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…

E-portfolios are being introduced into initial teacher education programmes internationally to help pre-service teachers build records of their learning journeys and develop into reflective practitioners; to allow them to assemble collections of evidence of their achievements against graduate standards, which can function as digital CVs; and to…

The present study investigated how pre-service teachers' motivation and their sense of teaching efficacy influence their expectation about reality shock during the first year of professional teaching. A total of 533 pre-service teachers at a state university in the US Midwest participated in this study. The results showed that the pre-service…

Understanding theory-practice relationships in pre-service teacher education is an enduring concern for many teacher educators. Drawing on data from an investigation into the theory-practice nexus in an outdoor education teacher education programme, this article examines pedagogical approaches to exploring theory and practice with pre-service…

Mentoring student-teachers and novice teachers constitutes a critical factor in teacher-education programmes and yet, little emphasis has been placed on the mentors themselves, particularly in relation to their own professional development (PD) and the construction of their identities. Does it really matter? This study investigates two groups of…

As populations in contemporary Western societies grow increasingly diverse, preparing predominantly White middle-class pre-service teachers to better understand and work with difference productively has become increasingly critical. Historically, however, teacher education programs have aimed to address diversity with add-on or piecemeal…

For graduating teachers, the bridging period between formal teacher preparation and joining the profession is a time of high anxiety and great excitement. While this transition influences efficacy, job satisfaction, career length and future teaching quality, it is widely recognised to be inconsistent, poorly planned and resourced and largely…

This study examined the suitability of the FIT-Choice scale in a Dutch educational context among two cohorts of preservice teachers (Ns = 62, 89), surveyed at the end and the beginning of their one-year program respectively. The relationships between the motivations for becoming a teacher and concurrent commitment were examined, as well as the…

This article reports on a qualitative study that investigated the experiences of one group of English language teachers from the Chinese mainland who completed their teacher training in Hong Kong and have taken up full-time teaching positions in secondary schools within Hong Kong. Using the concept of teacher identity construction, and drawing…

Mature-aged graduates (MAGs) are characterised by significant life experience, including career change and an altruistic desire to benefit their prospective students. They are particularly well suited to the middle school environment with its focus on transition and its often complex student needs. Despite this, MAGs are currently underserviced by…

While student teachers have essentially unfettered access to the expertise of university instructors and practicum supervisors during their teacher education program, this study explores the potential of employing recent graduates as a source of expertise that current student teachers might draw upon during their program. Over the course of three…

The participation rates of girls in post-compulsory information technology courses of Australian universities and high schools have remained low (less than 30%), despite three decades of research and analysis. In seeking to better understand this phenomenon, this paper draws upon data collected during an Australian Research Council Linkage project…

For beginning teachers to make the transition to full professional membership they need to increase their professional knowledge of the art and science of teaching. This paper explores the difference in knowledge growth between beginning teachers who commence teaching in fragmented teaching situations in the first two years of teaching, and their…

There is very little argument that one of the major developments to have impacted in schools in the past decade is the rapid and world-wide development of information and communication technologies (ICT), particularly the Internet. In Hong Kong, reforms in the ICT teacher training policy, and the fact that Hong Kong is a "wired" city, has resulted…

Pre-service teachers move through multiple learning communities during teacher education programs, arguably emerging as authentic insiders in teaching culture. In this case study, a critical perspective is offered by Ann, a First Nations learner who described her experience of teacher education, and how she came to question different aspects of…