The GTPA is an authentic culminating summative assessment designed to demonstrate preservice teachers’ ability to meet the Graduate Teacher Standards. In completing the GTPA, preservice teachers demonstrate their competence in planning, teaching, assessing and reflecting on the impact of their teaching on student learning. They also show how they use evidence of student learning during their final-year professional practice.

The GTPA provides evidence that beginning teachers are ready for entry to the profession. It responds to moves to strengthen initial teacher education (ITE) programs. The national Accreditation of Initial Teacher Education Programs in Australia: Standards and Procedures, Program Standard 1.2, requires that ‘pre-service teachers … have successfully completed a final-year teaching performance assessment prior to graduation’ (p. 10).

The GTPA will be implemented in ITE programs in a collective of higher education institutions (HEIs) in 2018 as part of the Standards in Teacher Education (SITE) Project. Preservice teachers from HEIs will undertake the GTPA during their professional experience placement in schools across Australia. Completion of the GTPA will be part of program requirements. The focus of 2018 implementation is on cross-institutional moderation and building an evidence base nationally showing that graduates from across the country are ready for classroom practice.