Jo-Anne Reid

A practice turn for teacher education

Within the Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education (RIPPLE) at Charles Sturt University, teacher education researchers have been quick to respond to the opportunities created by what is known as ‘the practice turn’ that characterises contemporary theory around the globe and across disciplines. We are working, together and in parallel, to explore ways in which we can take up the affordances of renewed attention to theories of practice in professional (teacher) education. Our aim is to build new theories of teacher education practice that can sustain us as we interact within and around contemporary higher education and school education policy and regulatory frameworks. While these may work to constrain and delineate teacher education curriculum decisions, they also delineate the social and interpersonal parameters of the field on which we practise as teacher educators in universities today. In this paper I explore and examine the idea of practice in pre-service teacher education to ask if there are ways to reconceptualise professional practice and professional experience outside of the now dominant ‘days in schools’ model that has become the major way in which we provide pre-service (student) teachers with the opportunity to actually study the act of teaching and the actions that are involved in the practice of their profession. Drawing on the work of Grossman, teaching is an idea that has devolved over time. What was once a core teacher education practice of the ‘demonstration lesson’ followed by student practice of key skills has disappeared from initial teacher education curricula. Similarly, other forms of studying teaching such as the ‘micro-teaching’ approach of the 1970s and 80s have also diminished over time. With new developments in practice theory and attention to professional practice as a research area within Charles Sturt University and elsewhere, a focus on the study of teaching as a practice is timely.

Regenerating Rural Social Space? Teacher Education for Rural—Regional Sustainability

The complex interconnection among issues affecting rural—regional sustainability requires an equally complex program of research to ensure the attraction and retention of high-quality teachers for rural children. The educational effects of the construction of the rural within a deficit discourse are highlighted. A concept of rural social space is modelled, bringing together social, economic and environmental dimensions of (rural—regional) sustainability. This framework combines quantitative definitional processes with more situated definitions of rural space based on demographic and other social data, across both geographic and cultural formations. The implications of the model are examined in terms of its importance for teacher education.

Teacher education for rural–regional sustainability: changing agendas, challenging futures, chasing chimeras?

Rural schooling has remained a concern for policy‐makers, employers, teacher education providers and schools throughout our recent history. In particular, the allegedly variable quality of teaching and learning in rural Australia is a major concern for teacher educators and educational leaders alike, with the provision of quality services for rural Australians a major equity issue in social as well as political terms. Working from an explicitly situated perspective, this paper explores these issues in relation to a set of current and recent research projects and government reports, with particular reference to a study currently exploring the articulation of teacher education and rural schooling in New South Wales. This is contextualized within a larger agenda of national and environmental sustainability which raises the key issue of social policy and educational priorities as we look forward into a radically uncertain future for teacher education, rural schooling and rural‐regional sustainability.

Making difference count : A demographic study of overseas born teachers

This article reports on the findings of a demographic study which is part of an Australian Research Council funded case study. It seeks to better understand the experiences and challenges facing teachers who are overseas born and educated non-native speakers of English. The investigation has been carried out in Victorian government metropolitan, regional city and rural secondary schools. A statewide survey has provided data about this previously ‘invisible’ population of teachers, their demographic location, their qualifications, backgrounds and the nature of their teaching experiences. The findings raise a number of concerns in relation to overseas born teachers of ethnic difference in rural schools where cultural and professional isolation may be of particular concern. We explore some of the implications for teacher education in the light of increasing numbers of overseas born students entering teacher education courses.

Producing 'quality' teachers: the role of teacher professional standards

In 2012, discussions about what constitutes ‘quality teaching’ and the role of teacher professional standards in determining and monitoring quality will, no doubt, continue to be important in Austr...

Cinders in Snow? Indigenous Teacher Identities in Formation.

The identity work engaged in by Indigenous teachers1 in school settings is highlighted in a study of Australian Indigenous teachers. The construction of identity in home and community relationships intersects with and can counteract the take up of a preferred identity in the workplace. In this paper we analyse data from interviews with Indigenous teachers, exploring the interplay between culture and identity. We foreground the binary nature of racial assignment in schools, demonstrate how this offers contradictory constructions of identity for Indigenous teachers, and note the effects of history, culture and location in the process of forming a teaching ‘self’.

Quality teacher education: the challenges of developing professional knowledge, honing professional practice and managing teacher identities

Editorial describes the challenges of developing professional knowledge, honing professional practice and managing teacher identities.

Talking teacher education: factors impacting on teacher education for indigenous people

In this paper we report the findings of research that has examined, from first-hand accounts, the career pathways of Indigenous Australians who have studied to become teachers. We focus on one key aspect of the larger study: the nature and experience of initial teacher education for Indigenous student teachers. Elsewhere we have reported on aspects of their subsequent working lives in teaching or related fields. We focus here on participants’ talk about teacher education, particularly with reference to the factors that have impacted positively and negatively on their identity formation as “Indigenous” students and teachers. As a research collective that comprises Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal teacher educators, and in the context of increased emphasis on university access following the Federal Review of Higher Education, we argue that it is time for government, universities and schools to listen and learn from this talk. In particular, we highlight in our participants’ accounts the persistence of three longstanding and interrelated factors that continue to impact on the success or inadequacy of teacher education for Aboriginal people, i.e., the presence and nature of financial, emotional and academic support in university and school settings.

Reflecting on the work of preparing teachers

As we enter 2009, it is fitting to reflect upon our closing comments in 2008, when we made a call for researchers to critically engage with the broader discourses and sociopolitical climate that shapes teacher education.

Teacher knowledge: continuing professional learning

Discussions about the nature of teacher knowledge and what it is that teachers need to know are not new. Such concerns have dominated teacher preparation for decades. However, in recent times teachers’ work has become increasingly complex and the stakes for teacher preparation have become increasingly higher. This has occurred in response to a wide range of factors including developments in information technology, the diversification of student cohorts, the ways in which knowledge is produced and transmitted, as well as pressing and urgent issues about the state of the world’s environment and the need to educate for citizenship and sustainability. A rapidly changing global world has meant that teachers must have the skills to respond to uncertainty and changing priorities. They must be ready for the present and ready for the future. It is possible that those who graduate as teachers in 2013 may be teaching in 2050. What knowledge will they need for a future we can hardly imagine? For those of us involved in initial teacher education, our challenge is to equip teachers with the knowledge to problem-solve and to deal with pedagogical concerns that are unlikely to be the same in the future, as they are today. Recently, teacher professional standards in Australia and elsewhere in the world have attempted to make explicit the knowledge required by teachers. The new Australian Teacher Standards (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership Limited [AITSL], 2011) state what knowledge teachers require in regards to interrelated areas: that is, knowledge about students, knowledge about content, knowledge about pedagogy and knowledge about relationships within and beyond the classroom. Clearly, these standards have significant impact on initial teacher education because they underpin the accreditation of teaching degrees and inform the teacher education curriculum on offer to pre-service teachers. However, while the nature of what teachers need to know is constantly debated by policy makers, teacher educators, researchers and teachers themselves, there is general agreement that the development of teacher knowledge is an ongoing and career-long process. This is more obvious now than it ever has been. The expectation that classroom practitioners will be learners as well as teachers is reflected in the AITSL professional standards. They divide a teaching career into four stages of competence, knowledge and, therefore, learning. The standards are concerned with knowledge and practice for “graduate teachers”, “proficient teachers”, “highly accomplished teachers” and “lead teachers”. It follows that, with the exception of graduate teachers whose professional knowledge is developed during initial teacher education, the ongoing development of these knowledges relies on continuous in-service education and teacher professional learning. This issue of Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education contains seven articles concerned with teacher knowledge and teacher learning, at both pre-service and in-service stages. All of these articles make recommendations that “push the boundaries” in terms of teacher knowledge and practice and provoke us to consider how these knowledges and practices can be more widely developed in pre-service and in-service teacher education programs. The articles, when considered as a whole, present teacher knowledge(s) as