Australian universities are enrolling a larger and more diverse undergraduate student population. Counter to this trend, several states have developed plans to restrict entrance into the teaching profession. This study investigates the role of engagement, motivation, Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR), and emotional intelligence in the…

The experience of place in arts-based service learning (ABSL) is personal. It can be difficult to define and challenging to share and build upon. This paper, reporting from a national ABSL project involving three Australian universities, is concerned with experiences of place in forming professional teacher identity. Using a narrative methodology…

This paper presents an evaluation study of an innovative and theory-based initial teacher education course entitled Learning Study, the aim of which is to develop the instructional design and teaching competency of pre-service teachers in Hong Kong. The Learning Study course is offered to all second year students as part of the Bachelor of…

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the differences between pre-service and in-service teachers in terms of their levels of teaching efficacy and teaching professionalism. In addition, the patterns in predictors of teachers' teaching efficacy were compared between the two subgroups of this study. Five hundred and seventy-three…

This paper reports on a qualitative study that investigated the lived experiences of a group of pre-service English language teachers during a teaching practicum in Hong Kong. Multiple, in-depth interviews with student teachers were conducted during a 6-week practicum to understand the students' experiences of becoming teachers. A…

Outcome-based education (OBE) is a current initiative in Hong Kong universities, with widespread backing by governments and standards bodies. However, study of students' perceptions of OBE and validation of understanding these perceptions are lacking. This paper reports on the validation of an OBE-specific instrument and resulting preliminary…

This paper is situated in the re-visioning ethos that has been part of the genealogy of multicultural education. In the context of teacher education, the authors ask: where to now? In this paper, they reflect on their design and delivery of a new undergraduate unit offered by the School of Education, University of Western Sydney. The unit…

This paper applies the work of Jacques Lacan, a French psychoanalyst, to decipher the desire of the teacher in Aboriginal education. It argues that the images of Aboriginal people represented in Australian classrooms are effects of the teacher's Imaginary, the Imaginary being one of the three psychoanalytic domains theorised by Lacan over a period…

This study examined similar and differing initial motivations to teach between 257 US and 542 Chinese preservice teachers using the recently validated FIT-Choice scale. In both countries, participants were motivated to enter teaching because of their social utility values. US preservice teachers reported significantly higher motivations from…

The authors first ask to what extent future teachers in Germany endorse teaching motivations indicated by the FIT-Choice scale. This includes reporting on the confirmatory factor analysis they carried out to examine and to replicate the FIT-Choice scale structure in the specific cultural context of Germany with a sample of 1287 preservice…

The body is a powerful symbolic form and all bodily activities are expressions of culture. The look, size, shape and physicality of bodies are perceived by all and compared to particular cultural standards. In this way the body is inscribed with culture and can serve as a site for social control. Various discourses of the body, including those…

Pupils have a significant contribution to make in the construction of knowledge about teaching and learning in schools. Therefore, consultation with pupils should play a significant role in the pursuit of pedagogical advancement. This study explores pupils' conceptions of effective poetry teachers at Leaving Certificate level in Ireland. Taking a…

Contemporary notions of childhood overweight and obesity have become increasingly influential in curriculum and pedagogy in school-based Health and Physical Education (HPE). Teachers' delivery of HPE subject matter and related school practices are likely to have a considerable impact on the attitudes and beliefs of the children they teach,…

This paper reports on how the cognitive, behavioural and affective communication competencies of undergraduate students were developed using an online Video Reflection system. Pre-service teachers were provided with communication scenarios and asked to record short videos of one another making presentations. Students then uploaded their videos to…

This article grapples with my endeavour to guide teacher education students to think critically about environmental issues and action. While students repeatedly claim my efforts helped them to think critically, my interviews with them about environmental issues and practices cause me to doubt their claims of burgeoning critical engagement. This…