Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group Research Articles

The Impact of Problem-based Learning on Pre-service Teachers’ Mathematics Pedagogical Content Knowledge

Predictors of teacher effectiveness in relation to student achievement are based on the ability to use a range of evidence-based teaching strategies. Australia’s Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG) report that some tertiary providers working with pre-service teachers (PSTs) are using pedagogical practices which are not informed by established research. This paper reports on the impact a student-centred, PBL teaching approach had on third-year Bachelor of Education PSTs’ PCK in a mathematics education subject, compared to a similar group taught using a conventional teacher-directed approach. A quasi-experimental group-by-time design was used to determine the impact of the intervention. Contrary to meta-analyses regarding the efficacy of PBL compared to teacher-directed instruction, findings from this study show the PSTs from the PBL group developed their mathematics PCK as well as those who were taught using a teacher-directed instructional approach, Wilks’ Lambda = .71, F (1, 35) = 14.33, p < .01.

Primary specialisations in Australia: graduates’ perceptions of outcome and impact

In 2014, the Australian Government established the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG) to advise on how teacher education programmes could ensure new teachers were adequately prepared for the classroom. Following this, the Australian Government endorsed a key recommendation of the TEMAG Action Now: Classroom Ready Teachers report, the inclusion of specialisations in primary Initial Teacher Education (ITE). This research was conducted at an Australian public university that, in 2016, had embedded specialisations in a revised primary teacher programme structure and was one of the first ITE institutions in Australia to graduate primary teachers with a specialisation. Using a mixed-methods case study design with convenience sampling, this study sought to investigate these primary graduates’ perceptions of undertaking a specialisation in relation to the development of content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge in the specialist area, as well as perceived employment advantages. This research took place over 4 years with participants having completed a Bachelor of Education (Primary) at least three months prior to participating. The participants reported benefits to having completed a primary specialisation but expressed concerns about their preparedness to teach their specialisation and whether it would result in any advantages for employment. Recommendations from the participants included teaching practice in their area of specialisation, consideration of specialist skills and changing the timetabling of the specialisation in the programme. Ultimately, there is a need for ongoing research in this area to determine the extent to which primary specialisations deliver the intended outcomes and impacts at both the policy driver level and the university level.

It’s all just a little bit of history repeating: 40 years of political review and reform in teacher education

ABSTRACT There have been at least 100 governmental inquiries into teacher education in Australia since the 1970s, making thousands of recommendations, the majority of which have never been fully actioned or realised. Additionally, there is minimal evidence about the efficacy of this continuous review cycle. Here, we problematise these issues by conducting a comparative analysis of the Bassett report, Review of Teacher Education in Queensland, the first review of independent teacher education in Australia conducted in 1978, and the most recent review by the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group, Action Now: Classroom Ready Teachers. Applying discourse analysis techniques associated with Foucauldian archaeology, findings reveal: a self-referential use of policy is accelerating; those involved are less likely to have knowledge of the discipline of education; similarities in the discourses despite the 40-year timeframe; and increased marginalisation of teacher educators. In the light of these findings, the authors highlight the need for teacher educators to be politically savvy about the mythologising and canonising of allowable problems in teacher education. Teacher educators need to challenge policy and enter the public sphere in doing so.

Development and validation of a survey instrument for measuring pre-service teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge

ABSTRACT In Australia, one of the key findings of the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group was that not all graduating pre-service teachers possess adequate pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) to teach effectively. The concern is that higher education providers working with pre-service teachers are using pedagogical practices and assessments which are not informed by research. Due to its multifaceted nature, PCK is difficult to measure. In the case of mathematics PCK, some researchers have used multiple-choice questions while others use constructed-response formats depending on the specific attribute of PCK being measured. In either case, researchers need to use instruments that are appropriate to each task. This paper reports on the construction and reliability of a survey instrument used in a larger study to measure pre-service teachers’ mathematics PCK. Using four stages of survey development, in addition to inter-rater agreement measures and Rasch modelling techniques, data analyzes found high levels of validity and reliability for the Mathematics Pedagogical Content Knowledge Instrument (MPCKI).

Three Key Conditions to Revitialise an ePortfolio Program in Response to Increasing Regulation of Teacher Education

This paper describes a study undertaken within the education faculty of a mid-sized university in response to the recommendations of the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG) (2014) that initial teacher education (ITE) graduates emerge with an evidence-based professional standards-focused portfolio of teaching competency. In concluding that current teacher educator usage of, and attitudes to, ePortfolios limit the capacity of this particular faculty to respond to this challenge, the paper proposes three critical conditions to revitalise a stalled ePortfolio program and prepare for an increasingly demanding future. In sharing this experience, the paper seeks to support discussion of how teacher educators can respond best to the professional portfolio challenge in an environment of increasing regulation.

Spatialised metaphors of practice: how teacher educators engage with professional standards for teachers

ABSTRACTPre-service teacher educators, both nationally and internationally, must negotiate a plethora of expectations including using Professional Standards to enhance teacher quality. In Australia, the recent Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG) report highlighted weak application of Standards in Initial Teacher Education (ITE). However, recent reports suggest that many education stakeholders feel positive about the implementation of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APSTs). This study responds to these differing viewpoints by exploring how teacher educators in a large metropolitan university in Australia account for the use of Standards in their work. Discourse analysis techniques in conjunction with socio-spatial theory make visible particular metaphors of practice as teacher educators negotiate the real-and-imagined spaces of regulated teacher education programmes. The findings highlight the importance of investigating the utility of Standards in the lived experiences of teacher educators, as they are responsible for preparing quality, classroom ready graduates.

Becoming Stories : Creating narrative spaces in initial teacher education

Initial Teacher Education (ITE) occurs in a predominantly analytic space, in common with most higher education provision. Creating and legitimising narrative learning community spaces would result in the foregrounding of professional identity formation across the ITE curriculum. The resulting systematic attention to the impact of teacher identity on professional practice will develop teachers who are more resilient and better able to negotiate the theory-to-practice shifts required of classroom-ready teachers (Johnson, Down, Le Cornu, Peters, Sullivan, Pearce & Hunter, 2010; Hooley, 2007). I present this case for narrative pedagogies by offering two stories from my own journey of increasing commitment to narrative pedagogies. Each story is paired with a preservice teacher narrative from a significant stage in their identity development. And each pair is followed by an analytic interlude that frames the accounts in the literature on narrative ways of knowing and professional identity development. I contend that three things need to occur to establish effective and sustainable narrative learning community spaces. First, teacher educators need to embrace the use of narrative ways of knowing in our pedagogical practice. Second, we need to recognise the embodied complexity of the teaching context, and how narrative can be used to develop preservice teachers’ capacity to navigate these ‘swampy lowlands’ of practice (Schon, 1983, p. 42). Third, we need to teach the skills of narrative writing and interpretation across the ITE curriculum to equip preservice teachers to negotiate their teacher identity and become resilient and creative practitioners. In presenting this series of vignettes about storying in teacher learning, I intend to offer new insights and raise new questions about how narrative can respond to the current needs of initial teacher education (Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group, 2014; Sellars, 2014).