Overseas Trained Teachers: Enablers and Constraints to Professional Practice and Social Integration into the Australian Education System

The migration of teachers during recent decades has been one of the hallmarks of the globalisation phenomenon. Overseas trained teachers (OTTs), from traditional Anglo-Celtic countries and non-English-speaking background (NESB) countries have found their way into the Australian education system in considerable numbers to fill the gaps created as a result age-related retirement and attrition due to other factors.
Over the last two decades, researchers have published numerous articles documenting the experiences of OTTs not only in Australia but also in other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Research literature also highlights both positive and negative experiences in schools for those OTTs who have successfully mediated the initial processes, procedures, red tape and the systemic hurdles and obstacles they encountered and have remained in the profession. The majority are satisfied with their experiences in their new schools while a small minority expressed dissatisfaction. For those OTTs who have continued working as teachers, little is known about how far they have progressed (or not progressed) in terms of their professional practice and the Professional Teaching Standards spectrum since resumption of their careers. In addition, available research literature sheds very little light on the perspectives of policymakers, administrators, and other stakeholders on immigrant teacher experience.
The aim and purpose of this doctoral study is to trace the professional journeys of OTTs and to examine how they have mediated the transition of their professional practice from their home country to their new country. The study draws on the theories of practice architectures and ecologies of practices to gain insights into the nature of practices that constitute OTTs’ professional practice, the conditions that enabled and constrained the practices at the various new sites and the how the practices were interdependent and connected. The study also draws on the notion of travelling practices to examine how some practices travelled between sites as OTTs migrated from their home country to the host country. Further, the arrangements at the sites where the practices unfolded in the new country were compared to those in the OTTs’ former country.
The findings of this study will provide a rich source of data that will contribute to better understanding of how OTTs adapt their professional practices in the Australian education context. The findings will also provide a basis to review and re-examine policies and procedures that underpin the recruitment, retention, and integration of overseas trained teachers, as well as providing reassurance to OTTs in the country and those who have yet to come.