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The Australian Government recognizes that the Arts are a critical part of formal school education and it should not be viewed as subordinate or extra. This paper forms part of a wider research project titled "Pre-service teacher attitudes and understandings of Music Education" that started in 2013. The focus of this paper investigates music teaching and learning in a core unit within the Bachelor of Education (Primary) course at Deakin University (Australia). Using questionnaire and interview data gathered in 2014, I employ Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to analyse and codify the data. Three themes are discussed in relation to: Why it is important to include music in the primary school? What was enjoyable and what aspects were challenging in the music workshops? What can students integrate as generalist teachers into their future classrooms? Though the findings focus on "we did the how to teach it", it also highlights some challenges and opportunities for students and staff. Tertiary educators are challenged to raise the capacity and status of music when preparing students to translate the music curriculum into their future classrooms.

Higher education in Australia attracts many international students. Universities are challenged to prepare them with the necessary understandings, knowledge and skills to effectively participate in their study. For international students, understanding Early Childhood contexts in Australia is a new way of viewing teaching and learning from their own cultural perspective. This paper situates itself as part of a wider study "Improving work placement for international students, their mentors and other stakeholders". A pilot program was run at Deakin University for the Master of Teaching Early Childhood students to undertake play workshops before commencing placement. Questionnaires were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Three themes emerged and are discussed. The findings show that while play workshops may provide a "place and space" for international students to gain knowledge, skills and understandings before going out on placement, they do have some limitations. Generalisations to other institutions cannot be made.

In this paper, we report on an investigation into initial teacher education students' (ITES) understandings of sustainability and the Australian National Curriculum Sustainability Cross Curricular Priority (CCP). We also explore their willingness and capacities to embed the CCP into their own teaching practices. The ITES (N = 392) completed a quantitative survey with a series of Likert Scale questions and were asked to list "5 words" when they think of sustainability. Analysis reveals that ITES have generally limited to moderate understandings of sustainability and education for sustainability, but lesser understandings of the Sustainability CCP and the 9 organising ideas. Understandings of sustainability were dominated by an environmental focus. We conclude this paper with a discussion of the implications of narrow environmental understandings of sustainability. We explore factors that limit and enable teacher educators to embed sustainability education more explicitly. We note the importance role teacher educators play in supporting ITES to better understand sustainability.

This paper reports on a study that investigated the process and outcomes of using "Appreciative Inquiry" (AI) in an Australian initial teacher education (ITE) program review. The aim of the study, which drew on a sample of teaching staff involved in this Master of Teaching program, was to gain an understanding of the extent to which the application of the AI framework can be used effectively in the review of ITE programs. AI promotes collegial reflective practice and the generation of positive resolutions and thus aligned with the purposes of the review that were to foster collaboration, strengthen staff morale and, subsequently, build a stronger program for students. This paper provides a perceptual account of the AI review process as reported by the facilitators and a sample of review participants, and contributes to international literature in the areas of ITE program appraisal, organisational reform and Appreciative Inquiry. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

There has been a paucity of literature investigating the teaching beliefs and intentions of Australian physical education teacher education (PETE) students that enter teacher training. The First-year Influences on Teaching Perspectives Exploratory (FIT-PE) study explores the teaching perspectives of first year PETE students; including teaching perspectives predicted as being dominant and important for physical education teaching. The teaching perspectives inventory (TPI) was administered to 105 Australian PETE students. Independent t-tests and one-way ANOVA statistical tests were conducted to compare average teaching perspective summary scores across demographic variables. The FIT-PE study findings revealed 18 year olds (compared to 20-25 year olds) and PETE students from rural backgrounds (compared to regional) had significantly higher average summary scores for the transmission (content-oriented) teaching perspective. This paper provides reflective opportunities for teacher training programs of the underlying core teaching values (beliefs and intentions) of students at the entry point of PETE training.

The purposes of professional experience within initial teacher education programs are varied (Russell, 2005). However, there is limited literature explaining (a) university-based teacher educators' beliefs about its purposes and (b) how these purposes are reflected in practice. This study investigated these themes. A pragmatic mixed-method research design (Tashakkori & Teddlie, 2010) was developed to survey teacher educators from two Australian and New Zealand universities (n = 56). Participants were anonymously surveyed using a diamond ranking activity (requiring placement of 9 of 11 professional experience purpose statement cards, pre-determined from literature) and open response items seeking explanations of placement determining criteria and statement elimination. Following analysis of questionnaire data, focus groups were utilised to further explore the aggregated findings. Survey data were analysed by weighting frequencies of each statement. Analysis of the data indicated significant variation of perspectives amongst the teacher educators and resulted in the clustering of purposes into four groups. This paper presents these data from the Australian university cohort (n = 26). This study, the first of a series designed to elucidate understandings of teacher educators' purposes for professional experience, reinforces the importance of professional experience as authentic workplace learning within initial teacher education. The findings also reveal the complex beliefs that underpin teacher educators' practices when preparing, mentoring and supervising preservice teachers for and within professional experience.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce an integrated values, skills and knowledge (VSK) framework for initial teacher preparation programmes. The VSK framework articulated, in broad terms, the desired skills and knowledge components for beginning teachers, with the underlying core values permeating the programmes. The paper has two parts, the first of which details the development as well as the conceptual underpinning of the VSK framework. Part two, through a programme evaluation, discusses the validity and reliability of items developed through the VSK framework to measure the values, skills and knowledge that student teachers perceived through their initial teacher preparation programme. (Contains 10 tables and 1 figure.)

Australian pre-service teachers (PST) frequently report feeling isolated and vulnerable during the high stakes Assistant Teacher Program (ATP) final practicum. Mentoring and online learning communities have been shown to offer effective support during periods in which pre-service and beginning teachers feel challenged. As social media progressively infiltrates all aspects of contemporary life, individuals and organisations are opting to use technology in highly adaptive ways; as a result, they have to navigate both the positive aspects and pitfalls of the medium. In this paper we examine whether university Facebook© support groups, coupled with professional standards training and moderator involvement by university staff, enhanced ATP outcomes for preservice teachers in art and science.

The meaningful integration of technology in teaching and learning is consistently called for in all sectors of education. Recently it has appeared as a key tenet for achieving what has been termed as personalising learning. Personalising learning, a concept that addresses a range of current best-practice approaches with an added emphasis on ICT and the voice of individual learners, is becoming more prevalent in both general discussion, and in some countries, in policy regarding education. If its prevalence continues to grow, teacher educators need to consider how they too can incorporate personalising learning approaches in their courses to ensure graduate teachers are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to implement personalising learning approaches in their own classrooms. This paper considers the components of personalising learning and describes one approach to creating a technology-infused learning environment that has been trialled in the tertiary sector. The key focus of this trial was the effective integration of technology as an enabler of personalising learning. Findings indicate that meaningful student learning experiences can be achieved through a personalised approach which also supports the emerging tenets of effective, pedagogical use of ICT for learning. These findings led to a model of Technology for Personalising Learning (TPL) which is presented as a planning framework through which personalising learning with technology can be achieved in higher education. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

This paper reports the findings of an Australia-wide survey conducted as part of a national teacher education research project that explored the preparation of teachers to teach literacy and numeracy in Australian schools (Louden, Rohl, Gore, Greaves, McIntosh, Wright, Siemon & House, 2005). The project included various phases of inquiry, beginning with a desk audit of teacher education program characteristics and an international literature review (Gore & Griffiths, 2002), that drew on literature published in English in the last few decades. The issues identified in the literature review guided the construction of a set of national focus groups that targeted early years, primary and secondary teachers and teacher educators. Data from the focus groups informed three nationally representative questionnaire surveys, the purpose of which was to determine the preparedness of new graduates to teach literacy and numeracy to a range of school students. A survey was designed for each of the following three groups: senior school staff, primary beginning teachers and secondary beginning teachers.

This paper reports on the perceptions of teacher education student of the value of using digital tools to analyse video-based information on the practice of teachers in classrooms. This strategy was employed to address a dilemma in providing sufficient exposure to real examples of good classroom teaching to link theory with practice. The use of video of teachers in action could augment their practicum experience in schools but this required efficient and effective access to appropriate video material. For this purpose, the use of digital tools in a system called LessonLab was successfully implemented in an introductory unit focussed on learning theories at Edith Cowan University. Data collected using a survey of students and focus group discussion indicated that for almost all the students the experience was valued and the system operated effectively.

"Burnout" and praxis shock seem to be causing teachers to leave the profession early. Much research suggests that this is a reflection on the quality of teacher education programs. Interviews with teachers who were in their first four years in the secondary music classroom reveal how they view their pre-service preparation, and therefore provide an insight into how pre-service teacher education might be effectively reconceptualised. This paper explores the relationship between Zeichner and Liston's (1990) teacher education "traditions" and early-career music teachers' perceptions of an "ideal" teacher education course. Analyses of interviews with 15 early-career secondary classroom music teachers suggest the emergence of a common understanding regarding the design of effective music teacher education programs. Rather than representing any of Zeichner and Liston's four traditions in particular, early-career music teachers speak of a music teacher education approach that incorporates all of the traditions in an integrated way. This understanding of an "ideal" teacher education course should be considered when designing or reconceptualising teacher education courses in order to provide improved opportunities for future music teachers.