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Recruiting high-quality teachers is critical in supporting the delivery of an effective education experience for learners in schools. This paper examines how a new flexible two-year postgraduate teaching qualification is contributing to addressing the challenges of teacher recruitment in Wales. There is a shortage of teachers able to teach mathematics and science. It is also challenging to recruit Welsh-medium teachers, teachers from minority ethnic backgrounds and to fill vacancies in rural schools. To widen access to teacher education and diversify the teaching workforce, individuals with an appropriate undergraduate degree are offered the opportunity to train to teach via a flexible blended distance learning route, which is either part time or salaried. Early indications show that the flexibility of the programme has attracted career changers, who bring important transferable skills to their teaching practice. Although this is a relatively small-scale case study, it is apparent that offering a more flexible opportunity to those wishing to train to teach is of benefit to individuals, schools and the wider education system.

The Swedish welfare state has social protection policies focusing on labour market participation. Initiatives have been introduced after the increase of asylum seekers in 2015, focusing on so-called 'fast tracks'. In this paper I consider one of these fast track courses aimed at newly arrived teachers wishing to continue their teaching career in Sweden. Based on interviews and observational data I have followed one cohort throughout their course. The research aims for an understanding of the teachers' experiences from their own perspective as well as from the stakeholders'. The theoretical framework is mainly taken from the concepts of the capital market introduced by Bourdieu. In light of the findings, while the education the participants receive may be useful in order to understand the educational system, many are disappointed to find that fast track courses do not give them a clear advantage in terms of finding a faster way into the Swedish labour market. In addition, there are tendencies for local teacher communities to devalue the qualifications of this group. Generally, the emphasis on 'fast tracks' may ignore the need of individuals to complete formal Swedish education and to navigate complex processes of nationally set standards of professional requirements, which impede a fast integration process.

In the United States, an increasing number of new teachers are being prepared through alternative, or early entry, routes into teaching. These new forms of teacher preparation raise important questions about how and in what ways candidates are being prepared, particularly in key areas such as classroom management. To shed light upon these questions, this paper draws upon data from a larger study of teacher preparation in New York City which is engaged in examining the features of both alternative and traditional pathways into teaching. This paper uses qualitative data regarding preparation required by 31 childhood teacher education programs and survey data from 460 program graduates, to analyze new teachers' preparation for classroom management in New York City. We found that less than half of the traditional programs required any coursework in classroom management. Early entry candidates were more likely to have had a course in classroom management. The paper also reports survey findings regarding teachers' reports of their opportunities to learn, which suggest that teachers in traditional programs may encounter more foundational knowledge in such courses, while early entry teachers may have more opportunities to learn practical, concrete strategies. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)

This paper describes an urban teacher residency program, the Newark Montclair Urban Teacher Residency, a collaborative endeavor between the Newark, New Jersey Public Schools and Montclair State University, built on a decades-long partnership. The authors see the conceptual work of developing this program as creating a "third space" in teacher education. We detail the ways in which we conceptualize epistemology and clinical practice in teacher education, and changes in the roles of the community, and P-12 teachers that occur in a third space. Providing an account of our messy and nonlinear process demonstrates the struggles of creating new spaces for teacher education. We believe the theory that informs our work, the challenges we face, and the strategies for meeting those challenges illustrate the tenuous and ever-evolving nature of doing work in the "third space." (Contains 2 tables.)

This paper examines the ways that one group of US pre-service teachers, enrolled in an alternate route teacher education class, expressed and challenged each other's contradictory discourses about teaching for social justice. Particularly significant are the many ways that this group of students enacted subject positions around race and sexuality as various combinations of African American, White, gay, straight, lesbian, Christian, and as members of this class. Epiphanic moments about race and sexual orientation are examined to illuminate the ways that subject positions were contested, reified, or renegotiated in order to preserve a sense of community within the class. This research demonstrates the ways that social justice teacher education differentially positions people who have been historically marginalized and how it can at times reify a hierarchy of marginality. (Contains 1 note.)