Year: 2024
Author: David Evans, Cathy Little, Ines Alves, Lauren Boath, Abdul Basit
Type of paper: Individual Paper
Abstract:
Graduating 'well-prepared' teachers is a persistent theme globally. However, there is no clear understanding of what it means for beginning teachers to be ‘prepared’ for the classroom, especially as we consider the global push toward inclusion in education. Yet key policy decisions are made about the future of initial teacher education (ITE) programs.
Many people feel they have a ‘buy-in’ to education or a legitimate voice to comment on education, and how teachers are prepared. Having been through the process themselves or navigating the education system people pose their own vision of being prepared, or not, for the classroom. ‘Experts’ or tzars of the field despair at the lack of preparedness of new teachers claiming to have answers for addressing learner behaviour, literacy skills or problem-solving skills. On other hand graduate teachers report how they feel unprepared or underprepared to teach in the classroom.
The attribution of responsibility in not preparing classroom-ready teachers is a persistent theme directed toward ITE programs globally (Mansfield et al., 2016, in differing countries (e.g. England, Australia, Scotland, Pakistan), and from differing stakeholders (e.g., early career teachers, tzars of education, politicians, principals). There is increasing pressure on ITEs to ‘cover’ fragmented core content and produce practitioners who are well-prepared for all educational contexts. A specific focus is around designing educational programs that are inclusive of students with diverse backgrounds (e.g., students with disability and challenging behaviours, students from backgrounds of poverty).
This notion of preparedness appears often as a criticism of ITE without any clear definition and without recognition of the complexity and multifaceted nature of the profession (Schuck et al., 2021). This paper seeks report on initial work exploring the nature of how preparedness is understood from differing perspectives (e.g., pre-service teachers, early career teachers, principals) across cultural bounds (i.e., Australia, Scotland, Pakistan) within the area field of inclusive education.
Through a series of interviews with pre-service teachers in Sydney, Australia, Glasgow, Scotland, and Lahore, Pakistan, preparedness towards inclusive education is examined. Through qualitative analysis of interviews, an emerging understanding of preparedness will be posed. This emerging conceptualisation will be supported via interview data, and furthered through an outline of future work in the area.
Many people feel they have a ‘buy-in’ to education or a legitimate voice to comment on education, and how teachers are prepared. Having been through the process themselves or navigating the education system people pose their own vision of being prepared, or not, for the classroom. ‘Experts’ or tzars of the field despair at the lack of preparedness of new teachers claiming to have answers for addressing learner behaviour, literacy skills or problem-solving skills. On other hand graduate teachers report how they feel unprepared or underprepared to teach in the classroom.
The attribution of responsibility in not preparing classroom-ready teachers is a persistent theme directed toward ITE programs globally (Mansfield et al., 2016, in differing countries (e.g. England, Australia, Scotland, Pakistan), and from differing stakeholders (e.g., early career teachers, tzars of education, politicians, principals). There is increasing pressure on ITEs to ‘cover’ fragmented core content and produce practitioners who are well-prepared for all educational contexts. A specific focus is around designing educational programs that are inclusive of students with diverse backgrounds (e.g., students with disability and challenging behaviours, students from backgrounds of poverty).
This notion of preparedness appears often as a criticism of ITE without any clear definition and without recognition of the complexity and multifaceted nature of the profession (Schuck et al., 2021). This paper seeks report on initial work exploring the nature of how preparedness is understood from differing perspectives (e.g., pre-service teachers, early career teachers, principals) across cultural bounds (i.e., Australia, Scotland, Pakistan) within the area field of inclusive education.
Through a series of interviews with pre-service teachers in Sydney, Australia, Glasgow, Scotland, and Lahore, Pakistan, preparedness towards inclusive education is examined. Through qualitative analysis of interviews, an emerging understanding of preparedness will be posed. This emerging conceptualisation will be supported via interview data, and furthered through an outline of future work in the area.