Search

This paper argues for a reconceptualisation and restructuring of the practicum in teacher education. Changes to the practicum within teacher education have been advocated for some years now (Cochran-Smith, 1991; Groundwater-Smith, 1993; Zeichner, 1990). Zeichner (1990), for example, identified three levels of change: organisational, curricular and structural. However, it will be argued in this paper that such changes will only be worthwhile if accompanied by changes in schools' and universities' values, beliefs, habits, assumptions and ways of doing things. This paper discusses the notion of "remapping" the practicum in teacher education, drawing on a recent practicum initiative which has occurred within a new teacher education award at the Faculty of Education, University of South Australia.

In this paper, we undertake a brief review of the ‘conventional’ research into the problems of early career teachers to create a juxtaposed position from which to launch an alternative approach based on resilience theory. We outline four reasons why a new contextualised, social theory of resilience has the potential to open up the field of research into the professional lives of teachers and to produce new insights into the social, cultural and political dynamics at work within and beyond schools. We then move from these theoretical considerations to explain how we used them in a recent Australian research project that examined the experiences of 60 graduate teachers during their first year of teaching. This work led to the development of a Framework of Conditions Supporting Early Career Teacher Resilience which we outline, promote and advocate as the basis for action to better sustain our graduate teachers in their first few years of teaching. Finally, we reflect on the value of our work so far and outli...

The title of the 2014 Australian Teacher Education Association (ATEA) conference was Teacher Education, An Audit: Building a platform for future engagement. One of the conference themes was Professional Experience: What works? Why? I seized upon this theme and the title of the conference as it afforded me an opportunity to do an audit of my research in professional experience over the last 25 years. This article presents this evidence base and the messages I have taken from this evidence. I have done this in the hope that, by collating some of the insights gained from the past and the present, it will help to “build a platform for future engagement” in professional experience. In preparing this article I was asked by the Editors to reflect also on how I developed my distinctive line of inquiry and expertise in relation to the practicum across an extended period. These reflections are included. I hope they will support university-based teacher educators in enhancing their satisfaction and achievements from working in this stimulating and provocative field of study. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Professional experience in initial teacher education continues to be a very challenging area in which to work in Australian universities, given the changing times in which we live and the multiplicity of political, professional, economic and pragmatic issues that surround professional placements. The past decades have seen myriad responses to these issues and resulted in changes in how professional experiences are conceptualised, structured and supervised. Such changes have had implications for the roles of the various participants. This paper focuses on the changing roles of pre-service teachers, mentor teachers, school coordinators and academics involved in professional experiences. It draws on a number of studies that have investigated professional experiences which have been framed around the notion of learning communities. It will be argued that a learning communities model of professional experience is a significant response to the ‘changing landscape’ (Clandinin, 2008) of both schools and universities. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

In Promoting Early Career Teacher Resilience the stories of 60 graduate teachers are documented as they grapple with some of the most persistent and protracted personal and professional struggles facing teachers today. Narratives emerge detailing feelings of frustration, disillusionment and even outrage as they struggle with the complexity, intensity and immediacy of life in schools. Other stories also surface to show exhilarating experiences, documenting the wonder, joy and excitement of working with young people for the first time. This book makes sense of these experiences in ways that can assist education systems, schools, and faculties of teacher education, as well as early career teachers themselves to develop more powerful forms of critical teacher resilience. Rejecting psychological explanations of teacher resilience, it endorses an alternative socio-cultural and critical approach to understanding teacher resilience. The book crosses physical borders and represents experiences of teachers in similar circumstances across the globe, providing researchers and teachers with real-life examples of resilience promoting policies and practices. This book is not written as an account of the failures of an education system, but rather as a provocation to help generate ideas, policies and practices capable of illuminating the experiences of early career teachers in more critical and socially just ways at an international and national level.

This book addresses one of the most persistent issues confronting governments, educations systems and schools today: the attraction, preparation, and retention of early career teachers. It draws on the stories of sixty graduate teachers from Australia to identify the key barriers, interferences and obstacles to teacher resilience and what might be done about them.

Issues of combating social exclusion are often held to be synonymous with a reduction of truancy and exclusion from schools. In the UK, for example, the Labour Party has expressed a commitment to reducing the number of pupils truanting or excluded from our schools Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) (1998). As this paper will illustrate however, the social exclusion of pupils goes way beyond simple measures of school attendance. Equally important are issues of affect, the external, observable manifestation of emotion and feeling, which are related to the engagement and active participation of pupils in schools. Drawing on years of teaching and research in Australia and the UK, this paper examines the role of affect in learning and teaching. We begin by examining the ways in which pupils' participation and inclusion is related to their perceptions of themselves, the quality of their relationships in school and their feelings about the culture of the classrooms in which they work. We then examine the ways in which teachers' perceptions of themselves and their feelings about the culture of the school in which they work influences how they teach and indeed how they learn. We argue that constructivist approaches to learning provide an opportunity for pupils, and teachers, to feel more included, rather than excluded, from the education process.

This paper reports on one aspect of a study which investigated the use of email between student teachers and university lecturers during the final practicum experience in a four year Bachelor of Education pre-service primary teaching course. The paper explores how the nature of electronic communication, together with the students' perceptions of ‘university supervision’ and their place in the school setting, affected the level of stress experienced by the student teachers in their placements. Student teacher stress has been reported in the literature as one factor which impedes student teacher learning during the practicum (Zeichner, 1980). We argue that ICT has the potential to maximise student teachers' learning outcomes in the practicum by giving them more control over the learning process, reducing their stress, and enabling them to manage their practicum experience more effectively.

Policies and practices refer to the officially mandated statements, guidelines, values and prescriptions that both enable and constrain early career teacher wellbeing. Early career teacher resilience and wellbeing is enhanced when systems’ policies and practices show a strong commitment to the principles and values of social justice, teacher agency and voice, community engagement, and respect for local knowledge and practice.

There are serious concerns around the sustainability of teaching given the attrition rate of early career teachers. In Western countries we know that between 25% and 40% of beginning teachers are likely to leave the teaching profession in the first 5 years (Ewing & Smith, 2003; Day & Gu, 2010). Clearly, there is a need to better understand the experiences of early career teachers and to investigate, in new ways, how the problem of teacher attrition can be addressed. This paper is based on a collaborative qualitative research project funded by the Australian Research Council that aimed to investigate the dynamic and complex interplay among individual, relational and contextual conditions that operate over time to promote early career teacher resilience. The methodology for the study was a critical enquiry. The data for the study came from interviews with 60 beginning teachers and their principals. Five main ‘Conditions for Resilience’ emerged from the analysis: relationships; school culture; teacher identity; teachers’ work; and policies and practices (Johnson, Down, Le Cornu, Peters, Sullivan, Pearce & Hunter, 2010). This article focuses on the first theme – relationships. It illuminates the role that sustainable and mutually sustaining relationships play in the development of early career teachers. Jordan’s (2006) model of relational resilience – with its characteristics of mutuality, empowerment and the development of courage - is used as a conceptual framework for discussing the insights from the study. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

It is widely accepted that professional experience or practicum is ‘a critically important part of teacher education courses and is consistently valued highly by student teachers’ (eg Ramsey, 2000; Teaching Australia, 2006; Parliament of Australia, 2007). In Australia and overseas there is a growing emphasis on teacher educators working in partnership with schools to construct professional experiences that maximise student teacher engagement and learning (Parliament of Australia, 2007). The literature on professional experience in pre-service teacher education provides varied and detailed accounts of the roles of the Pre-service Teacher, the Mentor Teacher and the University Mentor (see for example, Gaffey & Dobbins, 1996; Guyton & McIntyre, 1990; Zeichner, 1999). However the School based Professional Experience Co-ordinator, usually the principal or deputy principal, has received very little attention in the literature. The study on which this article is primarily based fills a gap in the existing literature on professional experience with its focus on the School based Co-ordinator role. It will be argued that Co-ordinators are essential in developing ‘new’ school-university partnerships which are necessary in ensuring high quality professional experiences. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This paper discusses policy and practice relevant to teacher education and professional experience programs in Australia, aiming to assist not only reading our past and present, but also offering strategic direction with respect to the challenges and opportunities that are emerging within the Australian context. A meta-analysis of current major trends in Australian educational reform and the implications of an 'education revolution' for professional experience are discussed. The paper maps and examines broadly key education agendas of 'productivity, participation and quality'. In relation to these agendas, significant policy trends are identified under the headings of partnerships, preparation and professional learning, and the implications of each for the field of teacher education and professional experience are explored. Some comparisons with similar reforms that have occurred in Scotland and England are offered to provide insights and alternative directions for those working in the field. Finally, a range of possibilities and suggestions, along with cautionary tales of locally based professional experience practices, are provided. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This article examines the role that professional experiences (practicum) can play in building resilience in pre-service teachers. In particular it focuses on a learning communities model of professional experience with its emphasis on relationships and its attention to the complex and dynamic interactions between individuals and their ‘student teaching’ contexts. This article draws on a number of studies including evaluations of two cohorts of graduate Bachelor of Education (primary) students and a self-study based on the work of two university academics. Jordan's [2006. Relational resilience in girls. In S. Goldstein, & R. Brooks, (Eds.), Handbook of resilience in children. New York: Springer] model of relational resilience – with its characteristics of mutuality, empowerment and the development of courage – is used as a conceptual framework for illuminating some of the emerging insights from our work with the Learning Communities model. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This paper provides a conceptual framework for developing high-quality professional experiences for pre-service teachers. The paper begins with a discussion of how professional experiences are conceptualised, structured and supervised in each of three orientations, which we have termed traditional, reflective and learning communities. We then describe a number of professional experience initiatives at two Australian universities, which are being reconceptualised around the notion of learning communities. We argue that framing professional experience around the notion of learning communities has the potential to support pre-service teachers to work with their peers and mentor teachers in more collegial and reciprocal ways. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This article discusses a peer mentoring teacher education initiative that aims at developing pre‐service teachers’ capacities to participate successfully in learning communities, both during their initial teacher education and throughout their teaching careers. Peer mentoring utilizes the latest conceptualization of mentoring, that of co‐mentoring by Bona et al. or that proposed by Hargreaves and Fullan, where all teachers give and receive support. Such a conceptualization challenges the traditional assumption that the mentor knows best and is consistent with the latest approaches to teacher professional development, where teachers are encouraged to participate in learning communities. A peer mentoring teacher education initiative is described and three essential elements are highlighted.

This paper reports on one aspect of a study which investigated the use of email between student teachers and university lecturers during the final practicum experience in a four year Bachelor of Education pre-service primary teaching course. The paper explores how the nature of electronic communication, together with the students’ perceptions of ‘university supervision’ and their place in the school setting, affected the level of stress experienced by the student teachers in their placements. Student teacher stress has been reported in the literature as one factor which impedes student teacher learning during the practicum (Zeichner 1980). We argue that ICT has the potential to maximise student teachers’ learning outcomes in the practicum by giving them more control over the learning process, reducing their stress, and enabling them to manage their practicum experience more effectively.