Network models in teacher education

Abstract

In recent years, international policy scrutiny of national education systems has positioned teacher education and professional development as a global policy problem. In the search for solutions, global policymakers have proposed network models to govern and develop teacher education systems. This chapter considers what the layering of global networks onto national, state-level and local institutions means in the context of Australia. The chapter demonstrates how the idea of network-based workforce development relies on network forms of governance in which governments steer and set the conditions within which networks and partnerships for teacher education take place. Drawing on interview data with leaders in schools and universities, I demonstrate how the actors responsible for implementing teacher education negotiate the complexities of working in partnership (and ‘networking’) within contemporary network models of teacher education. I argue that current configurations of network governance in Australian teacher education not only increase flexibilities but also foster new practices in initial teacher education that limits the extent to which schools and universities can work together in partnership.