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Over the Line or Upholding the Profession? Principal Evaluation for Determining Teacher Proficiency
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Over the Line or Upholding the Profession? Principal Evaluation for Determining Teacher Proficiency

Verity Beames
Southern Cross University
Doctor of Education (EdD), Southern Cross University
2026
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25918/thesis.575
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Abstract

Teacher evaluations Principal decision-making Australian Professional Standards for Teachers Early Career Teacher proficiency
This research investigates school principal’s decision-making when evaluating the evidence provided by an Early Career Teacher (ECT) moving to the Proficient career stage of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST). All teachers across Australia are required to demonstrate a ‘minimum’ level of knowledge and skills to gain full teacher registration. This is identified as the Proficient career stage and requires the seven standards to be demonstrated. The registration processes are set by each jurisdiction and there is limited research about understanding what influences principals’ decision-making as they evaluate the evidence provided by an ECT to become proficient. This thesis addresses this gap in the literature. While contemporary literature often focuses on teaching quality, this study considers the role of principals in a teacher’s journey towards gaining full teacher registration and the assessment of ‘teacher quality’. The research acknowledges that primary school principals operating within the Queensland teacher registration process are central to the decision-making, from the point of employment, through to when an ECT can demonstrate evidence of meeting the standards at the Proficient career stage. It further acknowledges that principals influenced the support provided to an ECT to enable them to uphold the professional requirements needed for teacher proficiency and therefore teacher registration in Queensland. Using an interpretivist-constructivist paradigm and applying Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems framework as a theoretical tool, provided insights about how decisions are being made at the school level, and the value principals ascribe to various evidential artifacts and ultimately their determination of teacher proficiency. Qualitative data was drawn from semi-structured interviews with 13 primary school principals, in an Independent School Authority (ISA) about the teacher registration process and were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Themes were identified under three headings: (i) processes of enactment, (ii) evidence and (iii) communication and decision-making processes. The findings indicate that the decisions made by principals in their school contexts influenced the support an ECT receives which impacted how teaching practices and evidence against the Standards could be demonstrated. This study found that principal decision-making shapes the evidence expectations required by an ECT, and that principal decisions are influenced by multiple connected systems, including a principal’s beliefs and values, competing complexities within the role, collegial perceptions, and preferential observational evidence. By understanding the influencing factors on principal decision-making, recommendations for policy and practice at the school and ISA levels include professional learning for principals that focuses on the APST, their alignment to Queensland College of Teachers (QCT) policy and the implementation of aligned teacher evaluation practices. Differentiating professional learning for principals at different stages of their career was also identified. Additionally, there is a need to develop support for principals in the space of financial and human resourcing, and effective communication, all of which had an influence in the school-based support an ECT received.

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