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Conceptualising the impact of initial teacher education

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Abstract

In the current context, where global comparative education testing plays an increasing role in education policy and teacher quality is identified as a key to economic performance, initial teacher education has become a focus of concern and reform. Questions are asked about the impact of university-based teacher preparation, and ‘alternate routes’ into teaching emerge. Currently, in Anglophone countries, there is a turn towards practice and away from preparation that is seen as overly theoretical. In this paper, we propose a conceptual model of initial teacher education impact that examines the breadth of ways in which university-based teacher education impacts on the education system, positioning initial teacher education as more than just a source of newly qualified teachers. Using a complexity thinking framework, this paper offers a nuanced way to conceptualise initial teacher education impact that acknowledges the integrated nature of the education system and the way in which all stakeholders work together to improve student learning.

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Notes

  1. In this paper, initial teacher education is understood as university-based teacher education which is completed prior to teaching, this being the dominant model of teacher education in Australasia.

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Correspondence to Fiona Ell.

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Ell, F., Simpson, A., Mayer, D. et al. Conceptualising the impact of initial teacher education. Aust. Educ. Res. 46, 177–200 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-018-0294-7

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