This study examined borderland discourse emergent from the practicum experiences of non-native English speaking pre-service teachers (PSTs) in a Thai primary school. Borderland discourse is defined as a space where personal and professional constructs intersect, which is often in a state of dissonance. Over a ten-week practicum period, the PSTs…

Despite a growing body of knowledge about what content, processes and arrangements for learning may result in more effective initial teacher education, there remains a problem with the variability of outcomes from teacher education programmes. This paper reports on a multi-perspective exploration of what influences learning to teach in valued ways…

The study that provides the context for this article developed from a major overhaul of the practicum in an undergraduate initial teacher education degree in which practicum roles and relationships were re-envisaged. The aim was to reinvigorate university-school practicum relationships through the collaborative development of a practicum where…

The title of the 2014 Australian Teacher Education Association (ATEA) conference was "Teacher Education, An Audit: Building a platform for future engagement." One of the conference themes was "Professional Experience: What works? Why?" I seized upon this theme and the title of the conference as it afforded me an opportunity to…

The experiences of lesbian, gay, trans (The use of trans with an asterisk avoids the use of transsexual or transgender and promotes recognition of the inadequacy of such labels), bisexual and intersex (LGBTI) student teachers were recently investigated at a New Zealand faculty of education. Student teachers studying in early childhood education…

It is argued that online discussion is a useful tool for creating opportunities for learning in teacher education. In a project designed to improve the practicum in rural areas, researchers placed pre-service teachers (PSTs) in two different moderated online discussion forums: an unstructured personal blog space and a structured threaded…

The ways in which cooperating teachers give shape and meaning to their work in practicum settings is one of the most critical elements of initial teacher education. This international comparison draws upon surveys of Australian and Canadian cooperating teachers. The global contrast highlights taken-for-granted assumptions in local settings that in…