SOUTH AUSTRALIA

National Partnerships Smarter Schools

Implementation Plan

National Partnership for Improving Teacher Quality
National Partnership for Literacy and Numeracy
National Partnerships for Low Socio-Economic Status School Communities

Smarter Schools National Partnerships Implementation Plan South Australia

CONTENTS
CONTENTS
The South Australian Context
Cross Sector Involvement
South Australia’s Reform Initiatives
National Partnership on Low Socio-Economic Status School Communities (2009 - 2015)
Key Reform Areas
Key Initiatives in Each Sector
National Partnership on Literacy and Numeracy (2009 – 2012)
Key Reform Areas
Key Initiatives in Each Sector
National Partnership on Improving Teacher Quality (2009 – 2013)
Key Reform Areas
Key Initiatives in Each Sector
Performance Indicators and Measures
School Selection
Association of Independent Schools of South Australia
Catholic Education South Australia9
Department of Education and Children’s Services
School Level Plans
Support for Specific Student Cohorts
National Partnership on Low Socio-economic Status School Communities
National Partnership on Literacy and Numeracy
National Partnership on Improving Teacher Quality
National Reforms
Moving Forward

The National Partnership Agreements on Literacy and Numeracy, Low Socio-economic Status School Communities and Improving Teacher Quality are collaborative initiatives supported by funding from the Australian Government, the South Australian Government and the Catholic and Independent school sectors.

Smarter Schools National Partnerships Implementation Plan South Australia

In December 2008 the South Australian Government signed the three Smarter Schools National Partnerships. As part of the school reform initiatives of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), these National Partnerships will provide funding to schools to support students, teachers and leaders. This additional support will contribute to raising overall educational attainment levels so that all Australian school students acquire the knowledge and skills to participate effectively in society. 
The three Smarter Schools National Partnerships are on
•	Low Socio-Economic Status (SES) School Communities (2009 - 2015). In South Australia, this will be known as ‘National Partnership – Communities Making a Difference’.
•	Literacy and Numeracy (2009-2012)
•	Improving Teacher Quality (2009- 2013)
The Smarter Schools National Partnerships are jointly funded by the Australian Government and the state government and Catholic and Independent education sectors.
The South Australian Context
There are 795 schools in South Australia providing education for approximately 156,000 primary school students and 95,000 secondary school students (ABS, Schools, 4221.0, 2008). Over the life of the Smarter Schools National Partnerships, it is expected that more than 400 schools will participate in National Partnership activities across the state.
The South Australian approach to the Smarter Schools National Partnerships has predominantly focused on participation by primary schools with a mix of metropolitan, rural and remote schools. A smaller number of secondary schools are included. 
It is estimated that over the life of the National Partnerships, over 140,000 school children in South Australia will be assisted. The number of students who receive increased support through the Smarter Schools National Partnerships will be specified in annual reports.
Cross Sector Involvement
State Implementation Plans have been developed under the direction of the South Australian National Partnerships Council – Schooling, and through the efforts of the three schooling sectors
•	The Association of Independent Schools of South Australia (AISSA)
•	Catholic Education South Australia (CESA)
•	The Department of Education and Children’s Services (DECS)
The Council is a Ministerial Advisory Committee comprising the head of each schooling sector and an independent Chair, which supports the development and implementation of the National Partnerships. Representatives from the South Australian Department of Premier and Cabinet, the South Australian Department of Treasury and Finance and the state office of the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations are observers at the Council.

The Council is supported by a Secretariat with representatives from each of the government and Catholic and Independent schooling sectors and specialist staff. The Secretariat acts at the direction of the Council, and liaises with the Australian Government and with other jurisdictions on matters relating to the Smarter Schools National Partnerships. Facilitated by the Secretariat, cross sector working groups comprising members from the three schooling sectors have developed the State Implementation Plans. This has ensured the perspectives, priorities and projects of each of the schooling sectors are embedded in the Plans. 
South Australia is committed to continuing this cross sector approach throughout the implementation of the Smarter Schools National Partnerships. The Council will continue to oversee the work of the Secretariat including the development of the National Partnerships State Reports and the development and implementation of a State Evaluation Framework.
South Australia’s Reform Initiatives
South Australia has developed the Implementation Plans for the Smarter Schools National Partnerships based on research evidence and other information drawn from the experience of each sector. Evidence shows that “teachers are among the most powerful influences in learning” (Hattie 2009).  South Australia will therefore use the Smarter Schools National Partnerships to provide teachers with more specialised learning opportunities to increase teacher capacity. There will be a strong focus on teachers who are in the early stages of their career. 
The National Partnerships in South Australia will be responsive to the needs of students.  This will occur through individualised student support including case management and mentoring and support for students in alternative learning pathways, particularly those at risk of disengaging from school.  
A focus on whole school approaches to school improvement is also a significant component in several National Partnerships initiatives, including increased involvement of local communities.
Another key priority is ongoing support and development for school leaders, including those already in leadership positions and those commencing or aspiring to leadership roles. Initiatives include principal mentoring, support and training to increase performance management skills, opportunities for further study and support to build whole school approaches to improve literacy and numeracy performance.
South Australia’s Implementation Plan addresses the objectives and priority areas identified by COAG whilst being cognisant of the diverse contexts of the three schooling sectors and their priorities for reform. The three schooling sectors will work together to:
•	Share best practice, through conferences and local forums
•	Undertake a state level evaluation of the Smarter Schools National Partnerships
•	Engage jointly with higher education providers through the South Australian Teacher Education Taskforce to 
o	support quality trainee teacher placements 
o	address the supply of teachers through new and improved pathways into teaching; and
o	enhance Indigenous education pathways.

A summary of the key initiatives for each sector for each of the three Smarter Schools National Partnerships follows.

National Partnership on Low Socio-Economic Status School Communities (2009-2015)
Key Reform Areas
South Australia has identified six key reform areas to progress the National Partnership on Low Socio-Economic Status School Communities
•	Providing Student Support and Mentoring
•	Enhancing Indigenous Support
•	Building Teacher Capacity and Providing Individualised and Tailored Learning Opportunities 
•	Enhancing School Leadership
•	Building Effective Community Partnerships
•	Enhancing School Accountability and Evaluation

Key Initiatives in Each Sector
Association of Independent Schools of South Australia
•	The School Review and Development Team will work with schools to undertake an audit and review process helping schools to build organisational capacity for continuous improvement.
•	School governance will be enhanced through the development of comprehensive school governance and management workshops which will be presented to Board Governors. This will result in better informed and more efficient school boards and better support for principals.
•	A leadership program will be offered to selected principals as well as mentoring and post-graduate study opportunities.
•	A tailored program for aspiring principals will be developed which will build new principal’s skills in the areas of governance, legislative and industrial relations issues and leadership, resulting in better prepared leaders for the future.
•	Improved engagement with community will be achieved through working with parents, engaging external specialists (such as occupational therapists, speech pathologists and psychologists) and the utilisation of community facilities to improve the learning outcomes of targeted cohorts including Indigenous students.

Catholic Education South Australia
•	A senior leader will support school improvement and evaluation by extending principals’ skills to develop and implement school improvement plans that address local needs, based on evidence of student achievement.
•	A program for emerging leaders that focuses on the process of leading improvement in schools will offer aspiring leaders support in preparing for their future roles.
•	A senior leader will support school leaders to build capacity in, adopt and enhance best practice performance management and staffing arrangements.
•	Principals will be supported in considering professional teaching standards as a framework to inform continuous improvement in quality teaching.
•	Principal mentor and immersion programs will offer opportunities for senior leaders to share their expertise with participating school principals.
•	Literacy and Numeracy Consultants will support school leaders and teachers to build onto school based strategic plans, curriculum reform and innovation strategies to address local school needs and achieve literacy and numeracy improvement.
•	Literacy and Numeracy Consultants will work with teachers in classrooms to develop inclusive practices and use evidence-based approaches that increase students’ participation in learning.
•	There will be an expansion of CESA’s case management approach, including monitoring and reporting, for at-risk students, Indigenous students and students with a refugee background.

Department of Education and Children’s Services 
•	VET training scholarships will be awarded to selected students to support their secondary school studies.
•	The Innovative Community Action Networks (ICAN) will increase over three years to support students in 11 additional locations across the state. The program supports the re-engagement in learning for significantly disengaged young people, through individual case management and customised learning programs supported through strong school and community partnerships. The expansion will include support for selected year 6 and year 7 students.
•	Schools will participate in reviews using the DECS Improvement and Accountability Framework (DIAF). This will focus on identifying areas of improvement within the school, such as student’s literacy and numeracy achievement, student engagement and retention and teaching and learning.
•	Successful schools will develop, substantiate and promote successful practice.
•	New mentoring strategies will enable identified clusters of schools to access a range of youth development programs that will strengthen student engagement and attainment in learning and develop participant’s career aspirations. As part of this strategy additional resources will also be provided for ongoing mentoring support for Indigenous students in years 5-9.
•	The use of  Aboriginal Turnaround teams to facilitate regional responses to support schools and Aboriginal students.
•	The Aboriginal Community Voice project will assist Aboriginal parents and carers to support children through participation in Community Voice groups and the SA Aboriginal Education and Training Consultative body.
•	The Wiltja Residence program which supports Anangu students to access secondary schooling will be expanded.
•	The expansion of the Learning Together program which will result in increased access to learning opportunities for families, which enables them to be involved in their young children’s learning in a supportive environment, and which also reconnects young parents to formal learning about their own children and their parenting role.
•	The Parent Involvement Program will provide support to parents to become more involved in the governance of National Partnership Schools.  Career information and schooling transition points will be a focus of this program.
•	A leadership consultant will be appointed in each region to assist in the coordination of the National Partnerships, to build or extend effective community partnerships and to support Principals in whole school improvement.
•	The capacity of schools to engage young people in their learning will be enhanced though a range of partnerships with the community, business and other organisations. This will include through the provision and direct involvement of not for profit organisations, volunteers, community and business leaders in the ICAN and student mentoring programs.
•	Teaching support and leadership coaching will be provided to assist teachers and leaders working in schools participating in the National Partnership on Low Socio-Economic Status School Communities. Strategies will also be developed to attract and retain principals and teachers in low SES school communities.
•	The Teaching for Effective Learning Program provides specialist teacher support to develop a whole school approach to quality teaching for improved student engagement and achievement. A focus of this program will be the development of teachers’ classroom practice along with researching those aspects that have the greatest impact on student outcomes.

National Partnership on Literacy and Numeracy (2009 – 2012)
Key Reform Areas
South Australia has identified six key reform areas to progress the National Partnership on Literacy and Numeracy 
•	Enhancing Professional Development for School Leaders and Teachers
•	Engaging Expert Literacy and Numeracy Coordinating Field Officers /Leaders
•	Creating Networks of Expert Literacy Partnership Coaches and Expert Numeracy Partnership Coaches
•	Building and Sharing Effective Practice
•	Implementing Individualised Case Management of Students
•	Supporting Parental Engagement

Key Initiatives in Each Sector
Association of Independent Schools of South Australia
•	Advisory staff will work with participating schools to enhance school practices in literacy and numeracy teaching and learning to lead to professional learning communities.
•	Development of in-school literacy and numeracy leadership expertise will be achieved by building the capacity of teachers within schools, resulting in sustainable improvement.
•	Identifying practical strategies for classroom teachers to assist Indigenous students to achieve better outcomes in literacy and numeracy will be a priority.
•	Tutors to deliver the program Teaching ESL Students in mainstream classrooms (TESMC): language in learning across the curriculum will be increased through facilitator training. 
•	TESMC tutors will support teachers in understanding and identifying the language-related needs of English language learners and to develop teaching practices which address these needs in an explicit manner. 
•	All schools within the sector will have the opportunity to access NAPLAN analysis software to inform school plans, teaching foci and learning plans.
•	Professional learning will be provided to enable teachers to triangulate NAPLAN data with other school based diagnostic and assessment data to inform teaching and learning. 
•	There will be increased professional learning for school teams to understand and examine school data, develop action plans to reflect whole of school emphasis, develop individual learning plans for students identified as ‘at risk’ and to support schools to track student progress over time.
•	Leaders will develop a leadership support model that links schools’ achievement information, targeted student support and professional learning to build informed learning communities, resulting in improved numeracy and literacy outcomes for students.
•	There will be a focus on understanding current research about engaging parents and the subsequent development of a parental engagement strategy that best suits the schools’ contexts and promotes ways of thinking and working as a whole school learning community.

Catholic Education South Australia
•	Designated Numeracy Expert Teachers and Literacy Expert Teachers will work within their own schools to increase support and knowledge of teachers at the local level.
•	Case management and a team approach for students at or below national minimum standards will be a priority. 
•	A CESA Senior Education Adviser, a Literacy Consultant and a Numeracy Consultant with leadership experience and literacy / numeracy expertise, will lead a network of Local Expert Teachers and manage the National Partnership on Literacy and Numeracy.
•	The principal and Local Expert Teacher, supported by the CESA team, will develop a school action plan to address particular needs with respect to improving literacy / numeracy outcomes for that school’s students.
•	Local Expert Teachers and the CESA team will provide professional learning to enhance teachers’ capacity to improve the literacy / numeracy outcomes for identified students.
•	Teachers will be supported in classrooms by the Local Expert Teacher to monitor, track and document student performance and to plan future learning, based on assessment of student learning.

Department of Education and Children’s Services
•	SMART targets for literacy and numeracy improvement will be coordinated by field officers in collaboration with individual schools and regional leadership teams.
•	The Principals as Literacy Leaders Pilot Project (PALL) will be extended to include numeracy leadership. 
•	The establishment of literacy and numeracy regional networks will help schools to identify and share effective practices.
•	Each school will develop a plan focussing on a ‘whole of school’ approach to literacy or numeracy improvement. Plans will include tracking student progress over time, particularly for cohorts of students who are falling behind or at risk of falling behind.
•	Case studies will be conducted in regions where students are achieving good results so that effective strategies can be identified and shared.
•	 A system of literacy and numeracy specialist coaches will be established for identified primary schools. Coaches will work in each school linking classrooms and with other schools in clusters. They will also work in classrooms and support teachers’ professional learning by demonstrating pedagogies, trialling resources, and collaboratively planning teaching programs.
•	Specialist literacy and numeracy coaches will participate in a professional learning program.  The program will focus on evidence based effective practice and assessment, building pedagogical content knowledge, coaching/mentoring strategies, analysing data, planning teaching programs and student interventions. These coaches will work with classroom teachers and network with other schools in regional clusters.
•	Specialist literacy and numeracy coaches will provide ongoing professional development to update teachers on evidence based classroom literacy or numeracy strategies and pedagogical content knowledge. 
•	Specialist literacy and numeracy coaches will work alongside classroom teachers to analyse and monitor student achievement data and implement effective student intervention programs targeting specific areas of need.

National Partnership on Improving Teacher Quality (2009 – 2013)
Key Reform Areas
South Australia has identified seven key areas to progress the National Partnership on Improving Teacher Quality 
•	Enhancing Leadership Development and Support 
•	Supporting Teacher Supply and Preparation
•	Building Indigenous Education Pathways
•	Improving Workforce Data Collection and Analysis
•	Providing Incentives for Classroom Teachers
•	Building Strategic Partnerships and Sharing Good Practice
•	Planning for Continuous Improvement
Key Initiatives in Each Sector
Association of Independent Schools of South Australia
•	A leadership program will be established and offered for experienced, recently appointed and aspiring principals.  The programs will be supplemented by seminars and discussion forums led by expert presenters.  This coordinated approach will prepare and build principals’ skills for continued and future leadership.
•	Support will be provided for recently appointed principals to access post-graduate study. 
•	School leaders will be supported through a seminar to discuss the outcomes of the deliberations of national Teacher Quality Steering Committee. 
•	Teaching as a career will be promoted to senior Indigenous students.
•	An enhanced Beginning Teachers Program will be developed and implemented.
•	Performance management and continuous improvement seminars will be held for school leaders, and schools will be assisted to establish performance management and continuous improvement arrangements.
•	Support will be provided to schools (upon request) to undergo external professional review of their educational performance.

Catholic Education South Australia
•	Leadership capacity of current leaders will be developed by Principal Consultants supporting new and experienced principals through mentoring / coaching opportunities. 
•	Leadership capacity of aspiring leaders will be developed by deputy principals pairing with an experienced principal as a coach to clarify, determine and achieve their goals.  
•	Immersion experiences for school leaders will support leadership development in areas of school/sector priorities.
•	The Principal Consultant Program will provide school leaders with support to design and manage professional learning of staff. 
•	The Beginning Teachers Program will be enhanced through the employment of a new consultant, whose focus will be the retention of teachers, especially in rural schools and schools that are difficult to staff.
•	CESA Consultants will provide professional learning forums in central and rural areas to support leaders and teachers in managing curriculum change, towards implementing the National Curriculum. 
•	Literacy and Numeracy Consultants will provide a wide range of professional development programs to schools. This professional learning will be linked to the National Partnerships on Low Socio-Economic Status School Communities and Literacy and Numeracy.
•	Support Indigenous students to explore post school study including pathways into teaching and early childhood education.

Department of Education and Children’s Services 
•	 A review of the SA Centre for Leaders in Education (SACLE) will be conducted to identify areas of success and improvement in developing current and aspiring leaders.
•	Leadership development for current preschool directors will be provided through the SACLE.
•	Principal leadership programs, with a focus on school improvement, will be provided to 80 principals per year from 2010 through the SACLE.
•	Targeted professional development such as Principal Pathways and School will prepare 150 leaders for their first appointment to principalship or preschool directorship.  
•	Development will be provided for 150 aspiring leaders to prepare for school and preschool leadership in a government context through the SACLE.
•	Regional and cluster based support for leaders will be provided with a focus on ‘instructional leadership’ development.
•	Development of Indigenous leadership will be supported through the SACLE Next Wave strategy.
•	Targeted recruitment strategies will be expanded in number and type, to address teacher shortage by increasing the graduate recruitment and career change schemes.
•	The development of a community based teacher education program targeting Aboriginal Community Education Officers aspiring to become Teachers will be explored.
•	School Centres of Excellence will be established in diverse locations.  Their role in contributing to teacher education will be determined in line with national initiatives. 
•	Indigenous teaching scholarships supporting undergraduates will be evaluated and expanded, including current Indigenous school workers aspiring to train in teacher education programs.
•	Strategies to target teacher education pathways for Indigenous secondary school students will be investigated.
•	The capacity of the workforce development system (HRIMS) will be enhanced to effectively report on the teacher workforce and to assist in any national work on a longitudinal workforce survey and teacher mobility.
•	There will be further development of the Department of Education and Children’s Services/Australian Institute of Social Research forecast model on future teacher workforce supply and demand.
•	A range of career opportunities incentives will be offered to staff to reward, recognise and retain a quality teaching workforce by expanding the C Change Teacher Leader program.
•	Existing partnership programs with universities (e.g. country teaching scholarships, new and beginning teacher scholarships) will be evaluated and expanded.
•	Existing workforce development strategies will be evaluated and expanded.
•	The national professional standards will be adopted by the Government sector.
•	 The national professional standards will be integrated with accreditation processes of high quality teachers through the Advanced Skills Teacher program in the Government sector.
•	A framework and tools for performance management of Teachers will be developed incorporating national professional standards.
•	To enhance teacher quality, the Department of Education and Children’s Services will ensure that diagnostic reviews undertaken in schools inform planning for improvement, including areas in need of intervention, support and performance development programs. 
•	Development and support will be provided to new school leaders in undertaking annual school reviews and performance management with staff. 
Performance Indicators and Measures
The South Australian Implementation Plans will contribute towards the attainment of the outcomes specified in each of the National Partnership Agreements. 
South Australia will report twice a year against a number of performance measures and indicators to provide measures of progress as appropriate to each National Partnership. These measures are:
•	Levels of activity, by Partnership including the numbers of schools, teachers and students participating each year by cohort. For example the number of teachers participating in professional development, the additional number of specialist teachers employed and trained, students supported by case management or mentoring, number of schools developing a school improvement plan. 
•	Outputs and outcomes, such as NAPLAN results, attendance, and changes in student engagement and wellbeing.

•	NAPLAN measures for both literacy (reading) and numeracy. These include: 
o	Gain in mean score - all students and those at or below the national minimum standard 
o	Proportion of students above the national minimum standard 
o	Proportion of students at or above the national minimum standard 
o	Gain in mean score (Indigenous) - all Indigenous students, and those at or below the national minimum standard. 
NAPLAN data for students benefiting from participation in the Literacy and Numeracy National Partnership will be measured against defined targets for improvement, which are set annually. Achievement of these targets will trigger payment of reward funds.
Successful achievement of reforms under the National Partnership on Improving Teacher Quality will also trigger payment of reward funds.
School Selection
Each education sector has identified schools for potential participation in both the National Partnership on Low Socio-Economic Status School Communities and the National Partnership on Literacy and Numeracy.
Association of Independent Schools of South Australia
Through consultation with member schools, the Association of Independent Schools has invited their participation in the National Partnerships. The decision to be involved in the National Partnerships rests with each individual school’s management.
Selection criteria developed in accordance with the COAG priorities for reform take into consideration the school’s capacity to participate through a consultation process involving respective school communities including principals and their governance bodies. 
In addition, selection criteria for participation in the National Partnership on Low Socio-Economic Status School Communities have also taken into consideration the presence of particular cohorts of students, including
•	Students who are at risk of becoming disengaged with schooling 
•	Indigenous students
•	Students who speak English as a second language 
•	Students with refugee backgrounds.

Catholic Education South Australia
The selection of participating schools, teachers and cohorts has resulted from a consultative process between the Catholic Education Office, school principals and their school communities, and consideration of relative disadvantage. Criteria have also included a focus on particular student cohorts in primary schools, Indigenous students, students with refugee experience or English as a second language background. 
CESA has aimed to maximise coverage across the three National Partnerships and other pilot programs. Each school’s capacity to participate may influence the timing of its participation in a given National Partnership.
In addition, selection criteria for participation in the Literacy and Numeracy National Partnership include: 
•	NAPLAN data indicating that some cohorts of students require further and additional support
•	schools not included in the National Partnership on Low Socio-Economic Status School Communities
•	a focus on rural communities.

Department of Education and Children’s Services
Selection criterion for schools participating in the National Partnership on Low Socio-Economic Status School Communities will
•	include all schools identified by the Commonwealth.  DECS is providing significant and flexible resources for these schools to target and deliver sustained improvements for highly disengaged students through personalised approaches tailored to meet the learning needs of these students 
•	include, as a group of schools, a significant number of Indigenous enrolments
•	generally not be schools participating in the National Partnership on Literacy and Numeracy.

Selection criteria for schools participating in the National Partnership on Literacy and Numeracy will be carried out in consultation with regional directors and will
•	be in up to five identified regions
•	be distributed across the identified regions depending on need as determined by NAPLAN results 
•	have demonstrated performance in NAPLAN in 2008 and state Literacy and Numeracy testing over the past four years when compared with ‘like’ schools, that indicates potential for significant improvement 
•	be in categories 3 to 6 of the Index of Disadvantage
•	have demonstrated the capacity and commitment to effectively participate
•	include, as a group of schools, a significant number of Indigenous enrolments.
School Level Plans
All schools participating in the Smarter Schools National Partnerships are required to outline their participation in a School Level Plan. School plans will include an outline of the planned National Partnership activities for the school, the resources the school is using in participating in the National Partnership and the amount of Australian Government funding allocated to the school. These school level plans will be produced during each school’s normal planning cycle.
School plans for participating schools will be available on school websites.
Support for Specific Student Cohorts
The South Australian Smarter Schools National Partnerships will support student cohorts through a variety of initiatives, most specifically for Indigenous students and those students who speak English as a second language.
The initiatives listed below indicate the range of strategies across the state in each of the National Partnerships. The scope and implementation of specific strategies may vary between the three schooling sectors.
National Partnership on Low Socio-economic Status School Communities
•	Mentoring for Indigenous students in years 5-9 in targeted schools or clusters of schools.
•	Aboriginal Turnaround teams to facilitate regional responses to support schools and Aboriginal students
•	Increasing the capacity of Indigenous parents and carers to support children with opportunities for involvement such as participation in Community Voice groups and the SA Aboriginal Education and Training Consultative body.
•	Programs such as ICANS, Student Mentoring and Case Management will provide specific support for cohorts such as students with disabilities, English as a second language (ESL) students, Indigenous students, refugees and homeless young people.

National Partnership on Literacy and Numeracy 
•	Increasing the number of experts to deliver teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) programs in the mainstream through facilitator training.
•	Increasing the focus on techniques for Teaching ESL Students in Mainstream Classrooms through the Language in Learning Across the Curriculum program (TESMC or LILAC).
•	Increasing professional learning opportunities for classroom teachers to enable Indigenous perspectives to be incorporated into the curriculum.
•	Increasing the focus on identification of practical strategies for classroom teachers to assist Indigenous students to achieve better outcomes.
•	Identifying students who require additional support, particularly those at or below national minimum standard in national tests (including Indigenous students and students with a refugee background) through collaboration between the local expert teacher, principal and other teachers to set up close monitoring and assessment for all students.
National Partnership on Improving Teacher Quality 
•	Further developing the case management of Indigenous year 12 students to enhance opportunities for SACE studies.
•	Support Indigenous students to explore post school study including pathways into teaching and early childhood education.
•	Investigating strategies to target Indigenous secondary school students into teacher education pathways.
•	Evaluating and expanding Indigenous teaching scholarships to support undergraduates into teaching.
•	Providing scholarships for Indigenous school workers aspiring to train in teacher education programs.
National Reforms
Six national collaborative reform projects were identified to support implementation of the Smarter Schools National Partnerships. South Australia is a participating jurisdiction in all six reform areas. 
Reform Area 1	Development/enhancement of School Performance Improvement Frameworks	
Reform Area 2	Development of strategies to improve outcomes in small and/or remote schools	
Reform Area 3	Development of strategies to engage parents and carers in schooling in low SES school communities	
Reform Area 4	Extended service school models	
Reform Area 5	Literacy and numeracy diagnostic tools	
Reform Area 6 	Leadership development strategies	

South Australia leads the work in Reform Area 3: Strategies to engage parents and carers in schooling in low SES school communities. This work is managed through a national taskforce with government, non-government and expert participants. South Australia is also co-leading with Western Australia on Reform Area 2: Strategies to improve outcomes in small and/or remote schools. This work will identify and develop strategies that address the challenges faced by small and remote schools.
Moving Forward
South Australia is committed to achieving improved outcomes for South Australia’s students. The three Smarter Schools National Partnerships provide a unique opportunity to enhance the connections between schools and the broader community, improve the skills of teachers and leaders and provide learning opportunities for students which are responsive, tailored and flexible.
Each South Australian schooling sector has developed strategies and initiatives in response to the priorities of COAG and their own sector. Moving forward, sectors are committed to achieving the objectives of the National Partnerships and learning from each other to improve the educational outcomes and opportunities for South Australia’s school children.