Former principal Ann McIntyre has completed a three-year project working with Stanford University – resulting in two books being published.
Stanford University (US) professor Linda Darling-Hammond headed up the research project which looks at five, high-performing countries when it comes to teaching.
Ms McIntyre, who lives in Cronulla, was asked to do the research for one of the countries, Australia.
“The point of it was to have a close look at the world of teaching and see what was helpful for teachers’ growth and development,” Ms McIntyre said. “It was about bringing together the key strengths of high-performing countries.”
NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes and former NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli were both on hand last week to launch the two books in Australia which came out of the study.
Ms McIntyre said her research focused on what NSW did well when it came to training, developing and supporting teachers to make an impact in the classroom.
“We know that teachers have the greatest impact on student learning,” Ms McIntyre said.
“We have had quite strong results [in NSW]. And one of the big things is our system to support teachers – it does not happen by chance.”
The first of the two books released in Australia last week was Empowered Educators in Australia: How HP systems shape teacher quality authored by Ms McIntyre. The second book was co-authored by all the researchers in the project titled Empowered Educators: How HP systems shape teacher quality around the world.
Ms McIntyre said her research included plenty of work with Engadine High School among other schools.
“I’m really thankful to see the book published and to be receiving feedback from people that have read the books. I think it will have a real impact in the future,” she said.
“One of the things that teachers have said to me, after reading these books, is they can see why we are doing what we are doing in NSW and why we have the professional standards that we have.”
Ms McIntyre has worked in many education roles during her career including principal of Hurstville South Public School. She is currently the Australian Council of Education Leaders president.
The five countries highlighted in the Stanford University project were Canada, China, Singapore, Finland and Australia.