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In 2014, the Australian Government established the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG) to advise on how teacher education programmes could ensure new teachers were adequately prepared for the classroom. Following this, the Australian Government endorsed a key recommendation of the TEMAG Action Now: Classroom Ready Teachers report, the inclusion of specialisations in primary Initial Teacher Education (ITE). This research was conducted at an Australian public university that, in 2016, had embedded specialisations in a revised primary teacher programme structure and was one of the first ITE institutions in Australia to graduate primary teachers with a specialisation. Using a mixed-methods case study design with convenience sampling, this study sought to investigate these primary graduates' perceptions of undertaking a specialisation in relation to the development of content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge in the specialist area, as well as perceived employment advantages. This research took place over 4 years with participants having completed a Bachelor of Education (Primary) at least three months prior to participating. The participants reported benefits to having completed a primary specialisation but expressed concerns about their preparedness to teach their specialisation and whether it would result in any advantages for employment. Recommendations from the participants included teaching practice in their area of specialisation, consideration of specialist skills and changing the timetabling of the specialisation in the programme. Ultimately, there is a need for ongoing research in this area to determine the extent to which primary specialisations deliver the intended outcomes and impacts at both the policy driver level and the university level. [Author abstract]

Professional learning and development for all teacher educators through stories of practice and carefully structured coaching questions. This book provides all teacher educators, wherever they are based, with key opportunities for professional learning and development, especially in relation to the new initial teacher education (ITE) core content framework and the new early career framework. A range of detailed narratives about practice have been written by teacher educators, for teacher educators, and are carefully curated by the author to draw out key learning points, including a range of coaching questions. Of interest for individuals and groups of teacher educators, and especially those working in partnerships, the book also contains research- and practice-informed guidance that can be used in professional development sessions.

Teachers consistently identify working with “diverse learners” as challenging. This raises questions about how teacher educators conceptualize and enact preparation of teachers for heterogeneous populations. This article provides a systematic review of literature relating to both “teacher education” and “diverse learners,” to identify knowledge claims regarding the way this “problem” and possible “solutions” should be framed. Analyzing 209 peer-reviewed journal articles (2009–2019), the article identifies groups most frequently described as diverse, three qualitatively different clusters of claims regarding how teachers can be prepared for diversity, and factors identified as constraining preparation. Analysis reveals a literature broad in focus—referencing many groups—but shallow in depth. The majority describe strategies for teaching about or catering to diversity with only few considering teaching for diversity. There is also limited engagement with specialist literature relating to concepts such as gender or race and little attention to teacher educators’ own knowledge. The article concludes with implications for teacher educators, arguing for enhanced critical epistemic reflexivity.

In the present study, we aimed to specify the key competence domains perceived to be critical for the teaching profession and depict them as a comprehensive teacher competence model. An expert panel that included representatives from seven units providing university-based initial teacher education in Finland carried out this process. To produce an active construction of a shared understanding and an interpretation of the discourse in the field, the experts reviewed literature on teaching. The resulting teacher competence model, the multidimensional adapted process model of teaching (MAP), represents a collective conception of the relevant empirical literature and prevailing discourses on teaching. The MAP is based on Blömeke et al.’s, Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 223, 3–13, (2015) model which distinguishes among teacher competences (referring to effective performance of teachers’ work), competencies (knowledge, skills, and other individual competencies underlying and enabling effective teaching), and situation-specific skills of perceiving, interpreting, and making decisions in situations involving teaching and learning. The implications of the MAP for teacher education and student selection for initial teacher education are discussed.

Teacher self-efficacy (TSE) of pre-service and in-service teachers plays a significant role in the successful implementation of educational reforms. The purpose of this systematic literature review is to explore the interaction between curriculum and/or assessment reform and TSE. Twenty-nine empirical research studies are analysed to find factors that impact TSE during change and the support mechanisms necessary to maintain high TSE. Using the Systematic Quantitative Literature Review method coupled with Social Cognitive Theory and Sources of Self-efficacy, studies reported that environmental determinants lower TSE during reform. It was found that to support high TSE professional learning was a necessity. [Author abstract]

Recruiting career changers into teaching has emerged as a part of a strategy by governments worldwide to address complex teacher shortage problems in hard-to-staff schools. In this paper, we present a case study of two career change teachers and trace their career journey into Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and the teaching profession in two separate hard-to-staff schools. We interviewed these teachers during the first 2 years of their career change journey. During this period, ‘push-and-pull’ factors impacted their intentions to stay in the profession. Challenges included inadequate school-level mentorship support, social-geographic isolation in a regional school setting during the COVID-19 remote learning and the more complex working conditions in hard-to-staff schools. The adverse impacts of these challenges were, to some extent, mitigated by the participants’ commitment to making a positive difference in the lives of children and young people through the teaching profession, a strong work ethic and support provided by their ITE programme in the form of university-based mentors and adjustment to study requirements. The participants responded to these push-and-pull factors in ways that highlighted their reflexive decision-making and determination to stay in teaching despite challenges. We discuss the implications of these findings for workforce planning strategies aimed at recruiting career change teachers in hard-to-staff schools.

The teaching profession has become increasingly complex in the last decades. The changing role of teachers has called for a new paradigm of the teaching profession that recognises the potential of teachers to lead for supporting school development and change. The influence teachers have on the school community and their commitment to school change are at the core of teacher leadership definitions. Preparing future teachers to act as leaders in their schools can support the overall efforts for school improvement. Hence, the purpose of this study is to explore pre-service teacher leadership development. The study utilised a qualitative methodology to address: (i) pre-service teachers’ understanding of teacher leadership, (ii) the role of initial teacher education in shaping the understanding of teacher leadership, and (iii) the contribution of initial teacher education to pre-service teachers’ readiness for exercising leadership roles for school improvement. The study was conducted with pre-service teachers in the leading initial teacher education institution in Kosovo. A total of 42 pre-service teachers from all years of the Primary Teacher Education programme participated in four group interviews with the aim of discussing in depth the core elements of teacher leadership in order to better grasp the pre-service teachers’ understanding of this concept as well as their readiness to exercise leadership roles. A model devised by Snoek et al. (2019) was used as an analytical framework to determine the development of teacher leadership in initial teacher education. The study reveals that there is no consensus on the definition of teacher leadership. The findings show that the understanding of teacher leadership is based on a contextually drawn vision of what it means to be a teacher, resulting in a narrow view of leadership with regard to individual and classroom levels. The study concludes that initial teacher education has a critical role in contributing to shifting the conceptualisation of teacher leadership beyond the isolated views of individual and formal leadership. The findings have imperative implications for providing good models of initial teacher education that support the preparation and readiness of future teacher leaders to tackle the ever-increasing complexities of the teaching profession.

Currently pre-service teachers (PSTs) practise teaching by interacting in real-life situations naturally occurring within variable school-based practicums. These are not ideal contexts for beginning teachers because they put novices in situations with real students before demonstrating capability, feedback is often not at point of need and they do not provide all students with similar experiences. Simulation and micro-teaching combine to provide a technological solution to bridge the gap between graduate preparation and real application. This study draws on situated learning and reflective practice ideologies to critique and problematise Micro-teaching 2.0 - a combination of traditional micro-teaching practices and human looped simulations. The findings reveal increased self-efficacy of PSTs (n = 376) and identify the benefits and challenges of Micro-teaching 2.0 for initial teacher education programs. Micro-teaching 2.0 proved to be an effective diagnostic tool for identifying the specific needs of PSTs and a preparatory tool for real-life placements. The controlled learning environment addresses previous issues related to the variability of contexts and subsequent moderation of individual capabilities. The findings are timely as the teaching profession continues to be scrutinised and where technological advances continue to offer choice, challenges and creative options for educators. [Author abstract]

Preparing students for professional life in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous twenty-first century world has seen tertiary institutions eschew the traditional ‘lecture-tutorial’ model in favour of active learning approaches. However, implementing these approaches is not unproblematic. This paper explores how we navigated the tensions of cultivating twenty-first century skills in our students—first-year preservice teachers—through a purposely designed approach to active learning in an educational technology course. We illustrate how deploying Bakhtinian precepts through reflexive inquiry supported sensemaking of discomfort, leveraging this sensemaking to reinvigorate practice.