will engage in a whole-school approach to teacher professional development based on a shared vision of teaching excellence and the Quality Teaching framework.

Rebecca Stevens

Deputy Principal, Teaching and Learning