Early career teachers at Hambledon Public School are embracing a professional development model that is improving their teaching skills through collaborative, supportive classroom observations.
Primary-school teacher Ms Kaitlin Heggen represents a generation of teachers who graduated during the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Her story, shared by Hambledon Public School Principal Ms Judy McEwen, illustrates the critical importance of supportive professional development for early career educators.
“Kaitlin did her last prac online during COVID,” Ms McEwen says.
This meant her initial teaching experience was fundamentally different from traditional training. When Kaitlin began teaching at Hambledon Public School, she was employed as a casual teacher, with colleagues knowing her primarily through virtual interactions on Microsoft Teams.
The transition was challenging. “She was ready to throw in her teaching career, because it wasn’t what she thought it was going to be,” Ms McEwen recalls.
The isolation and disconnection typical of pandemic-era teaching threatened to derail Ms Heggen’s professional aspirations. Quality Teaching Rounds professional development became her lifeline, helping her make connections with colleagues, and reignite her passion for teaching.
Quality Teaching Rounds has been the focus of 15 years of research by the Teachers and Teaching Research Centre (TTRC) at the University of Newcastle. It is now being delivered to teachers across Australia for free by the University’s non-profit social enterprise the Quality Teaching (QT) Academy thanks to funding from the Australian Government.
The QT Academy provides teachers with training and support to implement this collaborative, evidence-backed approach to professional development where educators analyse, reflect on, and enhance their practice. Quality Teaching Rounds is applicable to all subjects, grade levels, teaching approaches and years of teaching experience.
The program allowed Ms Heggen to observe teachers across different grade levels at Hambledon Public School, breaking down the professional isolation she had experienced.
She became a prominent advocate for early career teachers.
“She was interviewed when Federal Education Minister Jason Clare came to our school to announce the launch of funding for early career teacher professional learning,” Ms McEwen says.
From a teacher on the brink of leaving the profession to a confident advocate, Ms Heggen embodies the potential of supportive professional development.
From research to permanent practice
Ms McEwen has been Principal at Hambledon Public School for 12 years, bringing a wealth of experience from her previous role at Kurrajong Public School, a smaller semi-rural school where she held her first principalship for eight years.
Hambledon, in Quakers Hill, Western Sydney, has undergone significant changes during her tenure, with 650 students currently enrolled, down from a peak of 850, due to a new school opening in the area.
“We’ve got 60 kindergarten students, which is the lowest number we’ve had in a long time,” Ms McEwen explained. “We’ve got 112 kids in grade six, so two-thirds of our school is now in grades three to six.”
The school also has a diverse student population, including many non-English speaking students, which requires nuanced, culturally responsive teaching strategies.
Ms McEwen leads a staff of 60, including seven school learning support officers and office staff, spread across 25 classes.
Hambledon’s involvement with the QT Academy began almost serendipitously.
“There was a call-out in our Department of Education’s newsletter that the University of Newcastle were looking for schools willing to trial the Quality Teaching Model,” she says.
Her prior exposure to Laureate Professor Jenny Gore’s work provided immediate context and interest.
“Jenny Gore spoke at a school I was previously at about the Quality Teaching Model when it was first released [in 2003],” Ms McEwen says.
Her attraction to the QT Model is rooted in its ability to provide specific, detailed language around teaching practice.
The school’s QT journey began in 2019 when it participated in a large TTRC research project, initially as part of a ‘control’ group. That randomised controlled trial demonstrated for the first time that teacher participation in QT Rounds improves student academic achievement.
By 2021, Hambledon had received Quality Teaching Rounds training and was fully implementing the program.
“I thought, this program is a really great way to instigate professional learning within a school that’s around what we do,” Ms McEwen says.
The QT Model’s ability to provide a common language around teaching practice was particularly appealing.
“The thing that always attracted me to the QT Model was that it uses specific language that explains to teachers this is what we’re actually doing,” she says.
The Model honours the complexity of teaching and articulates high quality practice through 18 observable elements.
Hambledon’s approach to professional development is inclusive and supportive.
“We don’t discriminate with our staff in terms of allowing them access to Quality Teaching Rounds,” Ms McEwen says. This means temporary and casual teachers have the same opportunities as permanent staff. The impact has been transformative.
“About 40 teachers have completed Quality Teaching Rounds, with 10 to 12 of those doing more than one Round.”
The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
“Teachers come out of the experience saying it’s probably the best professional learning they’ve done, because they get to go in and watch another teacher teach,” she says.
Collaboration across different grades
At Hambledon Public School, peer observation has become a transformative professional learning strategy. Ms McEwen says the Quality Teaching Rounds process provides a unique opportunity for teachers to learn from one another across different grades and levels of experience.
“As educators, we tend to be insular in our classrooms, it’s generally just us in the room,” Ms McEwen says. The Rounds break down these barriers, allowing teachers to observe and learn from colleagues they might never have interacted with previously, ensuring diverse perspectives and genuine professional growth.
The coding process is particularly powerful, Ms McEwen says.
“The coding of the lessons is so meticulous in terms of driving that feedback rather than it being a ‘gut-feeling’ comment,” she says. Teachers engage in detailed, objective analysis that goes beyond personal impressions.
Early career and experienced teachers alike benefit from this approach.
“The beauty of the Rounds is the cross-collaboration. Our grade three teachers have learned something from a teacher who’s teaching kindergarten; teachers in our grade six classrooms have picked up something from observing a grade two teacher,” Ms McEwen says.
“Our early career teachers are probably the most powerful advocates of Quality Teaching Rounds, because they get to watch each other teach other grades.
“They get the opportunity, as I said, to mix with colleagues that they wouldn’t normally mix with, and the teachers are validated in what they’re doing. It’s a positive experience. In fact, I’ve got a couple of teachers that everyone says, ‘Can I be in a round with them because I want to see them teach a writing lesson’.”
Hambledon Public School was also part of a pilot project with the University last year, where the Rounds process was applied to assessment tasks which teachers found incredibly beneficial.
“I’ve never had a problem with getting teachers to put their hand up for Rounds, because they always come out of Rounds saying, ‘This is the professional learning you really want to do, because you’re watching other teachers teach’.”
For more information, visit https://qtacademy.edu.au/.
More reading: Transforming teaching through quality practice: a case study
