Search

Attracting and retaining effective education leaders and teaching staff for regional, rural and remote schools in Australia is a major sustainability and quality issue facing every State and Territory. It is also a major concern in pre-service teacher education, particularly for those universities which have a commitment to rural and regional areas. There is a strategic link between teacher education and the sustainability of rural communities with earlier suggestions (White & Reid, 2008, p. 1) highlighting that ―healthy rural communities may be supported via reform of the ways in which teacher education prepares graduates for teaching in rural schools. Likewise, the proposition is made in this paper that the relationship is importantly reciprocal and that, in turn, healthy rural communities and “successful rural schools†can inform and help reform teacher education and professional learning through the insights gathered into the ways in which rural education leaders and teaching staff work closely with their school communities. In this paper we draw specifically from the research findings of a three-year Australian Research Council funded project (2008-2010) of schools and communities where sustainable practices around staff recruitment and retention were identified to explore this reciprocal relationship. The paper will firstly discuss the context of the study, its method and conceptual framework, and then focus in particular on the emerging themes from the twenty case-studies across Australia. Themes discussed include the important linking between rural school leadership and community renewal; the possibilities of developing school-university partnerships to sustain the rural workforce; and the need for social and creative enterprise to be acknowledged as important work of rural teachers and leaders. The paper concludes with the implications of these themes in terms of better preparing a future rural teacher workforce.

The increasing datafication of teachers’ work and schooling practices as evidenced through various metrics of student testing and school improvement measures have continued to grow unabated across ...

Teacher educators are an occupational group who appear to suffer from an identity crisis. They do not seem to be able to agree on what their role or professional learning needs are. This situation ...

This paper reports on the background, context, design, and findings of a collaborative research project designed to develop a future roadmap for strengthening an Australian research-rich and self-improving education system. Building on the BERA-RSA Inquiry into the role of research in the teaching profession in the UK (Furlong, 2013), the Australian Teacher Education Association (ATEA), Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) and Australian Council of Deans of Education (ACDE) initiated a national study across education systems and jurisdictions to identify ideas, issues, challenges and opportunities to strengthen teacher education and education policy development through research. The mixed-method study, inclusive of focus groups and an on-line survey collected data from pre-service teachers, teachers, academics and leaders across schools, universities and education departments. A set of recommendations highlight the need for research literacies to be embedded at all stages of a teachers’ career and that the profession would benefit from professional learning strategies where teachers are positioned as both critical and discerning consumers and active producers of research. The importance of teachers being able to respond to data within their own set of contextual factors was a key message.

This article reports on a systematic review of literature on the experiences of substitute teachers, also known as casual or relief teachers. This occupational group are an essential part of school improvement efforts, allowing release time for other teachers to participate in professional learning, complete administrative duties, and attend to personal matters. Although a ubiquitous component of the teaching workforce, little is known about their work conditions, motivations, experiences, and support. This study involved a mixed-methods research synthesis approach. Peer-reviewed studies and dissertations that examined the experiences and needs of substitute teachers in primary/elementary, middle, and secondary/high schools were examined. The study found that, although substitute teachers are a heterogeneous group, their conditions and experiences are less than satisfactory, exacerbated by a lack of targeted support. Education systems need to consider professionalizing this occupational group further. In addition, systems need to develop policies and practices that improve substitute teachers’ work. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Teacher educators are an increasingly diverse, occupational group due to the marketization of teacher education. Global policy reforms mean that educating teachers now occur in a myriad of ...

This chapter explores the interplay between the notions of rurality, innovation and education by analysing the eight chapters in this volume and explores the trends and patterns that emerge by looking at the studies from across multiple global rural places and spaces. The analysis reveals a hopeful and resilient approach to innovative rural education and scholarship, and collectively, important evidence to speak against an often deficit view of rural education. Three patterns are revealed across the studies, namely: the importance of place-attentive strategies, the importance of joined up alliances to maximise resources and networks and finally, the need to utilise alternative methodologies and frameworks that have a starting point of difference rather than deficit for any rural initiative or approach. In short, a tripartite of place, people and power are offered as essential to any effective rural education innovation. And given the highly contextual nature of this tripartite, it is clear that while the specific innovations presented in the current studies can not necessarily be transplanted or adopted wholesale, these three essential elements are a true foundation for future rural education studies and scholars to explore.

This chapter explores the two concepts of ‘rural’ and ‘community’ to better understand how (if at all) rurality might interplay with and in turn shift the notion of community and vice versa in relation to education. Discussion centres on the impact and implications of this dialogic interplay in relation to teacher education. Both terms are often portrayed by the media as distinctively Australian with popular culture myths serving to feed idealistic, romantic views or views of the ‘other’ in the individual and collective psyche. The term ‘rural’ is as an example often viewed as a geographic term denoting a space and/or place that is beyond the metropolis and often defined as in-land. It is also a subjective term often dependent on one’s own lived experiences of places and spaces that ‘look or feel rural’. As an ‘imagined’ space, it can be viewed as either idealistic and romantic or barren and hellish. ‘Community’ is also a term that has been captured in the discursive turn to be often synonymous with ‘harmony’ or homogenous and collective efforts. Both terms risk being made redundant or meaningless within the teacher education field as they hold little substance and yet teacher education studies continually highlight and recommend the importance of engaging with and for a rural community. This chapter examines closely the terms, their meanings, and teases out further the implications for research in and for teacher education.

Learning to Teach in a New Era prepares preservice teachers to embrace the opportunities and meet the challenges of teaching in the twenty-first century. Closely aligned with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) and the Australian Curriculum, this book is an invaluable resource for early childhood, primary and secondary preservice teachers that can be carried through their entire degree and into the workplace. The text is divided into three parts: professional knowledge, professional practice and professional engagement. Students will gain an understanding of the teaching profession and the policies and laws that govern it; develop practical skills in pedagogy, technology, curriculum, assessment and reporting, planning and classroom management; and learn vital skills in communication and ethical practice. Each printed text comes with a unique access code to the interactive ebook. Fully integrated with the print book, this enhanced version houses useful assessment tools such as questions and video resources.

Teacher educators are an occupational group currently experiencing increased scrutiny by international policy makers and researchers alike. This occupational group however is increasingly difficult to define and identify in a complex, internationally changing teacher education policy reform environment. The question posed is an enduring one: who is a teacher educator? The answer is more complicated. To better understand this occupational group, a literature review and local policy analysis study using the Australian context was conducted to reveal more about their identity; career trajectories and; professional learning needs. Analysis revealed that three sub-groups belonging to the broader teacher educator occupational group have emerged as a result of shifting teacher education policies. Namely, university-based; school-based and community-based teacher educators, each with an important role to play and each positioned differently within the research and policy landscape. Findings suggest that all three groups are important to educating teachers across their career and to best meet the needs of all students for new times. Recommendations are made for future research and practice into how these groups can work collectively together, within and across the multiple sites of learning to teach.

New accreditation requirements for Australian initial teacher education programs require that universities and schools establish quality partnerships to ensure strong links between pre-service teac...

This positioning paper seeks to contribute to the knowledge base of the changing professional learning needs of supervising or mentor teachers in initial teacher education. To do so, we draw from the work of Project Evidence, an Australian Office of Learning and Teaching funded project, designed to support teacher education through the development of a professional learning website. Our focus in this paper is our growing understanding of the complex work of teachers as they navigate new supervisory and mentoring roles in the current education context of high stakes standardisation. We examine the implications for their changing work practices within the policy imperative to build effective school-university partnerships in teacher education. Within this context, we discuss the ways in which Project Evidence has attempted to (re)position the emphasis of the work of the mentor teacher away from the dual role of assessor and supervisor to encompass their own professional learning.

The staff of Australia’s rural schools include many early career teachers who are keen to begin their careers in geographically diverse communities. Despite often high levels of motivation to take up a rural position and many well-funded government incentives to do so, recruiting and retaining teachers remains a challenge across Australia. Against this backdrop this chapter explores the key question: How can we better prepare and support the next generation of teachers for our rural schools? The chapter firstly explores the perennial issues of rural staffing and then critically examines a range of incentives for both pre-service and in-service teachers to attract them to rural schools and communities. One of the reasons incentives appear to be failing could be that they do very little to transform the preparation and education of pre-service teachers to better work in and for rural schools and their communities. To date, teacher education providers and schools have put little effort into changing their preparation and induction models. The chapter concludes with possibilities for a ‘system’ change to address the rural staffing ‘crisis’ and raises the need for a new transformative approach to link more meaningfully initial teacher education, professional experience in and with communities and in-service professional learning (including teachers and teacher educators).

Building futures for young people in and out of rural places has been a perennial quest for those interested in education and youth studies. For rural youth, the opportunities education can afford usually necessitates leaving home to study in a regional or metropolitan campus, with added cost and loss for families and communities. Thus, aiming a post-compulsory education for rural students typically involves ‘higher stakes’ than for their urban counterparts. This chapter examines the impact of the view of education as ‘learning to leave’ (Corbett in Learning to leave: the irony of schooling in a coastal community. Fernwood Publishing Co., Halifax, 2007) against the backdrop of building the social fabric and sustainability of rural places. We explore this tension between the concepts of aspirations and belonging in young peoples’ lives and then consider the implications for changing (rural) teachers’ work. We argue that the tension between belonging and being aspirational, as it is articulated in educational discourse, is central on both individual decision-making and institutional responsiveness. We seek to problematise the relationship between belonging and aspirations by focusing on the impact that rural teachers’ work can have in (re)solving or (re)producing this tension. We draw on case studies in Victoria and Tasmania to examine how different communities represent structures of opportunity, and consider some related challenges and opportunities for rural education.

The attention being devoted to teacher educators as professionals and their professional development is unquestionably increasing. Whilst much of that attention is being directed at teacher educators in different countries, international comparisons have been quite rare to date. The research question addressed in this study was: ‘Do experienced teacher educators from different countries differ in their concerns, professional development activities and developmental goals?’ Interviews were conducted with 25 participants from 10 different countries, all of whom were experienced teacher educators. Teacher educators’ concerns varied in the course of their careers. During their induction their primary focus tended to be on survival, whereas later on in their careers their concerns became linked to their own professional identity and their students as individuals. Participants from all the participating countries were involved in a range of developmental activities. A large majority was involved in research-rel...

As teacher educators, we want our research to be influential in contributing to educational policy and practice, but there remains little understanding about ways in which teacher educators might more productively engage with each other and policy-makers so as to maximise their research impact. Drawing on an empirical study and policy document analysis, this paper seeks to foster a generative ‘researcher-policy-maker dialogue’ by understanding more about policy-makers’ perspectives of what shapes their decision-making and the current role of research evidence in those decisions. Using a research utilisation theoretical framework and discourse analysis, data revealed various factors that served as barriers or enablers to using research in making education policy decisions. Results indicated that policy-makers largely position research as key to solving their policy problems. As such they sought better communication strategies to utilise research findings in a timely, free and publicly accessible, user-friendly manner. Overall, they called for a greater dialogue and engagement at all stages of the policy process and criticised what they perceived as a ‘fly in-fly out’ research approach. Recommendations suggest new collaborative approaches and genres are needed for the teacher education research community to have a greater impact in influencing policy. © 2016 Taylor & Francis.

Encouraging, strengthening and in some countries mandating, school-university partnerships is a policy strategy used by governments globally to drive teacher education reform. The past decade has seen a rapid move by the Australian federal government from initially fostering partnerships to now mandating partnership agreements with schools. Shortly, all initial teacher education providers will need to demonstrate their formal partnership agreements in writing, tied to accreditation purposes. Within this policy environment, teacher educators (particularly university-based) are instrumental in what the design, development and implementation of these mandated partnership models might look like. Many teacher educators however appear ill-equipped for such work and are reluctant to step into these boundary spaces between universities, schools and their communities. This chapter reports on one component of a broader study conducted to better understand the current ‘partnership’ policy implications for teacher education, the possible reasons for resistance in partnership work by university-based teacher educators and the professional learning needs to facilitate such partnerships.

This paper documents the development of a new website (www.rrrtec.net.au) specifically designed to better equip teacher educators to prepare graduates to teach in rural and regional communities. The two year study (2009-2011) that informed the website’s creation included three data sources: A literature review of research into rural teacher education, a survey of pre-service students who had completed a rural practicum and interviews with teacher educators about the current strategies they used to raise awareness and understanding of the needs of rural students, their families, and communities. An analysis of the data revealed that teacher educators need to focus more on developing graduates to be not only ‘classroom ready’ but also ‘school and community ready’. This analysis provided the framework for the creation of a set of curriculum modules and resources including journal articles, film clips, websites and books that teacher educators could readily and publicly access and use in their own classroom teaching. AcknowledgmentsThe RRRTEC project has been supported by the Australian Teaching and Learning Council (ALTC).The RRRTEC TeamThe RRRTEC project team consisted of Professor Simone White (Monash University), Dr Jodie Kline as Research Fellow (Deakin University), Dr Wendy Hastings (Charles Sturt University) and Dr Graeme Lock (Edith Cowan University). The RRRTEC curriculum writing team consisted of Professor Simone White (Monash University), Dr Wendy Hastings (Charles Sturt University), Dr Elaine Sharplin (University of Western Australia), Dr Pauline Taylor (James Cook University) and Dr Jan Page (Charles Sturt University).

Some EU Member States have already adopted broad-ranging whistleblowing legislation because of financial or public health scandals. In this context, the European Parliament suggested a draft directive to protect whistleblowers by offering a “horizontal” approach covering all public and private sectors. In 2018, the European Commission, by contrast, proposed widening the existing EU sectoral approach and including the protection of the financial interests of the European Union in a directive “on the protection of persons reporting on breaches of Union law.” The author argues that this broader sectoral approach − while making a step forward − still raises a number of issues

In this chapter, the authors, as teacher educators, present a narrative account of the professional learning they gained from their involvement in a school-university partnership, which focused on the provision of the professional experience component of an undergraduate initial teacher education (ITE) course. The authors outline the context and aims of this ‘third space’ partnership, then recall significant events/moments that triggered deep reflection and learning about what it is to be a teacher educator involved in collaborative partnerships with schools to provide innovative professional experiences for pre-service teachers. They found that the collaborative nature of the partnership helped them to reassess the purposes of professional experience in ITE, and their role in its provision. The collaboration was generative in terms of the structure and organisation of the practicum, the pedagogical strategies developed, and the professional relationships that were established. The authors argue that, despite the challenges, school-university partnerships are essential to the successful implementation of productive and sustained professional experience for pre-service teachers.

This paper, and its position within this special issue, seeks to contribute to the growing discussion and debates about the importance of adding the 'rural' to all matters 'education'. Advocating that indeed rurality is everybody's business, not just for those who live in rural places. The central argument of 'adding the rural' is that in its absence, 'a metro-urban normative approach' (Green, 2013) remains the dominant position thereby marginalising and silencing those who live beyond the city. In this paper I seek to contribute further to the debate and explore the notion of 'adding the rural' to teacher educators' knowledge base and their professional learning. I thus examine the 'good theoretical tools' (Corbett, 2016) that all teacher educators might need to equip themselves with, in order to be inclusive of rural students' needs. To think through this question I revisit and draw from the growing rural education literature and recent rural studies, identifying three emerging themes: Namely 'funds of knowledge' (Moll, Amanti, Neff & Gonzalez, 1992); 'rural social space' (Reid, Green, Cooper, Hastings, Lock &White, 2010) and 'place consciousness' (Gruenwald, 2003). These three unfold as key theoretical tools, for all teacher educators to utilise. The themes offer a form of trialectical thinking for teacher educators, opening new spaces to explore the preparation of teachers. The triad is consistent with the notion of 'third or hybrid spaces' (Zeichner, 2010) which can move us away from unhelpful rural-urban binaries and towards a more activist, generative and transformative response for teacher education and the broader rural education research community to consider.