Transference of skills in a post‐compulsory vocational teacher education course in Western Australia

Abstract

This paper emanates from the findings of a longitudinal qualitative study of Australian senior high school students’ (aged 16–17 years) experiences of their participation in the Study of Teaching post‐compulsory vocational programme designed to allow students with an interest in teaching to consider this profession from a new perspective and to make an informed decision about selecting teacher education as a career path. The focus of this paper is on the transference of skills from the Study of Teaching programme to subsequent tertiary studies in teacher education. Transference of skills was found to occur along three dimensions: theory and practice; authentic learning experience; and academic discourse.

Keywords:

• vocational teacher education
• post‐compulsory education
• transference of skills
• authentic learning
• teaching theory and practice