The positioning of quality and expertise in initial teacher education: Policy enactment in the Australian context

Penny Van Bergen , Mary Ryan, Ken Cliff, Rebecca Andrews, Susan Ledger, Michele Simons, Sue Gregory, Rachael Adlington, Lucie Zundans-Fraser, Cathy Little, Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, Edmund Sosu, Olivia Maurice

Research output: Other contribution to conferenceAbstractpeer-review

Abstract

Teacher quality and teacher education improvement have been central discourses for at least two decades in global education. Despite the pervasive nature of these discussions, Bourke et al. (2022) argue that there is a lack of substantial evidence indicating the existence of a problem in this regard. In response to this discursive challenge, policies aimed at enhancing the ‘preparedness’ of teacher graduates and elevating the ‘quality’ of initial teacher education programs have emerged as prevalent solutions over the past decade. The latest enactment of reforms in the policy chain is the Strong Beginnings report from the Teacher Education Expert Panel (TEEP, 2023). This study interrogates how terms related to quality and expertise are discursively linked
across documents produced by ‘experts’ in teacher education. In this article, we align with Ball’s (2015) perspective that policy should be viewed as a dynamic process rather than a presumed, ready-made solution to a problem. Recognising policy as a process extends beyond mere implementation, or what Ball et al.(2012) term “policy enactment”, we emphasise both context and the diverse array of stakeholders, or policy actors, actively engaged in the policy process. We utilise systematic conceptual coding using Leximancer, and supplementary textual analysis to enable a nuanced exploration of a dynamic policy enactment process in teacher education, including the ways in which discourses of quality
and expertise are aligned across diverse policy actors. We interrogate the understandings, practices, and conditions of influence for the policy actors inscribed in the TEEP report ‘Strong Beginnings: Report of the Teacher Education
Expert Panel 2023’. Two main propositions are evident from the analysis of concept frequency and collocation in the TEEP report: first, that there is a problem with quality in ITE; and second, that practice is foregrounded
in professionalisation. The first proposition is discursively represented through the discourse of quality improvement through regulation. The second proposition is represented through the discourse of professionalisation through practice. We highlight the consistencies and contradictions within the discourses of the final
report and the submissions from policy actors that contributed to this policy enactment process.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 2024
EventAustralian Teacher Education Association - University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia
Duration: 10 Jul 202412 Jul 2024
https://atea.edu.au/conferences/2024-atea-conference/

Conference

ConferenceAustralian Teacher Education Association
Abbreviated title“Myth-Busting: Confronting Debates and Creative Design in and for Initial Teacher Education”
Country/TerritoryAustralia
CityNewcastle
Period10/07/2412/07/24
Internet address

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