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Professional Standards for Australian Special Education Teachers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2014

Ian Dempsey*
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle, Australia
Kerry Dally
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle, Australia
*
Correspondence: Ian Dempsey, Special Education Centre, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Although professional standards for Australian teachers were developed several years ago, this country is yet to develop such standards for special education teachers. The lack of standards for the special education profession is associated with the absence of a consistent process of accreditation in Australia and a lack of clarity in the pathways that teachers may pursue to achieve accreditation. In this paper, we review professional standards for special education teachers in the UK and the US, and the related yet limited work completed in Australia. Substantial commonalities across these jurisdictions demonstrate that much of the groundwork has been completed in the important task of developing special education standards in this country.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2014 

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