Well-equipped teachers means well-equipped students

This morning I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of graduate teachers about the huge honour and responsibility they have as educators of young West Australians.

The event was part of the Graduate Teacher Professional Learning Program, coordinated by the Department of Education’s Institute for Professional Learning to build graduate teachers’ professional skills and effectiveness.

Children and young people have regularly told my office that education is one of the most important things in their lives.

While generally schools do a great job of supporting the wide range of learning and developmental needs of their students, teachers and administrators must continually strive to ensure education is relevant to students’ lives, particularly for at-risk groups.

This is challenging work and I am pleased that initiatives like the graduate teacher program are aiming to further build the professionalism and skill-set of teachers.

My office is currently undertaking a major project to better understand the views of children and young people so that we can better support them in their schooling.

This has involved a survey and workshops with more than 1,800 students, and I am looking forward to releasing the report of this consultation in the middle of the year.

I would like to thank the Institute for Professional Learning for inviting me to speak at this event.

I wish this group of graduate teachers all the best for their future and I look forward to speaking at more of these events throughout 2017.