Transforming Teacher Education for Academic Excellence

Dear Colleagues,

Despite continued sterling efforts to improve the quality of education and achieve equitable outcomes for our increasing diverse and superdiverse school communities worldwide, reports and research over the past decade show there remains much to be desired (Ingvarson et al., 2014; Australian Government, 2022; Hill-Jackson and Lewis, 2010). Not surprisingly, the need for high quality Initial Teacher Education programs, where teachers are valued for their expert knowledge and skills, and the need for change in related areas, such as entry requirements, early career support, teaching for diversity, a diverse workforce, excessive workload and the status of teaching comparative to other professions, are well recognised as being central to the necessary transformation to achieving academic excellence (Australian Government, 2022, Liddicoat, 2022). The fact that data are available on variation in students’ achievements across schools, education systems and countries motivates research into models of effective practice and possible benchmarking (OECD, 2022; Jakhelln and Skrovset, 2024, Ling and Liu, 2020; O’Neill, 2015). Thus, this Special Issue provides an opportunity to explore the challenges that stakeholders may face in addressing the goal of transforming teacher education for academic excellence, as well as how current initiatives and innovations have globally and effectively contributed to solutions.

Some examples of relevant (but by no means exhaustive) themes include the following:

• Initial Teacher Education preparation program quality;
• The practicum;
• Preparation for teaching literacy and numeracy;
• Teachers’ work and workload;
• Teaching strategies/approaches and hallmark pedagogies;
• Teacher metacognition and dialogic pedagogy;
• Teacher leadership;
• Teacher resilience/burnout.

References 

Australian Government. (2022). Next steps: Report of the quality Initial Teacher Education review report on a page. Author. https://www.education.gov.au/quality-initial-teacher-education-review/resources/next-steps-report-quality-initial-teacher-education-review.

Ingvarson, L., Reid, K., Buckley, S., Kleinhenz, E., Masters, G., Rowley, G. (2014). Best practice teacher education programs and Australia’s own programs. Canberra: Department of Education. 
https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=teacher_education. 

Darlin-Hammond, L. (2010). Constructing 21^st century teacher education. In V. Hill-Jackson & C. Lewis (Eds.). Transforming teacher education: What went wrong with teacher training and how can we fix it? (pp. 223-248). Stylus Publishing. 

Hill-Jackson, V., & Lewis, C. (Eds.). (2010). Transforming teacher education: What went wrong with teacher training and how can we fix it? (1st. Ed.). Stylus Publishing. 
http://www.daneshnamehicsa.ir/userfiles/files/1/15-%20Transforming%20Teacher%20Education_%20What%20Went%
20Wrong%20with%20Teacher%20Training,%20and%20How%20We%20Can%20Fix%20It.pdf. 

Jakhelln, R., & Skrovset, S. (2024). Transforming teacher education to the master’s degree level, an experiment. In I. K. Riksaasen Hatlevik, R. Jakhelln & D. Jorde (Eds.), A Norwegian response to research literacy, integration and technology. Routledge. 

Liddicoat, A, J. (2022). Teacher education for diversity: Afterword. Language and Education, 36(2), 188-194. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2021.1981929. 

Ling, L., & Liu, Y. (2020). An integrated model of principal transformational leadership and teacher leadership that is related to teacher self-efficacy and student academic performance. Asia Pacific Journal of Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2020.1806036. 

OECD. (2022). PISA 2022 Results (Volume 1): The state of learning and equity in education. Author.
https://www.oecdilibrary.org/sites/53f23881en/1/2/1/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/53f23881en&_csp_=de697f9ada06fe758fbc0d6d8d2c70fa&itemIGO=oecd&itemContentType=book. 

O’Neill, S. (2015). School leadership and pedagogical reform: Building student capacity. In K. Beycioglu & P. Pashiardis (Eds.), Multidimensional perspectives on principal leadership effectiveness. (pp. 103-131). IGI Global. 

We cordially invite interested researchers to submit proposals for this Special Issue by 01 September 2024. Alternatively, you may submit your articles directly to the journal.

Prof. Dr. Shirley O'Neill
Dr. Tony Richardson
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• critical reflective practice
• diverse contemporary classrooms
• mentor teachers
• pre-service teacher practicum
• professional learning communities
• quality teaching and accountability
• teacher education programs
• teacher leadership
• teacher professional identity development
• teacher retention