Certification of Teachers, Pre-Service Teacher Education, Tests and Legal Issues in Australia and the United States of America (US) :Part B Implications for Queensland and Australia

This article is a companion discussion to the previous article in this issue that provides an overview of the introduction of Teacher Licensure Testing for Professional Certification in the United States of America (US) and England. The companion article also provides the context for the introduction of such testing as a new registration requirement in Queensland, Australia, from the end of 2011, and an overview of legal issues, and outcomes, that have arisen, principally in the US, where such test requirements have been in place for some time. This article draws on the legal issues identified in US case law and the employment, antidiscrimination and administrative law context of Australia to identify and discuss potential challenges that may arise, or requirements that will need to be satisfied in Queensland and Australian law, when the teacher licensure tests are introduced. The discussion includes considerations of professional test development standards for high-stakes purposes, such as job credentialing, given the absence of such discussions to date in Australian statute or case law. These discussions are offered in the possibility that such additional requirements could become federally-legislated, given the Australian Commonwealth Government’s active involvement in setting education policy.