Spatialised metaphors of practice: how teacher educators engage with professional standards for teachers

ABSTRACT

Pre-service teacher educators, both nationally and internationally, must negotiate a plethora of expectations including using Professional Standards to enhance teacher quality. In Australia, the recent Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG) report highlighted weak application of Standards in Initial Teacher Education (ITE). However, recent reports suggest that many education stakeholders feel positive about the implementation of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APSTs). This study responds to these differing viewpoints by exploring how teacher educators in a large metropolitan university in Australia account for the use of Standards in their work. Discourse analysis techniques in conjunction with socio-spatial theory make visible particular metaphors of practice as teacher educators negotiate the real-and-imagined spaces of regulated teacher education programmes. The findings highlight the importance of investigating the utility of Standards in the lived experiences of teacher educators, as they are responsible for preparing quality, classroom ready graduates.

KEYWORDS:

• Initial teacher education
• professional standards
• spatial theory
• teacher educator

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

^1. Standards will be capitalised when referring to endorsed regulatory standards for the profession.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mary Ryan

Mary Ryan is a Professor at the Queensland University of Technology, coordinating and teaching a number of subjects in literacy and English curriculum. Her most recent research includes: the teaching of writing in primary schools; young people and reflective learning; disciplinary and multimodal literacies; reflective practice in higher education; application of socio-spatial theories; and critical discourse analysis.

Terri Bourke

Terri Bourke is a senior lecturer and unit coordinator for a range of education subjects at the Queensland University of Technology. She has over 20 years of experience teaching in the UK and Australia. Her research area is professionalism and professional standards using the theories and methodologies of Foucault.