Conference Agenda

Building on problematic ‘evidence relations’ - some findings from a recent systematic review of innovation in teacher education research.

Presenters:

Professor Viv Ellis, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Dr Keith Turvey, University of Brighton, Brighton, England

This long paper is adapted from a completed systematic review:

Ellis, V., Correia, C., Turvey, K., Childs, A., Andon, N., Harrison, C., Jones, J., & Hayati, N. (2023). Redefinition /redirection and incremental change: A systematic review of innovation in teacher education research. Teaching and Teacher Education, 121, [103918].

The paper has been adapted to respond to the NW10 Teacher Education Research Network call “The Diversity of ‘Evidence-Relations’ in Teacher Education, Politics and Research”

NB Please see uploaded word document of whole paper as required.

Abstract:

In a recent systematic review of innovation in teacher education research (Ellis, Correia, Turvey, Childs, Andon, Harrison, Jones, & Hayati, 2023) the problematic nature of ‘evidence relations’ between theory, policy and practice were evident in a number of different ways. Firstly, policies framing the concept of innovation have led to critiques of innovation as merely a buzzword in the field. Secondly, the meaning of theorisations of some types of innovation (Sternberg, 2003) were found to be too open to subjective interpretations to be of use. Thirdly, innovation as a concept in teacher education research is often undefined and disconnected from wider social scientific theories of change. The inherently problematic character of evidence in teacher education, we suggest is indeed a factor that can lead to political and ideological exploitation if evidence becomes a disconnected ‘rationalized myth’ and used merely to justify policy as Helgetun and Menter, 2020 document. However, our systematic review of innovation in teacher education research also highlighted new opportunities to challenge the ideological exploitation of constructs such as innovation, through reconstructing the governance of evidence (Stilgoe et al., 2013; Owen et al., 2013) as a process of responsible innovation in the field, where a genuine commitment to centring issues of value, purpose and ethical deliberation could be given more priority. This paper will present key findings from our systematic review and also open the discussion to how responsible innovation in teacher education research might enable more agentic and meaningful engagement with evidence.

In this review, we map international research on teacher education indexed in the Web of Science citation database. Previously, we have developed a way of organizing knowledge in and on teacher education (Lindblad et al., 2021) and thereafter more specifically mapped research on Swedish teacher education (Lindblad, Samuelsson & Nelhans, submitted). We found a fragmented research field and argued for a need for increased knowledge of this as well as increased conversations between researchers of these various aspects of teacher education research.

This paper intends to explore research communication and arguments in international teacher education research, given an overall late-modern globalized interest in education and a globalized research community. Ananin & Lovakov (2022) took a bibliometric perspective of research on teacher education, but this review also considers teacher education as a space where different actors meet and interact, thus asking how teacher education research and its role is understood in the teacher education agora.

The review is based on the observation that research on teacher educationis changing in tandem with professional and societal developments, and that such changes in return might have an impact not only on the research society but also on politics and policymaking. Both the educational and societal importance of teacher educations are, for different reasons, frequently emphasized in for instance political, medial, and professional discourses, and connected with both hopes and fears (see e.g., Barber & Mourshed, 2007; Clandinin, & Husu, 2017; Lagemann, 2000; Popkewitz, 2017, Author, 2020). Following this, teacher educations – with all their differences – are often described as highly problematic or as the solution to problems in education and society at large (Bacchi, 2012; Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2009). Thus, in this review, we want to explore and understand such changes and relations by analysing patterns in research publications on teacher education. We aim at describing an international research field of teacher education through its conversations and thereby gain insights into one component of the international teacher education agora. In accordance with Czarniawska (2022) we are interested in research as conversations rather than hierarchy and status. Therefore, we analyze how teacher education research is organized intellectually and socially in terms of research communication. What does these conversations, or lack of them, tell us about the intellectual traditions and research fronts in research on teacher education? How is research on teacher educations located in time and space, and how does this correspond to interests in, and problems ascribed to teacher education? We will discuss our results in relation to matters of research communication, globalization, and uses and abuses of bibliometrics in educational research. Like other scholars studying science-society interactions (see e.g., Nowotny et al., 2003), we also wonder if research on teacher education might have a performative capacity.

Thus, the research is based on two complementary approaches. First, we are interested in the dynamics of the intersection of science and society as an agora in Science and Technology Studies (Nowotny et al, 2003). These dynamics are based on the interplay between different agents (here, educational research, policymaking, and professional work), serving as preconditions for academic organization (Whitley, 2000). Here, we are focusing on the organization of the educational research community in terms of research communication. Second, we use citation analysis (Garfield, 1972; Persson, 1994) in mapping organizing patterns and social networking in international teacher education research communities including their intersection with other fields.

This contribution presents some methodological and operational reflections on a research path started in 2012 at the Free University of Bozen/Bolzano on the relationship between pedagogy and architecture in the design process of school buildings (Weyland, Prey 2020; Weyland, 2022; Weyland & Falanga, 2022), now interpreted by the interdisciplinary laboratory EDEN, Educational Environments with Nature. The laboratory acts along two trajectories: the training of future kindergarten and primary school teachers and the in-service teacher training in a lifelong lifewide learning perspective.
With regard to the first trajectory, a participatory pathway aimed at qualifying the common spaces of the Brixen campus of the Free University of Bolzano-Bozen started in 2017, which led in 2020 to the creation of two Green classrooms, with 100 plants, to carry out teaching activities also in order to comply with the objectives of the 2030 Agenda.
With respect to the second path, between 2016 and 2018 a consultative support activity for schools came into being, combining the need to qualify the school's physical spaces with the need to update teaching practices and develop school organisation. These experiences gave rise to the idea of conveying through the university proposals to support "school development" (Schratz & Steiner-Löffler, 1999) through research-action paths financed by the schools themselves. We work together on the pedagogical-didactical and architectural design process of the environments in which the educational relationship is staged, sharing the perspectives of professionals in education, educational research, architecture and design. Between 2019 and 2022, as many as 24 school communities have entered into research-action agreements with our university. In these processes, school authorities themselves become research commissioners and place teachers in the role of co-researchers in the field, in order to overcome the well-known gap between academic research outcomes and their impact in school-institutional contexts (Zanniello, 2016; Vannini, 2018, Calidoni 2021), With the establishment of the interdisciplinary research laboratory EDENLAB, the intention is to develop this type of research for its methodological flexibility and its ability to affect the motivational (the whys of the research) and relational aspects (the reports, communications, dissemination of results). In addition to sensitising teachers on what Luigina Mortari (2007) defines as the "posture of the researcher" in her daily practice, the effort being developed is in fact to elaborate a research programme that makes the data collected by the different collaborations converge on the three moments that Elisabetta Nigris (2018) describes as central: co-siting the research; identifying the design; discussing and co-constructing the analysis and synthesis of the data, in order to establish the effectiveness of the actions of change undertaken.
The objectives that the LAB pursues are multiple: the first is to document, accommodate and stimulate teaching activities, research and implementation on the subject of educational environments in which plants are also included as mediators that allow us to question the quality of spaces and at the same time to modify teaching and learning in favour of actions of care, well-being and active exploration. Furthermore, we consider it essential to provide scientific validity and widespread recognition to the virtuous encounter between theory and practice in a process of experimentation in which all parties are involved in the creation of beneficial learning landscapes in which plants are also present.
The question that the EDEN project aims to answer is how to better facilitate the co-participative and interdisciplinary design of formal, non-formal and informal educational environments in a lifelong, lifewide, lifedeep learning perspective in order to promote a paradigm shift: from the concept of the traditional school to the development of educational spaces in which to grow through creativity, cooperation, sensory in connection with plants.

In this paper we put forward a ‘standard for dissensus’ that seeks to identify the consensus about what counts in and as education and look for ways to think again about these matters. We will delineate what the contents of such a standard might be. Why would we do this? In common with a range of international contexts, some European teacher education systems have embraced teacher professional standards as vehicles for codifying and developing the work of teachers (Koster & Dengerink, 2015; Page, 2015; Pedaste, Leijen, Poom-Valickis & Eisenschmidt, 2019). The putative rationale for developing professional standards is that they provide a shared language for talking about teachers, teaching and learning, and thus serve as a common reference point for pedagogical, professional and promotion-related conversations. At the same time, critical questions have been raised about the potential of standards as vehicles, not just for professional development, but for monitoring and controlling teachers (Sachs, 2003; Taylor, 2022). Concerns have also been raised regarding the degree to which standards inhibit professional autonomy and creativity - as Taubman pithily puts it (2009, p. 117) in his aptly named book, Teaching by numbers, “standards serve to standardize work”. Professional standards can also be seen as part of a trend to turn teaching from a moral, ethical and politically informed practice to a technical matter of implementing official knowledge and curriculum, thereby de-contesting, de-intellectualising and de-educationalizing education (see Biesta, 2021 on the rise of the discourse of learning). Standards also suggest that there is a consensus about what is important in education; that the purposes and practices of education are widely agreed upon and as a result it seems that they cannot easily become subject to debate. In this paper our goal is to offer a resource for teacher educators to be able to question this consensus and to consider what it is that standardised approaches to education are asking of us (and our students)- remembering that standards are designed to be met, not to be brought into question.

We join in the critique of standardisation in education, but we do so taking an ‘additive’ approach (see Savransky and Stengers, 2018) where we develop resources for use with teacher education students that may open up new lines of thinking about the purposes and practices of education. To this end, we also enter into the ongoing discussion about what counts as education and who it is that decides this (see Biesta, 2011; Yosef-Hassidim, 2021). Our work here supports an approach to standardisation ‘from below’ where it is the people whose work is the subject of standards who decide what is to be standardised and how this is to be enacted (with what outcomes, and so on) (see Heimans et al, 2021).

A ‘new’ standard of educational dissensus

1. Knowing the system

Whose interests does it serve?

Who is systemically marginalised?

2. Knowing ‘education’

Where are the ‘edges’ of knowledge about education?

(How) Can you speak about education from an education point of view?

3. Knowing how to change the system

What, where, how and who has been able to change the system before?

How can you organise safe resistance to the system?

4. Knowing education in relation to other governed entities

How is education known about?

Who has control over this and how can this control be contested?

5. Knowing what is sensible and what is not in education

What are the ways in which sense is distributed?

Who is it whose only part in this distribution is none?

How might the part of the no part take one? (Where, when, who- how named?)

‘Mind the gap’, an automated announcement on the London underground, is often used to highlight the discrepancy between the theory in preservice teacher education and the practice facing teachers in reality. How to better bridge theory and practice has been one critical issue discussed by teacher education institutions and researchers internationally (Beauchamp, 2015; Greenwood & Mabeady, 2021; Kumazawa, 2013; Lohmander, 2015; Pan, 2020).

The existing body of research suggests that, through quality preservice teacher education (evidence from outside), the gap between theory and practice within this context can be better bridged (Ortlieb, 2011; Sharma & Mullick, 2021; Spronken-Smith & Walker, 2010). To date, however, very little attention has been paid to the relation between (student) teacher him/herself (evidence from inside) and competence required for the teaching profession.

In the field of special needs education (SNE), the gap between theory and practice has led special educational needs (SEN) teachers to be more exposed to burnout than their colleagues working for mainstream classes (Lavian, 2012). The conflict between “a sense of idealism” and “the harsh reality” inevitably also leads the SEN teaching profession to a pressing problem with teacher attrition. Based on the two abovementioned contexts, one purpose of this study was to examine the significant role informal learning (teacher lived experience) can play and contribute to in better preparing preservice SEN teachers to work resiliently in the future.

The conceptual starting point applied in this research is the teacher-as-a-person (Goodson, 1991; Hargreaves, 1994; Kenyon, 2017). This perspective highlights the cruciality of informal learning in teacher professionalism. In other words, the teacher-as-a-person places emphasises upon how teachers’ professional competence can be developed through and benefitted from their lived experiences.

Many discussions have been held about how teacher education can be enhanced to increase the impact on students’ learning and future practice and to understand the principles that should underlie teacher education to better address the theory–practice problem (Darling-Hammond et al., 2005; Korthagen et al., 2006; Shulman, 1987; Standal et al., 2014). Although there is agreement on the need to reconsider both the structure and practice of teacher education, a constant challenge is how to design programmes that can effectively support teacher learning and development (Ball, 2000; Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2005; Jenset et al., 2018; Darling-Hammond et al., 2005). However, designing sustainable programmes that meet needs and address dilemmas in the learning-to-teach process is complex (Darling-Hammond et al., 2005, p. 391).

The Bologna process established a joint two-cycle system in bachelor’s and master’s programmes in European countries (Evetts, 2008). In Norway, a general two-cycle teacher education reform has been introduced through regulations and frameworks that have been implemented gradually since 2013, including a programme in specialised practical and aesthetic subjects (LUPE) introduced in 2020 (Ministry of Education and Research, 2020). Teacher education is through this reform to be translated from a bachelor’s to a master’s programme (Røvik, 2016). This study is conducted by teacher educators who have recently been involved in the programme design and implementation of LUPE – specialisation in physical education and sports teacher education, at a Norwegian university. A key feature of the LUPE programme design is the extended practicum, which is an integral part of both the pedagogy subject syllabus and the specialised subject syllabus; the practicum also has its own syllabus. The practicum in teacher education provides student teachers with opportunities to explore the theory–practice relationship under guidance from practice teachers and teacher educators (Standal et al., 2014). However, in this context, they also encounter practices based on traditional understandings of what it means to be a ‘good’ teacher (Mordal-Moen & Green, 2014). Among several dilemmas we face as teacher educators in the development of programme design and the implementation of LUPE is the need to integrate theory and subject content practice in the practicum. Our research question is what kind of needs and dilemmas are addressed in the learning-to-teach process in LUPE when the practicum as an integrated part of the study programme?

Theoretical framework

To address needs and dilemmas when practicum is integrated in LUPE teacher education, we use perspectives from social practices and the ecology of practice, more specifically, the theory of the of practice architecture (Kemmis & Heikkinen, 2012; Kemmis et al., 2014). Within this theory, practices are understood as “a form of human action in history, in which particular activities (doings) are comprehensible in terms of particular ideas and talk (sayings), and when the people involved are distributed in particular kind of relationships (relatings), and when this combination of sayings, doings and relatings ‘hang together’ in a project of the practise” (Kemmis & Heikkinen, 2012, p. 36). These practices are coupled in characteristic ways through language, doings and relations. If the language changes, the doings and relations will also change. Practices are understood as biological species that evolve; some practices transform into new practices, while others are conserved and still others die. When the language changes, as with the teacher education reform (LUPE), we can expect new language, new doings and new relations. With practice architecture as an analytical framework, we can understand the connections between teacher educators’ planning and teaching and students’ reflections as an ecological whole by analysing the sayings, doings and relations that students and teachers describe based on their participation in the programme.

The higher education didactic format of research-based teaching and learning (RBL) can be characterized as a central component within academic-university teacher education in Europe (BERA, 2014) and it is a central challenge for university teaching to teach diverse students from diverse subject and research cultures in this area.

RBL in teacher education exhibits different theoretical traditions, conceptualizations, and patterns of implementation. Thus, RBL can be considered as (1.) a general higher education didactic teaching-learning format (Mieg et al., 2022) or as (2.) practice research with the aim of methodologically controlled reflection and initiating a change in one’sown school pedagogical practice (Zeichner & Noffke, 2001). In addition, (3.) within the framework of professionalization theories, the establishment of a science and research orientation as well as a critical-reflexive basic attitude (researching habitus) is discussed (Spies & Knapp 2020). Furthermore, (4.) RBL formats are implemented as research-oriented practice phases or as "Research-Informed Clinical Practice" (Burn & Mutton, 2013). Here they act as a preparation for the everyday professional life in schools, ensuring a detached analysis of pedagogical actions from a professionalization perspective.

From a macro perspective, however, the question of the best possible training for teachers* is also determined by conflicting social discourses of power. Among other things, this can be seen in the educational policy or administrative conflict over whether teacher* education should be conceived in a compellingly academic-scientific way (undergraduate university studies) or as vocational training, with a practical-technical view of teaching and learning (Baan et al., 2019). BERA (2014) and Tatto (2013) argue for university-based teacher* education that is grounded in scholarship and research. They point out findings that identify Singapore and Finland as particularly successful and high-performing education systems - measured by students' educational achievement and the low link between social background and educational success. BERA and Tatto see this as due to the extensive research-based education and a high output of highly qualified academically educated teachers*.

A positive correlation between research relevance and performance of teacher education is found if: the first phase of teacher education is academic-university oriented and based on scientific knowledge and subject-specific, -didactic and pedagogical professional knowledge is taught in a research-oriented and research-based manner in the teacher training program, thus enabling students to receive and critically reflect on (the latest) research findings and studies (Healey & Jenkins, 2009).

In essence, it is about establishing subject-based autonomy of action and a critical-reflective attitude (research habitus), based on scientifically mediated professional knowledge (subject-specific, subject-didactic and pedagogical). Enabling student teachers - equipped with 'research literacy' (BERA, 2014) - to receive, critically classify, and independently conduct research and thus to use it as the basis of their pedagogical practice in school and teaching as well as of school development issues.

This paper discusses on the one hand to what extent these supposedly overly idealistic assumptions are implemented in the concrete practice of university teaching and on the other hand which learning resistances and limitations can be identified in teaching-learning processes. These limitations include ambivalences regarding the claim of professionalization through research reference, professional overload, role diffusion in practice phases, lack of time resources, low research interest, etc. (Brew & Saunders, 2020; Gerheim, 2019).

The first results of an evaluation study are presented, showing how student teachers at the Carl von Ossietzky University/Germany have implemented and evaluated the program of research-based teaching and learning in the context of a three-semester research-based course.

Background

Globally, many education systems are in crisis on a range of fronts including the retention, recruitment and preparation of teachers entering the profession (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2021), with teacher shortages being a pressing issue in many parts of the world, including in Europe (European Commission et al., 2021), England (Long & Danechi, 2022) and Australia (Clare, 2022). Options advanced to address the crisis include improving the status of the profession, teachers having a stronger professional identity and alleviating many of the administrative burdens of teaching (European Commission et al., 2021; OECD, 2020; Thompson, 2021). Familiar questions about the readiness and quality of teacher graduates have also been raised to address the issue, highlighting how the field of teacher education remains under intense scrutiny (Fox et al., 2020; Mayer & Mills, 2021) including by organisations and agencies with vested interests (European Commission, 2020). The continued and increased regulatory environments imposed on initial teacher education programs, such as in Estonia (Pedaste et al., 2019) and in Australia (Paul et al., 2022), highlight the continual policy influence over the field. Consequently, the experiences and voices of those working in teacher education are often silenced or marginalised by discourses of policy, reform, standards and accountability (Cochran-Smith et al., 2018; McLaren & Baltodano, 2000). Despite the intense regulatory, compliance and policy focus on teacher education, there exists a lack of understanding about the nature of teacher educators’ practice (Brennan & Zipin, 2016), or when it is described, the views are simplistic in nature (Loughran & Hamilton, 2016). The dominant meta-narratives about teacher education seem to come from those who are either outside, or occupy a certain part of the field, who speak about and for, rather than with, teacher educators.

Objectives

Our aim with this research project was to explore what it means for those who are working in the highly politicized, contested and entangled field of teacher education in order to uncover understandings about the complex aspects of their work.

Research Questions

The key research question for this project was: How do those who work in the field of teacher education articulate and represent the nature of their work? To assist in exploring this question we also developed the following sub-questions:

1. In what ways do personal and professional dispositions intersect for those who work in the field of teacher education?
2. How do the narratives and representations created by the participants relate to the meta-narratives about teacher education?
3. In what ways do arts-related and narrative methods contribute to understanding experiences of those who work in the field of teacher education?

In this presentation we will discuss the ways in which we have utilised arts-based methodologies (for instance, Leavy, 2015) to engage with colleagues globally to reflect on the cognitive and affective domains of their work, and to explore dominant discourses framing the conception of working in the field of teacher education.

Theoretical framework

We draw on aspects of Bourdieu’s practice theory (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992) that take into account the intersecting relationships between the ‘field’ as a space of social interaction, conflict, and competition (often referred to as a game); ‘habitus’ as the durable dispositions we possess, to make sense of one’s place in the social world (the feel for the game) and how the various ‘capitals’ we accumulate such as economic, social, cultural, and symbolic inform how we act as players in the complex game. To consider the cognitive, intellectual work and the affective and emotional dimensions of working in teacher education, we also draw on the concepts of affect and emotion work (Prosser 2015).

This study contributes to research on the impact that Virtual reality (VR) supported lessons in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) courses may have on the Pre-Service Teachers (PSTs)’ confidence and VR Technological and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). Our aim was to analyse if the implementation of VR-supported lessons in the practical aspect of already packed ITE courses, such as Post-Graduate Diploma in the Education (PGDE) course, alongside with already existing traditional effective pedagogies, could have an impact on PSTs’ willingness to try this new digital technology in their classroom and to explore its pedagogical potential.

Emerging evidence has demonstrated that VR-supported lessons are able to enhance positive emotions and engagement when compared to more traditional tools, such as readings from textbooks and videos (Allcoat & von Mühlenen, 2018). However, to experience and facilitate these benefits in a learning environment, educators should consider their self-efficacy while teaching with VR technologies, their safety in the classroom, as well as the need for technical support. These have been identified as potential obstacles for PSTs, who are interested in the effective use of VR in the classroom but may not feel well equipped to deliver VR-based lessons (Cooper et al., 2019).

In addition, according to Kavanagh et al. (2017), there are several external barriers to classroom implementation such as costs, hardware and software usability, and internal barriers such as confidence in teachers’ ability to use and create content, as well as PSTs’ VR Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) to consider (Jang et al., 2021).

In a recent pilot study, we explored the PSTs’ learning experience with a specific interest in the impact of VR-supported lessons on their Specific Self-Confidence (SSC) as an aspect that could be improved by research evidence-based, well-designed hands-on lessons in ITE courses. We decided to focus on SSC after making two important considerations. On the one hand, we reflected on the assumption that self-efficacy could be considered a multifaced personality trait that spans in several domains including motivational, cognitive, and affective domains (Cramer et al., 2009) and could require a lifetime to be changed. On the other hand, SSC is only one aspect of self-confidence, but it seems to be mainly affected by everyday performance and circumstances, exerting higher levels of effect on the recurrent behaviours and attitude towards technology of an individual (Oney & Ulugad, 2013). This, in return, could have an impact on PSTs’ willingness to use technology such as VR in their practice (Yilmaz & Bayraktar, 2014) even after a short intervention, and it may affect their self-efficacy on a long-term (Kent, 2017).

The initial pilot study results, presented at ECER Geneva 2020, showed that engagement with VR lessons, for example in ITE science courses, encouraged PSTs to explore this technology for their future practice and expand the range of their pedagogical activities to teach various subjects, positively impacting on their self-confidence.

In this study, we moved on to explore the second possible internal barrier: the VR Technological and Pedagogical Content Knowledge. The TPACK refers not only to teachers’ VR technological knowledge, but also to their ability to choose this technology in conjunction with the appropriate pedagogical approaches that could support learning when teaching specific subject content (Fragkaki et al., 2020; Mishra, 2019). We aimed to provide further evidence on the minimal intervention required in ITE courses to support sustainable development of VR supported lessons in school education. This involves reflections on possible daily implementation of VR, alongside other effective pedagogical strategies in student-teachers’ career, as we present in the research design below.

Educational technologies play an important role in teaching and learning in the 21^st century (Redecker, 2017). To foster learning related to educational technologies, teachers need not only knowledge about the content they will be teaching but also pedagogical and technological knowledge, in short TPACK (Koehler & Mishra, 2014). Yet, knowledge about technology is not the main factor in deciding what and how educational technologies are used in the classroom. There are studies that found pre-service teachers’ beliefs regarding the usefulness of a digital tool for students’ learning to be the best predictor of their intentions to use software, not their self-reported knowledge about the tool (Anderson et al., 2011). Yet, integrating technologies in teaching is a complex task (Nelson et al., 2019; Tondeur et al., 2019) that requires teachers to identify the right way of integrating educational technologies for the lesson objectives and for students’ learning needs (Djoub, 2019). This ability is referred to as technological pedagogical reasoning based on Shulman’s (1986) concept of pedagogical reasoning. When preparing their lessons, teachers need to integrate the three knowledge bases of TPACK to identify the possibilities of integrating educational technologies in their classroom and to be able to justify their decisions regarding technology integration (Niess & Gillow-Wiles, 2017; Voogt et al., 2016). In the past ten years, there has been an increasing number of empirical studies on teacher education and educational technologies. Røkenes and Krumsvik (2014) classified pedagogical approaches to pre-service teacher training with ICT in their review but neither the format and content of the trainings nor the measurement of success were looked at more closely. In Starkey’s (2020) review, under the term of professional digital competence, three types of pre-service teachers’ competencies in the digital age were classified: Generic digital competence, digital teaching competence, and professional digital competence. In addition to teachers’ generic digital competence, digital teaching competence is necessary to integrate digital technology into teaching. The present review focusses on pre- and in-service teacher trainings for digital teaching competence.

Our aim is to find out how (pre-service) teachers can be prepared for integrating educational technologies in their teaching and how learning for technology integration can be measured. In the present systematic review we therefore investigate the following research questions:

1) How is (pre-service) teachers’ integration of educational technologies into teaching fostered in intervention studies?

2) How is (pre-service) teacher’s integration of educational technologies into teaching measured in intervention studies?

TPACK (Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge) is a widely used framework in K - 12 and tertiary education across the globe, supporting preservice and in-service teachers plan for and reflect on teaching and learning with technology. However, the framework has been criticised as inadequate for learning areas that involve substantial engagement with the affective domain, such as Music and Drama. This paper further argues that affect is not only relevant to specific learning areas, but that there is an affective dimension to all user engagement with technology. However, there is currently no framework that engages holistically with cultivating both technological knowledge and skills as well as productive attitudes and affective orientations. As such, this paper contents that TPACK should be reconceptualized as TAPACK (Technological Affect Pedagogical and Content Knowledge) to explicitly foreground, engage with, and value the affective domain of teaching and learning with technology.

To make this case, this paper draws on contemporary scholarship that demonstrates the important role of affective orientations to technology in shaping the extent to which preservice and in-service teachers deploy and embed technology meaningfully into teaching and learning. Data generated from student feedback on an educational technology course is also used to demonstrate the impact and benefits of supporting preservice teachers to grapple with their technology-related attitudes and orientations by placing these affective dimensions alongside practical matters, such as technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge. While embedding technology into teaching and learning is an expected practice in contemporary education across the globe, teacher attitudes towards and beliefs about technology remain powerful 'second order barriers' to technology integration. This paper argues that deliberately turning toward these affective orientations and explicitly engaging with the human dimension of teaching and learning with and about technology offers a way to empower preservice and in-service teachers to make informed, agential decisions about deploying technology to expand learning opportunities for students.

Reflection and/or reflexivity are discussed as means to foster processes of professionalization of student teachers in teacher education at university level in various European countries, e.g. for Scotland (Huang, Klein & Beck, 2020), Austria and Germany (Groß Ophoff & Cramer, 2022; Kunze & Reintjes, 2022). The definitions thereby vary because of diverse theories used to describe reflection and/or reflexivity. Some authors also use these terms as synonyms (e.g. Hauser & Wyss, 2021), others not (e.g. Bohnsack, 2017). To support the development of student teachers´ ability to reflect the didactic approach of Inquiry-based learning (Pedaste et al., 2015) has recently enjoyed much popularity in teacher education (e.g. Spernes & Afdal, 2021). It is presumed, that such ability can be gained by passing through a whole research process (Healey, 2005), from developing a research question, identifying and planning an appropriate research approach, collecting data in the context of school, analysing this data by using methodical steps to find answers to the research question, presenting the results in a report and to the schools and/or other stake holders involved. Rethinking such experiences might be the starting point for reflections: on teaching and learning, on school, but also on one’s own learning process and the role of a prospective teacher. Doing so, this might support the process of professionalization, e.g. for developing a reflective, research-based attitude or habitus.

The sparse available evidence on inquiry-based learning in teacher education (Ophuysen et al., 2017) is somewhat sobering and it remains open as to how reflection and/or reflexivity can be fostered by inquiry-based learning in teacher education. Against this backdrop, this symposium considers two questions: (1) whether and under which conditions the described expectations about reflection and/or reflexivity in the context of inquiry-based learning in teacher education can be fulfilled. Furthermore, a methodological question occurs: (2) Which methodological approaches are suitable to investigate reflection and/or reflexivity in the context of inquiry-based learning?

The symposium addresses both questions by bringing together three current research projects in which forms of reflection and reflexivity are analysed by using different methodical approaches. Each paper presents in a first step an overview on the discourse on reflection by inquiry-based learning in teacher education in the respective country having in mind the diversity of teacher education programs across Europe and explaining the underlying understanding of reflection and/or reflexivity. In a second step the relation between using certain research methods and gaining empirical results will be focused. Finally, the papers give an outlook for consequences for further research and teacher education.

By comparing the three papers, commonalities and differences will become evident that might become the starting point of an international discussion on the potentials and limitations of inquiry-based learning to foster reflection and/or reflexivity in teacher education.

The concept of the reflective practitioner is well established, but to move beyond reflection to strategic action can be seen as risky. Engaging in and with research (Cordingley, 2015) through cycles of practitioner enquiry is seen as one way to facilitate this active stance (Hall & Wall, 2019), with the assumption being that the process of asking questions will align with grassroots professional learning (Mintrop et al., 2018). For these reasons practitioner enquiry has become a central feature of initial teacher education (ITE) across Scottish universities (Forde, 2015). While reflective practice and enquiry-based learning have been consistent features of ITE for some time in Scotland (Menter et al., 2010), there is now more of an explicit focus on enquiry as essential to teacher preparation (Donaldson, 2011) following growing awareness of the connection between research-engagement and professionalism. Its role in the ‘professionalisation’ of teachers is further reinforced by the General Teaching Council for Scotland’s (GTCS) Professional Standards (GTCS, 2021), which state that teachers must demonstrate knowledge and understanding of enquiry to meet the standard for provisional registration. While this positioning might suggest unified acceptance of its importance, there is divergence in its conceptualisation (Forde, 2015). Although this might not immediately present as problematic, there is the possibility that it could lead to tensions within practice. These conceptualisations fit broadly into two themes: ‘project’ and ‘stance’ (Wall, 2018). A potential key difference is the role of reflexivity, with it playing a more significant role in the latter. We argue that reflexivity, within a practitioner enquiry frame, is the cumulative, reflective and strategic narrative that connects and overlays cycles of enquiry. This ensures enquiry is embedded across professional learning trajectories with a metacognitive narrative thread that makes the learning explicit (Porthillo & Medhina, 2016). This paper is embedded in a larger project on the knowledge politics of the ‘Teacher-as-Researcher’ in Scotland and explores the extent to which different models of practitioner enquiry might facilitate a reflexive stance. We draw on data collected from three Scottish universities over two phases: 1) document analysis of handbooks from ITE programmes; and 2) semi-structured interviews with teacher educators in those universities. Using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2020) for dataset analysis, we explore the extent to which ‘reflexivity’ is framed as an integral part of enquiry in ITE courses and compare conceptualisations across ITE models.

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2020). One size fits all? What counts as quality practice in (reflexive) thematic analysis? Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 328-352. Cordingley, P. (2015). The contribution of research to teachers’ professional learning and development. Oxford Review of Education, 41(2), 234-252. Donaldson, G. (2011). Teaching Scotland’s Future. Scottish Government. Forde, C. (2015). Research and professional practice in Scottish education. In M. Baguley et al. (Eds.), Meanings and Motivation in Education Research (pp. 138-154). Routledge. GTCS (2021). Professional Standards for Teachers. https://www.gtcs.org.uk/professional-standards/professional-standards-for-teachers/ Hall, E., & Wall, K. (2019). Research methods for understanding professional learning. Bloomsbury Academic. Menter, I. et al. (2010). Literature Review of Teacher Education for the Twenty-First Century. Scottish Government. https://www.gov.scot/publications/literature-review-teacher-education-21st-century/ Mintrop, R. et al. (2018). Teacher evaluation, pay for performance, and learning around instruction: between dissonant incentives and resonant procedures. Educational Administration Quarterly, 54(1), 3-46. Portilho, E., & Medina, G. (2016). Metacognition as methodology for continuing education of teachers. Creative Education, 7(1) 1-12. Wall, K. (2018). Building a bridge between pedagogy and methodology: Emergent thinking on notions of quality in practitioner enquiry. Scottish Educational Review, 50(2), 3-22.

Reflection ability requires knowing and using adequate terminology, interpreting, and appraising available information, and drawing valid conclusions (Paseka et al., 2021). Due to its conceptual proximity to the understanding of research as knowledge-based problem-solving, and the traditional link between research and teaching in university-based education, inquiry-learning opportunities (ILO; Rueß et al., 2016) are regarded as promising to support student teachers’ reflexivity (Fichten, 2010). This is considered key to teacher professionalization (KMK, 2019), but the assessment of reflection ability, and related to that, the investigation of the proposed benefit of ILO remains a challenge (Wessels et al., 2019). In this presentation, an approach will be presented, in which reflection is operationalized as generic aspect of Educational Research Literacy (ERL), that is the ability to access, comprehend, and reflect research information as well as apply the resulting conclusions to educational decisions (Groß Ophoff et al., 2017). While some evidence for the construct-related validity of this test instrument has been reported already, this contribution aims at investigating criterial validity, that is, whether the number of the seized ILO is of incremental validity for the prediction of teacher training students’ ERL and with it, their reflection ability. Findings from three studies will be reported. In Study 1, 104 German students in the field of education (mainly teacher training) participated during summer semester 2014. However, results indicated an inadequate operational validity of assessing specific ILO. In reference to the ILO taxonomy by Rueß et al. (2016), a compilation of 12 ILO was contrived and used as operationalization in Study 2 and Study 3. Study 2 was conducted online in 2018 (N = 126 education or social sciences students from various German higher education institutions). The new measure proved to incrementally contribute to the variance explanation of ERL: The more ILO were reportedly seized, the more research-proficient, and thereby reflexive study participants turned out to be (β = .08; p < .05). In Study 3 (2018-2021), 298 teacher training students at ten German universities were investigated (paper-surveys). Preliminary results corroborate with the findings from Study 2 (β = .25; p < .05). Even though the results give cause for optimism, cross-institutional intervention studies are needed to clarify whether these effects are not rather an expression of personal traits. In this line of reasoning, as early as 1999 Weinert fundamentally questioned, whether such higher-order thinking skills can be learned at all.

Fichten, W. (2010). Forschendes Lernen in der Lehrerbildung. In U. Eberhardt (ed.), Neue Impulse der Hochschuldidaktik (pp. 127-182). VS. Groß Ophoff, J., Wolf, R., Schladitz, S., & Wirtz, M. (2017). Assessment of Educational Research Literacy in higher education. Construct validation of the factorial structure of an assessment instrument comparing different treatments of omitted responses. JERO, 9(2), 35-66. Healey, M. (2005). Linking research and teaching exploring disciplinary spaces and the role of inquiry-based learning. In Reshaping the university (pp. 30-42). Open University Press. Kultusministerkonferenz. (2019). Standards für die Lehrerbildung: Bildungswissenschaften. Beschluss der Kultusministerkonferenz vom 16.12.2004 i.d.F. vom 16.05.2019. Paseka, A., Hinzke, J. H., Feld, I., & Kuckuck, K. (2021). Zur Entwicklung von studentischer Reflexionskompetenz im Rahmen Forschenden Lernens. In D. Kemethofer, J. Reitinger & K. Soukup-Altrichter (Eds.), Vermessen? Zum Verhältnis von Bildungsforschung, Bildungspolitik und Bildungspraxis (pp. 143-160). Waxmann. Rueß, J., Gess, C., & Deicke, W. (2016). Forschendes Lernen und forschungsbezogene Lehre–empirisch gestützte Systematisierung des Forschungsbezugs hochschulischer Lehre. Zeitschrift für Hochschulentwicklung, 11(2), 23-44. Weinert, F. E. (1999). Concepts of Competence. Manx Planck Institute for Psychological Research. Wessels, I., Gess, C., & Deicke, W. (2019). Competence Development Through Inquiry-Based Learning. In H. Mieg (Ed.), Inquiry-Based Learning–Undergraduate Research (pp. 59-69). Springer.

In the discourse on teacher education, there is a tendency to emphasize the ability to reflect with the aim to promote professionalization processes of preservice teachers. However, the understanding of what ‘reflection’ might be, differs. Going back to Schön (1983), two options exist: reflection-on-action as process when professionals look back in a distance mode at a situation and their actions (e.g. Häcker 2017 for Germany) and reflection-in-action as rethinking a concrete situation when decisions have to be made to go on in a process. In the last years, Bohnsack (2020) has developed the concept of practical or implicit reflection based on the sociology of knowledge of Karl Mannheim and the system theory of Niklas Luhmann. Such a practical reflection has to be distinguished from an explicit reflection which is embedded in theoretical knowledge that is used for argumentation but does not guide the habitual practices of social actors. However, both modes of reflection are able to broad perspectives by using comparative horizons whereas reflexivity is defined as using existing horizons. Against this background, the paper follows the question which forms of reflexivity and reflection can be found in discussions of preservice teachers and whether these forms can be the starting point for professionalization processes. Findings from a research project on inquiry-based learning courses in teacher education carried out at two German universities (see Hinzke et al. 2023; Paseka et al. 2023) will be presented. In such courses, the preservice teachers go through an entire research process in the context of teaching and schooling (Pedaste et al., 2015). In our research project ‘ReLieF’, funded by the German Research Association, 15 group discussions at the beginning (t1) and at the end (t2) of the Masters’ two-semester courses were carried out. The group discussions were analysed by using the documentary method, a qualitative-reconstructive method for data analysis (e.g. Bohnsack et al., 2010). In this presentation, we enquire for forms of reflexivity as well as implicit and explicit reflection. First results show that the preservice teachers at t1 mostly use quite established knowledge when talking about ‘research’ and their research experiences so far. This can be analysed as expression of reflexivity in the sense of reproduction. Nevertheless, in some groups, forms of theoretical as well as of practical reflection could be found. These results will be discussed in light of professionalization processes as well as of consequences for teacher education via inquiry-based learning courses.

Bohnsack, R. (2020). Professionalisierung in praxeologischer Perspektive. Budrich. Bohnsack, R., Pfaff, N., & Weller, V. (eds.) (2010). Qualitative analysis and documentary method in international educational research. Budrich. Häcker, T. (2017). Grundlagen und Implikation der Forderung nach Förderung von Reflexivität in der Lehrerinnen- und Lehrerbildung. In C. Berndt, T. Häcker & T. Leonhard (eds.), Reflexive Lehrerbildung revisited. Traditionen – Zugänge – Perspektiven (S. 21-45). Klinkhardt. Hinzke, J.-H., Boldt, V.-P., Damm, A., & Paseka, A. (2023, accepted). Lehramtsstudierende reflektieren über Forschen. Praxeologisch-wissenssoziologische Analysen zu studentischen Wissensbeständen als Ausgangspunkt Forschenden Lernens. In M. Kowalski, D. Wittek, J. Korte, & J. Schröder (eds.), Dokumentarische Professionalisierungsforschung im Kontext des Lehramtsstudiums. Klinkhardt. Paseka, A., Hinzke, J.-H., & Boldt, V.-P. (2023, in preparation). Learning through Perplexities in Inquiry-based Learning Settings in Teacher Education. Teachers & Teaching. Pedaste, M. et al. (2015). Phases of inquiry-based learning: Definitions and the inquiry cycle. Educational Research Review, 14, 47-61. Schön, D. A. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner. How Professionals Think in Action. Basic Books.

Early Childhood Education - the pre-primary education phase - is an essential part of European education policy, as the first years lay the foundation for successful lifelong learning (Eurydice, 2018; Eurydice, 2019). Studies on early childhood teacher education have shown that providing pre-service teachers with opportunities to engage in authentic, real-world teaching experiences, such as teaching in a kindergarten setting, can improve their preparedness for the classroom (Ben-Harush & Orland-Barak, 2019; Hollins, & Warner, 2021). The current study compares three models of training early childhood student teachers and seeks to learn about their contribution to the pre-service teachers' integration into the kindergarten and their readiness for professional autonomy.

In the last decade, the teaching profession is in a process of professionalization that strengthens the formal training of teachers and educators through higher academic studies in the teaching disciplines and the sciences of education and pedagogy alongside practical experience which is designed to link the institution and the field. In other words, the training for teaching consists of imparting academic knowledge to teaching students through various courses and is supported by practical experience that demonstrates what is learned in the academic courses.

However, it seems that pre-service teachers have difficulty bridging the gap between academia and the field and applying the knowledge acquired in teacher training in educational settings. Many of the novice teachers report a sharp transition from the college to the school or kindergarten where they serve as teachers (Sagi and Regev, 2002).

This reality requires alternative structures for teacher education which enhances the partnership and collaboration between the teaching institutions and the schools or kindergartens that provide opportunities for application of theory to practice during which pre-service teachers could voice, explore, and critically examine their beliefs in relation to philosophies and teaching approaches (Di Santo, Timmons & Lenis).

One alternative model is a relatively new program of Academia–Kindergarten (AK) implemented by the Ministry of Education in Israel. The program promotes extending practice in the third year of training in kindergartens and developing a triadic mentoring support system (Ben-Harush & Orland-Barak, 2019). Making the practical experience a central core of this program, enables strong collaboration between the academic mentor (the teacher education college pedagogical instructor), the mentee (the pre-service teacher) and the kindergarten trained teacher throughout the teaching process. By spending more time in the kindergarten as part of the AK program the pre-service teachers are seen as part of the kindergarten teaching staff and are integrated into the day-to-day activities of the kindergarten.

Over the years, the AK basic program evolved, and a new model was developed the "Academia Kindergarten Community" (AKC). This model can be characterized by a learning community that includes both the pre-service teachers who participate in the program, and the kindergarten teachers who are guided by the pedagogical instructor. The AKC model allows pre-service teachers to be exposed to diverse points of view, dilemmas, difficulties, and challenges that arise from the field that are seen as relevant to all members of the community (Moft, 2021). The model encourages joint learning sessions for teachers and students. From this, the current study combines quantitative and qualitative findings

seeks to learn about the contribution of the two experiential models AK and AKC to pre-service teachers and to compare between them and the traditional experiential model in aspects of integration into the kindergarten and the readiness for professional autonomy. In addition, the study seeks to learn about the satisfaction of the teaching staff from their participation in the three models of practical experience: traditional experience, AK and AKC.

Amid diverse megatrends such as increasing challenges to wellbeing, intensifying struggle for democracy and digitalization, teacher education should be able to prepare student teachers to be e adaptive professionals and able to innovate and develop teaching practices both individually and collaboratively and engage in lifelong learning to develop their professional development throughout their career (e.g., Avalos, 2011: Yeigh & Lynch, 2017). Professional development (PD) can be considered as processes of learning, growth and development of teachers' expertise (social and personal skills and content knowledge including subject knowledge and pedagogical, instructional, and classroom management skills) leading to changes in their practice to support their pupils' learning (Avalos, 2011). However, teacher education studies have shown that pre-service and in-service teacher education should be modified to promote teachers' career-long professional development more systematically and proactively (Korthagen, 2016). In this study, we explore the professional development of teacher students when studying in a research-based learning unit called MyPeda (abbreviation: Multiprofessional collaboration and pedagogical expertise). For this experimental research-based learning unit, a pedagogical design was developed to support teacher students' professional development holistically and an innovative way.

Theoretically, the pedagogical design of MyPeda is based on a multidimensional construct classroom climate which draws from several prominent theoretical models and empirical findings and leans on three basic classroom components associated with teacher-student interactions: instructional support, socioemotional support, and classroom organization and management (Wang et al., 2020). Instructional support focuses on features of instruction that provide quality feedback, use techniques to enhance critical thinking and communicate high academic expectations for students (Hamre et al., 2007). Socioemotional support refers to classroom characteristics that support the emotional wellbeing of students and where the teacher's warmth and interaction with students creates safety, and the teacher gets to know students' interests and emotions (Pianta & Hamre, 2009; Quin, 2017). Classroom organization and management denotes the practices teachers use to establish daily classroom routines, including consistently reinforcing classroom rules, supporting students' autonomy and providing positive behavior supports (Klieme et al., 2009). These three concepts form a triangle in the pedagogical design, the sides of which are connected through three concepts: school culture, teacher collaboration and home-school cooperation. Teachers' development is a process that requires individual and collective emotional and cognitive involvement to change teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning and raise awareness of policies and practices affecting a school's culture (e.g., Guskey 2002; Avalos, 2011). As a whole, in schools that have a strong culture, teachers are motivated and engaged when working with students. It has been emphasized that the development of teachers' collaboration should focus on teachers' joint work and how it develops teachers' teaching (e.g., Hargreaves & O'Connor, 2017). Thus, we examine teacher collaboration in promoting collaboration between student teachers and in-service teachers to improve their teaching and teamwork (e.g., Vangrieken et al. 2015).Previous research has shown that teacher education programmes need to prepare students more adequately to interact and engage with parents (e.g., Epstein 2018). In general, teacher students do not see themselves as well-prepared for family-school partnerships even though collaboration between teachers and families can influence pupils' social development, academic achievements, and sense of wellbeing (e.g., Willemse et al. 2018). All these components above are associated with student-centered and effective pedagogy.

In this study, we approach teacher students’ professional development in the context of learning unit MyPeda with the following two research questions:

RQ1: What do teacher students consider meaningful when reflecting on their professional development during the learning unit?

RQ2: What kinds of tensions and opportunities characterize the learning unit in terms of professional development?

Introduction How can teacher students refine their peer feedback strategies for purposeful opposition when discussing final degree projects? This ongoing study explores the contribution of peer feedback in relation to degree project in teacher education. The aim is to explore the role of the dialogues during a preservice teachers’ seminar was observed during participation in opposition. A sample of 210 minutes recorded data was analysed qualitatively. The preliminary results showed that peer feedback during oral opposition is predominantly monological, evaluative in nature, with no room for the respondent to participate in a dialogue. However, there were some dialogic acts and constructively oriented comments during the opposition which we present in this paper and consider in our ongoing analysis.

Previous research and theoretical concepts Peer feedback is an important part of the learning process in a teacher education programs. Oral opposition on final degree projects is a key element of the evaluation cycle, and as such this type of examination provides an opportunity for peer feedback. However, little is known about what happens during these oral opposition sessions during the dialogues between students. Even though a vast body of research exists in the area has highlighted production process in relation to degree projects, like supervising (Jansson et al., 2019), students’ or experiences, (Råde, 2019) or assessment of quality of these projects (Stolpe et al., 2021). To gain insight into this specific type of peer feedback, we conducted an observation study to analyze the dialogical features of peer feedback during oral opposition sessions on final degree projects in Swedish teacher education. In this paper we present our preliminary analysis and several findings as well as their implications for teaching practice in teacher education.

Theory

The theoretical point of departure for this study is the dialogical tradition within the sociocultural perspective on learning (Bakhtin, 1981). Some principles of student peer feedback in Nordic teacher education (Ellengard et.al., 2022) point toward dialogue being a productive way of learning through feedback. One way to constitute productive communication is by using dialogical feedback and dialogism (Bakhtin, 1981; Heron & Reason, 1997). The basis of dialogism is that the language we chose for communication contributes to meaning (Franke & Kullberg, 2010). This is particularly interesting in relation to giving feedback. When the opposition of final degree projects was previously studied in the Swedish context (Franke & Kullberg, 2010), the results showed that the opposition can have a monological or dialogical character. Also, it showed that each of the participants set the tone for his or her own opposition. This raises the question of what dialogic acts (Alrø & Skovsmose, 2004) are made by the students during opposition as a form of peer feedback and how can they be further developed in order to be useful in degree project process. In this study, by applying the two dichotomic orientations of peer feedback during oral oppositions, monological and dialogical (Franke & Kullberg, 2010) we analyse peer feedback with a focus on dialogic acts made by teacher students.

Aim and question

Considering that students spend one eighth of higher education on doing degree project work, there is a gap of knowledge and research results regarding what kind of knowledge student teachers chose to develop in their theses. Therefore, the aim of this study is to mitigate this gap by identifying dialogical features of peer feedback in final degree projects in primary teacher education. The research question is: Which dialogic acts can be identified in the feedback during the opposition of degree projects in teacher education?

The ability to organize and teach effectively is crucial in today's academically and socially diverse classrooms. However, achieving effective planning and teaching processes based on different learner needs can be a challenging and problematic skill since the learner population is becoming more and more diverse in terms of gender, color, nationality, ethnicity, race, the language spoken at home, economic status, interests, readiness to learn, preferred modes of learning, self-awareness, confidence, at home, economic status, interests, readiness to learn, preferred modes of learning, self-awareness, confidence, independence, and information and communication technology (ICT) abilities, etc. (Boelens, Voet, and De Wever, 2018; Dosch & Zidon, 2014; Kamarulzaman, Md-Yunus, Azman, & Mohd-Zahidi, 2021; Onyishi, 2022; Santangelo & Tomlinson, 2009; Tomlinson & Imbeau, 2010). However, today, the majority of teachers have received little to no training to work effectively with this diversity and manage the learners in the same class who have above-below or average potential (Kamarulzaman et al., 2021). The findings of numerous studies revealed that instructors' practices, mostly based on lecturing with added discussions, are a poor representation of the various student bodies (Boelens et al., 2018; Joseph et al., 2013;; Santangelo & Tomlinson, 2009; Tomlinson & Imbeau, 2010). Additionally, Santangelo & Tomlinson (2009) noted that educational practices (such as the curriculum, physical layout, teaching processes, testing methods, etc.) had not changed significantly to take into account diverse students' experiences and learning needs. For this reason, there is an urgent need to strengthen teacher competency in dealing with the diversity-related issues that arise in classrooms. In this regard, Carol Tomlinson's (1999b) "Differentiated Instruction (DI)" was recommended.

DI is seen as both a philosophy and a model for teaching (Tomlinson & Imbeau, 2010). The content, process, product, affect, and learning environment differentiation are five areas of DI implementation, and they are based on learner readiness, interests, and learning profiles (Tomlinson, 2001). The ‘content’ refers to the information or skills taught, while the ‘process’ is how students interpret, adapt, and own the content. The ‘product’ is how students express what has been understood, learned, and implemented after having received instruction. The ‘affect’ is how students feel in the instructional environment. The ‘learning environment’ refers to both the physical and the affective climate in the classroom, and it is the weather that affects everything that happens there (Santangelo & Tomlinson, 2009; Tomlinson & Imbeau, 2010).

As it is stated that preservice teachers who did not have DI modeled for them in their teacher education programs did not have knowledge of how to apply DI in their own classes after they started teaching in the K–12 environment (Tomlinson, 2001) and lacked confidence and had limited perspectives on curriculum and evaluation approaches that would accommodate learning differences (Wan, 2015), the purpose of this study was to implement differentiated instruction materials in the curriculum development in education course and investigate the effect of differentiated instruction on student achievement, planning abilities, and perceptions related to the technology rich outcome focused learning environments.

Based on the main purpose of the study, the following research questions were proposed:

• Is there a significant difference in pre-service teachers' (PST) beginning and ending semester grades based on lesson plan grades?
• Does the classroom environment's perception by pre-service teachers predict their course achievement?
• What are the perceptions of pre-service teachers about differentiated instruction, the planning process, and the classroom environment?

The European Commission (2019) promotes the role of teachers to help students develop 21st century competences through technology.,
However, the integration of ICT in the teaching-learning (T-L) process implies a change in the methodological approach towards the adoption of learner-centred pedagogical models (European Commission, 2020a; Mora-Cantallops et al., 2022).
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) developed the European Framework for Digital Competence in Education or DigCompEdu (Redecker & Punie, 2017), including elements such as the professional engagement of teachers, the use of ICT in the T-L process or the empowerment of students and their digital competence development.
However, when it comes down to technology-enhanced learning activities, several authors advocate for adopting holistic approaches, apart from a defined competency framework. With a holistic approach, it is necessary starting from situated contexts, oriented toward performance roles, with systemic function and relationship along with boosting constant development (Esteve et al., 2018; Goodyear et al., 2021).
Design for learning is associated with research on technology-enhanced learning (TEL) where the teaching role is seen as a designer of the student learning process (Laurillard, 2012). Likewise, its use is proposed for teachers to make pedagogically informed decisions in their teaching practices and the design of learning activities with an effective use of resources and technologies (Conole, 2012).
The ACAD (Activity-Centred Analysis and Design) framework by Carvalho and Goodyear (2014), and its ACAD Toolkit (Carvalho & Yeoman, 2019), aims to facilitate discussion processes that inform instructional design and analysis. According to Goodyear (2020) this model enables reconsideration of how teachers approach their instructional designs and how they develop and share new and improved designs. Gros and Durall (2020) show that this approach is increasingly being used in the design of learning environments that integrate educational technology to provide user-centred solutions.
The ACAD framework consists of four major structural dimensions for design (Goodyear et al., 2021). The learning scenario refers to the physical, spatial and instrumental elements, whether material or digital (spaces and resources). Social interaction establishes the types of relationships between the people involved in the activity (groupings and roles). Knowledge tasks are the tasks set for participants, the ways of organising knowledge and forms of learning that are part of the design, as well as the evaluation tasks. The fourth dimension - the learning activity- manifests itself when the learner interacts with the elements of the other dimensions at the moment of learning, and is the only dimension that cannot be designed, as it emerges through such interaction.
During the academic year 2021-2022, under the methodology of research based on educational design (Plomp & Nieveen, 2009), a first iteration was designed and implemented in the university classroom of the Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education, using the ACAD Toolkit tool. This educational proposal intends to promote analysis and reflection on the didactic design of an activity enriched with technology. The research process and results can be found in Buils et al. (2022).
The aim of this article is to present the design process of the second iteration of the prototype model, which has been refined based on the evaluation and feedback from the first iteration.

With post-secondary institutions increasingly adopting online course offerings, there is much to learn about how video camera usage during online synchronous group work affects students’ learning experience and relationship building in digital environments (Hammond, 2017; Kleinsasser & Hong, 2016). Kalman et al. (2020), for instance, found that students in their upper and entry-level chemistry courses enjoyed being able to see everyone, leading to increased motivation to pay attention, attend class, concentrate, and do well. In this presentation, we will discuss the role of the video camera feature in synchronous online group work to promote positive relationships between students and the relevance of having those positive relationships for an enhanced learning experience at collective (group) and individual levels.

This study addresses the existing debate surrounding whether turning on video cameras should be a requirement in synchronous learning and provides perspectives of instructors and students related to video camera usage when working online with others. Opponents of the requirement to turn on the video camera cite reasons including privacy issues (Cobo & Vargas, 2022), student discomfort pertaining to personal appearance, their physical location being seen in the background, social norms, and unreliable technology (Castelli & Sarvary, 2021; Kalman et al., 2020; Nicandro et al., 2020; Sederevičiūtė-Pačiauskienė et al., 2022). Reasons for not turning on the video camera in synchronous learning contexts are valid as they particularly pertain to self-efficacy and socioeconomic factors. Yet, justifications for enabling the video camera are also relevant as it can be used as a tool for cooperation, interaction, self-discipline, and self-control, in addition to helping increase learners’ motivation, sense of belonging in a community, and communication efforts (Falloon, 2011; Sederevičiūtė-Pačiauskienė et al., 2022). Exploring undergraduate and doctoral students’ perceptions of the significance of the video camera in synchronous learning, Sederevičiūtė-Pačiauskienė et al. (2022) found students felt less inclined to participate when their cameras were off, which resulted in a weaker student–teacher relationship.

In this study, 22 semi-structured interviews were performed with 12 students and 10 instructors enrolled in two Western Canadian postsecondary teacher education programs with online course delivery. Findings indicate that having the video camera on was important for participants to feel connected to group members, understand their needs, support them or rely on them. This means that enabling the video camera in synchronous online group work helps build positive relationships that can lead to an improved learning experience. However, there are many reasons that could influence a student’s decision for not enabling their video camera source during a synchronous group meeting or activity and, if forced to, this could negatively affect social interactions and relationship building. For instance, in relation to the reasons for not turning the video cameras on, all arguments presented by study participants pointed at issues related to culture or personal preferences. Therefore, the interpretation of the findings suggests that a successful teaching-learning process is characterized by a double movement: it allows the student to take ownership of their own learning in an active and autonomous way and, simultaneously, encourages the student to positively engage with his or her own learning process and environment. This means that the students’ voices should always be heard, and diversity should be both acknowledged and respected by all parties for the construction of positive relationships in online environments and the promotion of enhanced learning experiences.

Institutions of formal education in Europe are characterised by increased cultural and linguistic diversity when it comes to the student population. Considering that such a trend is only expected to grow due to transnationalism and globalisation, teacher education programs must be continuously re-evaluated and redesigned in order to remain relevant and responsive to sociodemographic changes. More specifically, teacher education programs must be able to prepare teacher candidates to work effectively with heterogenous groups of students in ways that support the learning of all students and affirm their identities within growing neoliberal and neoconservative discourses (Alford, 2014). In Norway, classroom composition has also become more diverse, primarily due to a higher number of students of a transnational background, whether through forced or voluntary immigration (Hilt, 2017). Indeed, this and other pressing trends have been identified by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research (2018) in a report titled Teacher Education 2015: National Strategy for Quality and Cooperation in Teacher Education that includes key areas for the improvement and development of teacher education in Norway.

This paper explores teacher candidates’ experiences of preparation for the changing nature of the teaching profession that is informed by increased student diversity. The guiding question for this paper is as follows: What are teacher candidates’ perceptions and experiences of the preparation they receive from their Norwegian teacher education programs in relation to teaching in diverse classrooms? To answer this question, this paper draws on a case study with four teacher candidates from a teacher education program at a Norwegian institution of higher education. A conceptual discussion of some of the fundamental tenets of a socially responsive teacher education program will be presented by considering Darling-Hammond’s (2006) conceptual work on teacher education. This includes two main areas: the “what” and the “how” of teacher education.

In the first area, the focus lies in knowledge on the part of (future) teachers that is tied to the improvement of the learning experiences of students. This includes knowledge about learners, how they learn in different contexts, what the curriculum constitutes of in terms of content and expectations, and what teaching skills should be prioritised to teach the content to students of diverse backgrounds, in diverse situations, and with different needs. The second area goes beyond simply the design of a teacher education program in terms of course selection and sequence. Opportunities for teacher candidates to integrate, reflect upon, and apply their knowledge continually and meaningfully in the classroom are of great consequence for how and why teacher candidates become teachers.

This paper will also present a review of the Norwegian context of (teacher) education. Subsequently, the methodological design of the study will be introduced. This paper is concluded with a discussion of the findings and their implications for teacher education programs in Norway and similar contexts.

Even though the notion of disadvantaged schools or schools in disadvantaged areas is widely used in educational research and administration, the ways in which disadvantaged schools are characterised as well as the indicators that are used to classify them as disadvantaged differ largely by theory and between education systems (McCoy, Quail & Smyth, 2014). Once a concrete notion of disadvantaged schools is established within an education system, it is possible to conceptualise remedial educational policies. In this regard, teacher education is a prominent policy area consisting of different fields of action (Hall, Lundin & Sibbmark, 2020). One of these fields is providing professional support for novice teachers through adaptive mentoring (van Ginkel et al., 2016). However, novice teachers only have inadequate access to mentor support in many education systems (OECD, 2018). The lack of structured mentoring for novice teachers seems to contribute to high attrition rates among teachers in the first five years of their careers. Supporting novice teachers who work at disadvantaged schools is especially relevant. Teachers are more often placed at disadvantaged schools at the beginning of their career (Allen, Burgess, Mayo, 2018; Long et al., 2012) and their academic teacher qualification often does not adequately prepare them for the teaching challenges at disadvantaged schools. Therefore, they can be expected to benefit even more than others from a mentoring approach that is tailored towards their needs.

In this paper, we aim to establish a basis for the design and further development of mentor training programmes aimed at supporting novice teachers to deal with challenges they face at disadvantaged schools and to facilitate their remedial efforts. To this end, we explore the multifaceted nature of disadvantage and how it is perceived by different stakeholders. To set up any pedagogical measure it is important to understand the terminology used in the specific context, especially if the context is possibly socially tabooed. In the development of a mentor training programme tailored to the specific needs of novice teachers at disadvantaged schools it makes sense to consider the perspective of different stakeholders. We hope to gain a deeper understanding of teacher professional development needs in these settings, ensuring that the specific needs of the school community are met and the various challenges faced by teachers are addressed.

Three main objectives guide our study:

First, we examine the perspective of policy makers in education by studying the terminology used to characterize disadvantaged schools and the indicators used to classify a school as "disadvantaged" in the respective education systems. Through a comparison of the indicators used in the various education systems, we show different vantage points of disadvantage and consequentially different potential approaches of how to set up pedagogical measures such as an adaptive mentoring programme.

Second, we investigate the perspectives of novice teachers who work in schools that are classified as disadvantaged and gather insight on their perception of these school contexts. This perspective allows for a better understanding of the challenges novice teachers face in disadvantaged school contexts.

Lastly, we discuss how these analyses can inform the development of pedagogical interventions such as mentoring programmes tailored to the disadvantaged school context

Social-emotional competencies are increasingly recognized as vital for children’s positive development, for their well-being, positive relationships, academic and future career success, and ability to cope with changes and related challenges (Lang et al., 2017). Consequently, Social Emotional Learning (SEL) efforts are increasingly entering classrooms (CASEL, 2013), with positive impacts increasingly noted (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009).

Similarly, social-emotional skills have been recognized to be highly important for teachers (Nias, 1996; Anastasiou, 2020), contributing to teachers’ overall professional effectiveness (Mérida-López & Extremera, 2017); wellbeing; their ability to cope with work-related stress (Fernández-Molina et al., 2019) and with classroom challenges (Poulou, Bassett & Dunham, 2018); positive teacher-student relationships (Brackett et al., 2011); and a positive and psychologically-safe classroom climate (Harvey et al., 2012). These, in turn, impact students’ emotions, behaviors, learning capabilities, academic outcomes (Lang et al., 2020) and social-emotional skill development.

Teachers can cultivate social-emotional skills in their students both informally, by establishing positive teacher-student relationships (Brackett et al., 2011), promoting a supportive classroom climate (Harvey et al., 2012), modeling emotionally intelligent behaviors, and using daily interactions and everyday classroom events as learning opportunities (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009; Morris et al., 2013), and formally, through SEL programs.

It follows that teachers, and in particular pre-service teachers, should be provided with suitable SEL training and with opportunities to practice newly-gained SEL knowledge, skills and tools in real educational settings, in order to improve learning and internalization processes.

In particular, most SEL programs to date do not take into consideration cultural diversity among students )Jagers et al., 2018). Yet the complex task of developing pedagogies and programs that support and sustain individual cultural competencies while offering access to dominant ones is fundamental to the social and emotional well-being of children and youth in the education system (Mahfouz & Anthony-Stevens, 2020). In order to implement and facilitate effective SEL programs within diverse and multicultural settings, policies and practices related to SEL school programs need to consider the backgrounds and needs of the children, families, and communities that are being served (Hayashi et al., 2022).
In the absence of culturally sensitive SEL programs in Israel and given the diversity and multi-cultural nature of Israeli society, guided SEL practice may allow students to better implement SEL in diverse cultural settings.

The current qualitative study followed education students of diverse backgrounds who participated in a semester-long SEL training program, as part of their third-year academic studies. The program was aimed at developing students’ social-emotional skills as well as their ability to integrate EI into their educational work. In line with this latter goal, the students were asked to practice their newly-acquired SEL knowledge, skills and tools as they engaged in a year-long internship program in their respective communities, in parallel with their academic studies.

Ways by which they applied their newly-acquired SEL knowledge to their work in diverse cultural backgrounds were examined.

Several Norwegian studies show that the number of youths with suicidal thoughts is increasing, and that there has been an increase of 28 percent in referrals to treatment for psychological health problems (Helsedirektoratet, 2022). To meet these challenges, dialogue and relationship building are seen as vital (Spurkeland, 2011).

The approaches and techniques used in communication are important when it comes to dialogues with vulnerable students and their families. The quality of such dialogue is to a large extent dependent on the teachers’ ability to ask questions, listen actively and to use other communication methods to build and nourish crucial relationships (Spurkeland, 2011). Indeed, it is widely accepted that relational competency an important factor that contributing to learning in school, and that communication is one of the key competencies of social and relational competency.

Teacher education in Norway consists of both lectures on campus and student teaching in primary and secondary schools. All teacher education is carried out in 5-year programs resulting in a master’s degree. Mentor teachers at schools are considered an important part of teacher education, as they provide supervision during the student teaching, and the students must pass both practice periods at schools and the exams on campus to become teachers.

Some schools have applied to become teacher training schools, which means that all the teachers at these schools become mentor teachers and supervisors for student teachers during their final student teaching practice. Regulations Relating to the Framework Plan for Primary and Lower Secondary Teacher Education for grades 1-7 and grades 5-10 require that mentor teachers have at least 15 (ECTS) credits in the field of guidance and supervision (Bjerkholt, 2017). This is a quality assurance to ensure that students receive professional supervision. Supervision- competency is referred to as professional skills in teaching, observation, methods, and analytical competency while also including certain personal prerequisites (Mathisen & Høigaard, 2021).

The University of Agder offers courses in mentoring to all mentor teachers on teacher training schools that receive student teachers. The education comprises three semesters. The second semester focuses on methods, strategies, and structures in communication. More specific: question types, body language, listening, strategies that provide progression in supervision, reflection, paraphrasing, interruption, and feedback. All education takes place in the teacher training schools, not on the university campus.

A large part of teachers’ work is communication within the school, and with parents or guardians and external collaboration partners. Despite the importance of this topic, there is little focus on this during the lectures on campus. Rather this is knowledge the students acquire during school practice. Subsequently, the teachers are dependent on learning how to interact and communicate with both children, youths, parents/- guardians and other collaborators at different schools during their teacher education. The students are, so to speak, at the mercy of each mentor teacher’s skills.

The aim of this study is to gain insight into whether education for mentor teachers in guidance and supervision can affect crucial communication with vulnerable students, their families, and other collaborators. The diversity of pupils in school will be taken into consideration with respect to which students might be considered vulnerable at any given point in time.

Our research question is: How can education in supervision and guidance theory, methods and strategies strengthen the mentor teachers’ communication skills when interacting with vulnerable students and their parents/ legal guardians?

All networks hold a meeting during ECER. All interested are welcome.

Research questions

1. What were pupils' preferences regarding the various class session components in the classes taught by the student teachers: literacy, listening to music, singing, playing instruments, and movement?
2. How did the pupils describe their classroom behavior during sessions taught by the student teachers: paid attention, participated, talked to classmates, disrupted, enjoyed themselves and others?

Music is a cornerstone of a broad education that each child should receive: It touches hearts and minds, gladdens and thrills, challenges us, and connects us (HM government, 2022). The 2030 OECD Learning Compass (2019) states that until now, researchers have not succeeded in identifying another activity that develops children's cognitive abilities in the same ways or to the same extent as arts education in general, among which is music. Engagement in the arts develops pupils' empathic intelligence, enhancing emotional involvement, a sense of responsibility, and empathy for others (Davis, 2008). Via art classes, including music, pupils learn to think about what they cannot see. These skills are transferable to other skills, such as hypothesizing, re-enacting events, and future thinking (OECD, 2019).

Listening is an integral part of music education. Rojko (2012) claimed that the essence of music education is discovering the world of music, enabled by listening to music and appreciating its beauty. Listening to music is one of the most complex music skills to transmit to elementary school pupils (Hopper, 2007; Beach & Bolden, 2018). The teaching of listening demands that the teacher be very knowledgeable of the content being learned and lead active listening on the part of the pupils, who do not see the music but instead imagine it.

From an educational perspective, listening lays a foundation for other skills. It is considered an essential first skill in language acquisition, reading, writing, and speech (Hopper, 2007; Prananti, Ratminingsih, & Marjohan, 2019). Therefore, there is broad significance to the skill of listening that is learned in music class, whose environment provides the optimal conditions for listening so that the pupils can follow a line of thought that perhaps differs from their own, sharpen their understanding, and actively link new components to their previous knowledge (Wolvin & Coakley, 2000; Imhof, 2008). Moreover, pupils need listening skills to comprehend the teacher's oral instructions, such as for homework assignments (Owca, Pawlak, & Pronobis, 2003), as well as to develop social skills for school, such as group discussions in the classroom (Wolvin & Coakley, 2000; Adelmann, 2012).

From a constructivist standpoint, Liebman (2013) claimed that it would be a mistake to relate to listening as having no benefit. The main thrust of the constructivist view is how to stimulate the learner to be active and involved in consolidating her knowledge after listening. The methodological implication is to look at various ways of teaching, as these act as links to the process of creating and building among learners, among other things using listening, which is an important activity in all educational approaches.

Listening to music contributes to developing personal and social identity, creating interpersonal connections, and to pupils' mood and emotional regulation. Pupils of various ages created social ties during shared processes of creating, rehearsing, executing, and listening to, music. Specifically, pupils' listening to music develops their focusing ability. Listening activities in music class prepare the pupils for life, i.e., enable them to employ listening skills throughout their schooling and after that. Listening to music is an objective and a means of educational power (Svalina & Sukop, 2021).

The present paper deals with teacher education and more specifically courses in learning theories. The aim of the paper is to shed light on how to organize learning theory courses so that they contribute to teacher students’ creative abilities, for example to contribute with new and valuable solutions to problems (Runco & Jaeger, 2012) related to students’ learning, for example to how to optimize the learning environment for a diverse group of learners.

In our courses of learning theories at the university the students are acquainted with a diverse range of learning theories, spanning from “classical” theories such as behaviorism, cognitivism and socio cultural theory (Säljö, 2015) to more specific theories dealing with delimited phenomena such as motivation (Wery & Thomson, 2013). as well as empirical studies of learning in various contexts (Hattie & Yates, 2014). Thus, there are a diversity of theoretical constructs how to understand the phenomena of learning, that the students become acquainted with.

Some researchers propose that creativity is related to the ability to change perspective when looking at a situation (Yang and Hung, 2021). This is of interest in our learning theory courses because the students are trained to analyze learning situations with help of different learning theories, working as theoretical glasses, each with a certain perspective in focus. Therefor it is possible to argue that being acquainted with several learning theories could help develop teacher students’ creativity.

On the other hand, it is possible to argue that the diversity of learning theories could be confusing to the student, which could counteract their development of creativity. According to Säljö (2009), the knowledge base on learning has gradually become more and more diverse and complex over time, providing different perspectives how to understand learning. However, Alexander, Schallert and Reynolds (2009) argue that the multitude of vantage points are incommensurate in some cases which could present barriers for progress of our understanding of learning. It is here of interest if such inconsistencies also may hamper the ability for students to use the theories to shift perspective to generate creative solutions to learning problems. In a previous study of musical creativity, Hagerman (2016) found that imposing limitations on a problem could actually open doors for creativity rather than close them, for example deciding to explore several possibilities within one particular style, rather than mixing several styles and exploring fewer possibilities in each style. An analogue to this when working with learning theories could be to decide to explore one learning theory in depth rather than working with several theories with a more shallow understanding.

Here lies an interesting question of how to balance diverse and specialized knowledge in a university course of learning theories. On one hand, there exist many different learning theories, and if the students learn all of these theories one could argue that they will be well equipped to change perspective and generate creative solutions to learning problems in their teaching. On the other hand, since it takes time to learn each theory, it might be necessary to delimit a course to some of the theories. In a handbook of university pedagogy Elmgren and Henriksson (2016), discuss the difference between deep and shallow learning strategies and in particular address the problems associated with shallow learning strategies. Confronted with a diversity of learning theory, some students could possible resort to shallow strategies. By that reason, it is of interest how to organize a course resting on a large knowledge base so that the students benefit from the diverse content of learning theories.

Internationally there has been a shift in educational policy towards evidence-based decision-making within schools (Mandinach, 2012; Schildkamp, Karbautzki, & Vanhoof, 2014; Scottish Government, 2017) to the extent that many Western democracies have implemented laws and policy reforms focused on education and schooling. These reforms are designed to put the child at the centre of the education system and places demands on teachers to use multiple sources of evidence that they have available to them to guide their professional judgments and decisions. Notable examples of these law and policy reforms range from the No Child Left Behind Act (2002) - now superseded by the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015) - in the United States, the European Union's Strategic Framework for European Cooperation in Education and Training (ET 2020), the National Education Plan in France and the Education (Scotland) Act (2016) in Scotland. In recent years, however, there has been an intensification in this trend towards datafication in education. Teachers and school leaders around the world are now encouraged (to varying degrees) to base their decisions on data (Merk, Poindl, Wurster, & Bohl, 2020). Indeed, many European governments have followed suit by enacting educational policies that mandate the increased use of educationally relevant data by teachers and school leaders to drive improvement in educational outcomes for children and young people (Mandinach & Jimerson, 2016). These policies imply that teachers and school leaders ought to be cognisant of, and conversant with the multiple lines of evidence available to them whilst placing the onus on them to be able to make effective professional judgements about students learning and be able to act on those judgements in a manner that facilitates improvements in performance outcomes.

Research suggests that many teachers feel threatened by the concept of data-informed decision making and ill-prepared to engage in a sustained way with educationally relevant data (Dunn, Airola, Lo, and Garrison, 2013a). Research evidence also suggests that many teachers do not systematically use data-informed judgements within their daily practice or if they do, they only trust the data that confirms their intuition rather than using all of the available evidence available to them to shape their professional judgements (Dunn, Airold & Garrison, 2013b; Schildkamp & Ehren, 2013). These findings indicate that many in-service teachers may lack the skills, motivation, or positive attitude towards the use of educational data to support their professional judgements. What is less well understood is how Initial Teacher Education (ITE) student teachers (also referred to as pre-service teachers) are prepared to use the wide range of educationally relevant data available to them and what factors might affect their use of data within their professional judgement.

This study aims to explore how final year ITE students handle, analyse and make meaning from educational data as part of their professional judgment and decision-making processes. This aim is operationalised by the following research questions (1) To what extent can final year ITE students analyse and interpret educationally relevant data as part of their reflective practice? (2) Does final year ITE students’ ability to analyse educationally relevant data differ compared to their programme of study.

Recent worldwide policies and agendas in the field of education and beyond (UN, 2015; World Bank Group, 2015) have made it clear that inclusive education is not a mission that solely regards students with special needs. It also encapsulates issues related to socio-economic backgrounds, ethnicity, gender and sexuality, religion, language, culture and any other factor that may lead to exclusion. Valuing diversity, guaranteeing equal opportunities and quality education for all have, thus, become priorities for action of the community at large, including the school, to guarantee wellbeing, prosperity, and sustainable development (UN, 2022). Against this backdrop, teachers have a fundamental role to play. Besides ensuring student academic achievement, they need to devise ways to facilitate the acquisition of transformative (OECD, 2019) and global (OECD, 2018) competencies. They are requested to be the catalysts of change by challenging the status quo in school communities; they are to embark on a development process that involves all stakeholders in a system-wide, whole-school reform and restructuring of the vision, mission, curricula, pedagogy, classroom practice, assessment and reporting, and extra-curricular opportunities.

The plethora of literature on teacher competency profiling (Caena, 2011) and on the proximal and distal variables influencing the implementation of inclusive practices (Biesta, Priestley & Robinson, 2015; Sharma & Mannan, 2015; De Boer, Pijl & Minnaert, 2011), substantiates the fact that meeting these goals is a complex task which requires careful planning, competent action, and constant reflection. Indeed, Shulman (2005) claims that the three fundamental dimensions for teacher professional development are the head (what teachers know), hands (what teachers do) and heart (what teachers care about). Within a constructivist perspective of the teaching-learning process, planning teacher education course programmes is not a straightforward undertaking, especially when targeting the development of values and attitudes. In fact, it is claimed that the latter often receives far less attention in teacher education (Shulman, 2005; Sharma, 2018). One of the key strategies to educate the heart is engaging in individual and reflective practice as it offers a myriad of opportunities to reflect on beliefs, concerns, opinions, and attitudes related, but not limited, to teacher identity, the profession, diversity and inclusion (Larrivee & Cooper, 2006; Ghaye, 2011).

This paper presents a qualitative study carried out to investigate the course participants’ opinions regarding a study-unit that proposed guided reflective practice using a strengths-based approach. The overarching aim of the proposed study programme was not only to engage in reflective practices but also to shift the focus from deficit-based to strengths-based approaches in order to be able to develop their skills in identifying resources, assets, and solutions even when faced with particularly challenging scenarios. The premise is that wellbeing depends on the individuals’ ability to take cognisance of their inner cognitive, affective, and motivational resources, identify the community’s assets, and capitalise these strengths in a harmonious manner to act proactively and bring about positive change. It is posited that endorsing such a viewpoint not only helps to promote an inclusive school culture, but also facilitates the acquisition of fundamental values and attitudes necessary to bring about change. To this end, the 30-hour programme drew on various theories, models and tools. These included: Antonovsky’s concept of salutogenesis (Mittlemark et al., 2022), Sen’s (1993) capability approach, the domains and indicators in quality-of-life models (Brown & Shearer, 1999; Schalock & Verdugo, 2002), asset-based community development (Russell & McKnight, 2022) and the Index for Inclusion (Booth & Ainscow, 2011). The course participants had the opportunity to reflect on their beliefs, values and attitudes regarding concepts and issues inherent to diversity, inclusive education, teacher identity, and their role as change agents in the school community.

A multitude of changes have been observed in teachers’ work, making the profession more complicated and demanding (Räsänen et al., 2020). Alongside of these changes, researchers concerned with initial teacher education have been trying to identify the professional learning needs of pre-service teachers (Livingstone & Flores, 2017) to prepare them for the rapidly changing, complex and demanding future work of a teacher. Research on in-service teachers has focused, for instance, on the new realities of teachers’ work, teacher competence needed (Metsäpelto et al., 2021) and the impact of various working conditions on teacher retention and attrition (Kelly et al., 2019).

Teacher education research has long been concerned with pre-service teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning due to their impact on teachers’ instructional practices. Various conceptions have been addressed in the research literature, such as pre-service teachers’ conceptions of specific subjects (Lau, 2022), conceptions of assessment (Lutovac & Flores, 2022), conceptions of online learning and digital literacy (Tarchi et al., 2022) and conceptions of self-as-a-teacher (Lee & Schallert, 2016) to name a few. Pre-service teachers’ conceptions have been investigated in relation to personal practical theories and reflection (Körkkö et al., 2016). Concerning in-service teachers, previous research has targeted, for instance, teachers’ conceptions of assessment (Brown et al., 2019) and conception of inclusive education (Sanagi, 2016). Pre-service and in-service teachers’ conceptions of teachers’ work, however, have received lesser attention but may be crucial at the point in time of uncertainty in teachers’ professional lives and work and when the changes in the society and teaching profession have brought forth the need to “(re)think ways of (re)educating teachers for scenarios that are unpredictable and unknown” (Flores, 2020, p. 453). Gaining a deeper understanding of pre-service and in-service teachers’ conceptions of teachers’ (changing) work can contribute to the discussion about professional development of future teachers and other important constructs regarding teachers’ work, such as teacher identity, resilience, attrition and retention. Better understanding pre-service teachers’ conceptions of teachers’ work is also important for elucidating what pre-service teachers learn during teacher education, how prepared they feel when entering the profession, how they respond to change and how these responses impact teacher attrition.

This study aims to examine Finnish pre-service and in-service teachers’ perspectives of teachers’ work today to shed light on diversity in teachers’ work. Moreover, this study aims to better prepare pre-service and in-service teachers to tolerate change, anticipate and respond to it and, more importantly, act as agents of change. In addition to social skills, this level of flexibility and adaptability is emphasized as an important professional skill of the twenty-first century. The research question guiding this work is: How do pre-service and in-service teachers conceive the new realities of teachers’ work?

Quality education is crucial to improving the lives of citizens and fostering sustainable development (Annan-Diab & Molinari, 2017; Leal-Filho et al., 2019). Experts agree that one of the cornerstones of this education is the teacher.

Currently, teacher education in Spain faces several challenges. One of them is to promote professional training to the characteristics and needs of 21st-century society. In this sense, experts agree that to solve global problems such as poverty, inequalities and environmental degradation; teachers must have specific skills, such as systems thinking, anticipatory, normative, strategic, collaborative, critical thinking, self-awareness and problem-solving skills (Bautista-Cerro & Díaz, 2017; Filho & Dahms, 2018; Merma-Molina et al., 2022; UNESCO, 2017). Therefore, from a holistic approach, Brandt and co-workers (2019) assess the development of competencies of student teachers for Sustainable Development. They show the importance of pedagogical knowledge, motivation and changes in beliefs and attitudes and call for learning models that facilitate authentic, real-world encounters and problem-oriented tasks. Furthermore, Timmand and Barth (2021) and Solís-Espallargas et al. (2019) have referred that teachers, to contribute to sustainability, must promote change both at the micro level, i.e. in the classroom and school, and at the macro level, i.e. in society.

Based on the above, it is possible to state that incorporating Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) into initial teacher education requires a new pedagogical approach and the redesign of curricula. In this regard, experts have a broad consensus that education for sustainability requires active, participatory and experiential learning methods that engage the learner and promote understanding, complex thinking and the ability to act (UNESCO, 2017). Such methods include role-plays and simulations, group discussions and dialogues, stimulus activities, debates, critical incidents, case studies, reflective storytelling, personal development planning, critical reading and writing, problem-based learning and fieldwork. To this list can be added vision, research, proactivity, values and action research. For their part, it is crucial that teacher curricula: (1) systematically and regularly include the eight critical competencies for sustainability, (2) strengthen the link between university and school to develop immersion experiences for future teachers to put these competencies into practice, and (3) use innovative and context-specific pedagogical approaches (Chinedu et al., 2018).

Within this framework of considerations, the objectives of the study were:

1. To identify the sustainability-related competencies of students studying undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Education in Spain.
2. To identify their basic knowledge of sustainable development.
3. To inquire about the type of sustainability training they have received.
4. To find out their opinions on the usefulness of the SDGs in their personal and professional lives.

In order to guide the study, the following questions were asked: What SDG-related competencies do students have, what is their knowledge of basic sustainable development terminology, what are their educational experiences on sustainability, and how do they perceive the usefulness of the SDGs in their personal and professional lives?

Across and beyond Europe there remains significant pressure to improve the quality of teacher education. Set within a global meta-narrative driven in part by the OECD (2005), the message is that ‘Teachers matter’. This meta-narrative, played out in an increasingly neo-liberal context, has led governments across the globe to focus more keenly on ways of measuring and accounting for the quality of initial teacher education (ITE). In many national contexts, this drive to measure and account for quality, underpinned by what Lewis et al., (2020, p. 737) call ‘alarmist rhetoric’, has often engendered the imposition of simplistic ‘standards-based’ approaches, increasing surveillance of teacher education (in the US, England and Australia in particular (Murray et al., 2019) and a move towards highly regulated and specified content (e.g. the ITT Core Content Framework in England (DfE, 2019)).

It is against this global policy context that the Measuring Quality in Initial Teacher Education (MQuITE) project emerged in Scotland. At the time of its inception (2017) a ‘crisis narrative’ was beginning to take hold, stemming from a parliamentary review of ITE which concluded that standards of student teachers’ literacy and numeracy needed to be higher. Additionally, it posited that ITE programmes needed to do a better and a more consistent job of supporting student teachers to work with pupils with additional support needs (ASN) (Scottish Parliament, 2017). At the same time, the Scottish Government was holding education to account via its ‘National Improvement Framework’, and there emerged a need for greater evidence of quality in ITE across the Scottish system. The MQuITE project was established to support this evidential drive. Running for six years from January 2017 to December 2022, funded by Scottish Government, and supported by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), MQuITE included investigators from all 11 Scottish ITE providers. This collaborative venture provided a unique opportunity for teacher educators to ‘speak back to narratives of crisis’ (Churchward & Willis, 2019, p. 260).

The project had two key questions:

1. How can quality in ITE be measured in a Scottish, context appropriate way?
2. What does this measuring tell us about aspects of quality across different ITE routes in Scotland?

Following an extensive literature review (Rauschenberger, Adams & Kennedy, 2017), the project team developed a contextually appropriate framework (Kennedy et al., 2021) which acknowledged the need to interpret Scottish political, cultural, social and educational contexts within global meta-narratives. This meant eschewing performative, top-down, imposed, and narrow measurements of individual teachers and programmes, instead proposing a nuanced framework containing a number of different ways to identify quality.

Importantly, the project sought to identify system-level quality, rather than measure individual programmes or providers which might potentially create divisive league tables of provision. We approached the project through a ‘vernacular globalisation’ lens, sensitive and sympathetic to local policy and culture (see Kennedy et al. 2021). The project was thus oriented as a research and development opportunity, rather than purely as a means to gather empirical data in a de-contextualised way.

This paper looks at the outcome of that system-level health-check, in terms of both substantive and procedural learning. We learned lessons not only about the health of ITE in Scotland, but also about how engaging in a project such as MQuITE could enable productive dialogues between and across the range of stakeholders involved in teacher education. Broadly speaking, therefore, this paper answers the question ‘what key learning has emerged from the MQuITE project’, with a view to identifying system-level learning that we anticipate will be of use to other countries seeking to explore the quality of their own ITE systems.

Nowadays, in the field of Teacher Education, many countries are facing teacher shortages and the problem of recruiting the required number of qualified teachers (European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2018). Teacher recruitment together with the ageing teacher population are reported by international literature as serious problems for many educational systems around the world (McInerney, Ganotice, King, Marsh, & Morin, 2015). To deal with this common scenario, countries are looking at developing alternative certification programs (ACPs) to access the teaching profession (Ruitenburg, & Tigchelaar, 2021). Those who seek an alternative fast-track program are often so-called Second-Career Teachers (SCTs): non-teaching professionals joining the classrooms after spending time in different career backgrounds (Castro & Bauml, 2009) and after working within a prior profession unrelated to education (Hunter-Johnson, 2015). Despite some research regarding SCTs, most international literature addresses first-career teachers; there is limited recent research on second-career teachers’ induction processes, professional development, perspectives related to their career transition, and the identification of factors for choosing teaching as a second career (Nielsen, 2016). Although the literature on First-Career Teachers, i.e. those who enter teaching as their first career, is particularly developed also in the pedagogical field (Balduzzi, Del Gobbo, & Perla, 2018), life, working conditions and motivations for choosing the profession are studied above all in the sociology of education and the economics of education without, however, specific references to teaching as a second career (Argentin, 2018; Cavalli & Argentin, 2010). Furthermore, these studies, where present, are limited to the countries that offer alternative pathways for SCTs (Skilbeck & Connell, 2004).

Therefore, the extent of the phenomenon is not clearly defined, neither in its quantitative scale (% of SCTs among the teaching population) nor in its qualitative one, particularly with reference to SCTs’ previous experiences, factors of choice of teaching and challenges related to the transition.

With the aim of exploring the phenomenon, the SecWell Project - Second Career Teachers Well-being: toward non-traditional professional development strategies was funded by the Seed Funding Call 3 launched by the EUniWell - European University of Well-being Universities Alliance, proposed by the University of Florence, Birmingham, and Cologne. SecWell intends to define the state of the art on the topic of lateral entry to the teaching profession focusing on frameworks and strategies of alternative pathways or fast-track programs but also pathways that could be defined as “non-traditional” (e.g. adult students that start or complete an Initial Teacher Education program later in their life and career after previous academic background and/or careers) with a specific focus on the partner countries (England, Germany, and Italy). Furthermore, SecWell intends to identify training and support needs of future SCTs. The purpose is to guide the design of programs that can be offered by Higher Education institutions in the field of teaching and education focused on non-traditional learners studying teaching as a second career.

Specifically, the research questions were formulated as follows: To what extent did the phenomenon of SCT spread within the SecWell countries? What are the choice factors in selecting teaching as a second career?What strategies could support future SCT and in-service SCTs’ well-being (during the ITE phase as well as the induction phase)?

Career choices are shaped by individual factors such as education and family background, as well as external factors such as labour market and the state of the economy. In other words, career choice can be described as a complex game between the individual and the social system (Agarwala, 2008). According to Özbilgin et al. (2005), micro-agentic, meso-institutional, and macro-structural conditions are prominent influences on young individuals’ career choices. At the micro level individual agency, dispositions, and different forms of capital such as economic, social, cultural, and symbolic capital are the key influences of one’s career decision. Forms of capital are the main factors that define the positions and possibilities of the various actors in any field. Economic capital consists of economic possessions that increase the actor’s capacities in the society (Siisiäinen, 2000). Economic capital is directly convertible into money and is related to the property rights of one (Bourdieu, 1986). Social capital is a quality produced by the connections between actors. Voluntary associations, trade unions, and political parties are examples of social capital (Siisiäinen, 2000). In certain conditions, social capital may be converted into economic capital and be institutionalized as a title of nobility (Bourdieu, 1986). Cultural capital is the stock of cultural value embodied in an asset in a tangible (e.g. artworks) or an intangible form (e.g. the set of ideas, practices, beliefs, traditions, and values) which may contribute to the production of future goods and/or services (Throsby, 1999). Objective differences between groups or classes need to be transformed into symbolic differences and classifications that make possible symbolic recognition and distinction. Therefore, symbolic capital is a key factor that enables economic, cultural, and social capital to legitimize. In order words, economic and cultural capital have their modes of existence such as money, exams, and diplomas; whereas symbolic capital exists only in the eyes of other people (Siisiäinen, 2000). The meso level is understood best through the explanation of Bourdieu’s (1990) habitus notion. The notion of habitus is more basically seen as the dispositions that internalize one’s social location and orient one’s actions. For example, some high-end brands have been stuck in the minds of people as bourgeois items with the image of the aristocracy (Noble & Watkins, 2003). At the macro level, structural constraints such as sex, age, and ethnicity inhibit or enhance career choice (Özbilgin, Küskü, & Erdoğmuş, 2005). Briefly, forms of capital and structural constraints are expected to affect the career choices of young individuals. In this regard, teachers play a central role in supporting young people in their efforts to direct their career choices and in influencing their identity (Gushue & Whitson, 2006). When it comes to prospective teachers’ career choices and professional identity, the teacher training process becomes important. The teacher training process provides prospective teachers to reflect on the teaching profession itself, and themselves as teachers in the context of teacher identity (Walkington, 2005).

This research aims to reveal the views of the undergraduates of a faculty of educational sciences regarding career decisions. The inclusion of micro, meso, and macro levels of analysis allows us to read the individual career choice as a negotiated process, which is socially and historically situated. This layered approach to the phenomenon enables us to see the social reality within its complexity. Research on the career choice of candidate teachers from different backgrounds may contribute to their professional integration into the teaching profession and the development of better career counselling. Considering that European countries are faced with immigration, education shareholders are required to manage multicultural education settings and support whole students to navigate their career choices.

Inclusion is vital for societies that strive for social justice and is an essential part of the European Commission’s strategic plan for 2021 – 2030 (European Commission, 2021). In 2009, The Education and Training 2020 agenda stated that:

‘Education and training systems should aim to ensure that all learners — including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, those with special needs and migrants — complete their education… Education should promote intercultural competences, democratic values and respect for fundamental rights and the environment, as well as combat all forms of discrimination, equipping all young people to interact positively with their peers from diverse backgrounds.’ (Council of the European Union, C119/4).

To realize these aims, teachers require knowledge and skills on how to deliver high quality education to all students, in addition to having positive attitudes towards diversity and inclusion. Teacher education has a key role in educating teachers about different students’ needs and inclusive practices. However, teachers and teacher educators feel unprepared and in need of more information in this area (Florian & Camedda, 2020; Guðjónsdóttir & Óskarsdóttir, 2020).

The purpose of this symposium is to contribute to the limited knowledge base of research-supported educational practices that promote inclusion and social justice. It was initiated by members of the International Forum for Teacher Educator Development (InFo-TED), an international group that aims to contribute to teacher educators’ professionalization by sharing ideas, practices and research (Kelchtermans et al., 2018). The symposium will present three teacher education programmes that deal with inclusion and social justice from different perspectives. The first programme helps student teachers and teacher educators to bridge ethnic tensions, respect and collaborate with each other as they deal with shared social justice issues such as gender and poverty. The second programme helps teacher educators re-examine their own beliefs and practices and consider how best to address challenges associated with social justice with student teachers. The third programme supports the transition to work of beginning teachers with significant physical or sensory impairments. Together, the three presentations deal with multiple aspects of diversity. Although the three national contexts are very different from each other: Ireland, Belgium (Flanders) and Israel, they all must address tensions emerging from ethnic diversity, social inequalities and physical disabilities. In the discussion, we will compare the theoretical perspectives and practices each programme employed and specify shared, as well as unique, principles that may help other teacher educators to promote inclusion and social justice through teacher education programmes.

Baseline data on PSTs’ understandings of social justice and Development Education (DE) issues and consideration of the implications for initial teacher education programmes North and South, was presented by Bryan et al. (2011). While the study garnered data from North and South, no specific attention was paid to the teaching of social justice and the meaningful and innovative ways in which such teaching practices can encourage PSTs’ learning with and from peers in the respective jurisdictions. The aim of the project is to develop and share a teaching approach to social justice across two initial teacher education (ITE) programmes from North and South Ireland. The aim is to encourage (seven) teacher educators and (32) pre-service teachers (PSTs) to learn with and from each other, within and across their respective jurisdictions. Teacher educators and PSTs will appreciate the extent to which specific social justice issues are unique (or not) to their jurisdiction and also the school placement contexts. The research questions are; (1) In what way does ITE programmes from the North and South sharing discussions around social justice enhance PSTs’ and teacher educators’ perspectives and experiences with respect to the reality of addressing social justice in schools? and (2) What considerations need to be addressed in formalising a shared North and South ITE space to discuss and enact social justice in schools? Informed by Freire’s (1973) concept of dialogue, and underpinned by agonistic respect (Monforte & Smith, 2021), our social justice journey will involve a community of learners where PSTs and teacher educators will reflect and develop their pedagogical approach and curriculum delivery for matters relating to social justice through practitioner research. The project will extend a three-tiered teaching model that is well established in one university with respect to encouraging PSTs as practitioner researchers (Tannehill et al., 2020). This project will provide empirical data on teacher educators’ and PSTs’ experiences of sharing a social justice space across North and South and subsequent teaching practices. This will lead to capturing the teaching practice realities of striving to teach for social justice while theoretically developing a pedagogy for social justice. The social justice space captures the distribution of opportunities and privileges within a society. This provides a clear warrant for ITE to work toward the development of PSTs who are socially just in their beliefs and practices and better equipped to work in diverse and inclusive school learning environments.

Bryan, A., Clarke, M., Drudy, S., Gallagher, T., Hagan, M., & McEvoy, B. L. (2011). Social justice education in initial teacher education: A cross border perspective. School Leadership Policy and Practice North and South, p.133. Freire, P. 1973. Education for critical consciousness. New York, NY: Continuum Monforte, J. and Smith, B., 2021. Conventional and post qualitative research: An invitation to dialogue. Qualitative inquiry, 27(6), 650-660. Tannehill, D., Scanlon, D., & MacPhail, A. (2020). Applying Research to Practice in Physical Education. Physical Education Matters, 15(3), 80-84.

Teacher educators have an important responsibility in being responsive to diversity, as they foster how issues of diversity, inclusion and equity are addressed in education by preparing the next generation of teachers (O’Hara & Pritchard, 2008). However, prior research on teacher educators’ ways of dealing with diversity has pointed out that they feel insecure and experience various barriers to be responsive to diversity (Ponet et al., under review). Well-designed professional development initiatives (PDI) are therefore needed to respond to these constraints. Unfortunately, in many national and higher education institutional policies only limited attention is given to PDI’s for teacher educators (Vanderlinde et al., 2021). In this study, it was our goal to investigate and describe the design for an impactful teacher educator PDI on responsivity to diversity. After a first consultation of the literature on effective PDI’s in education and the professional development of teacher educators (e.g., Merchie et al., 2016; Tack et al., 2021), a co-creative tailored-based approach for the design of the PDI seemed most promising. A case study design gave insight 1) into the context of two teacher education colleges in Flanders that participate in a PDI to foster teacher educators’ dealing with diversity, and 2) into the individual professional development needs of participating teacher educators. In particular, building on qualitative methodologies, semi-structured interviews were conducted (Mortelmans, 2011). On the one hand with all teacher educator participants (n=20), on the other hand with one key actor per institution that is involved in policy regarding professional development and regarding diversity, inclusion and equity. Additionally, the communication between the research team and the facilitators of the PDI were scrutinized. The data was explored via inductive coding techniques. Consequently 8 design principles for the PDI emerged from the data. For instance, the PDI should challenge their frames of references as a precondition to foster other practices; and include choices to focus on and cater the specific individual needs of the participants. Taking these design principles and the specificity of each teacher college in account, a new PDI was designed with tailored alterations to the specific contexts. This study adds to the field in a theoretical and practical way. Theoretically, the design principles expand the limited literature on teacher educators’ PDI for responsivity to diversity. Practically, policy makers as well as teacher educators themselves can find inspiration to design own PDI’s to foster dealing with diversity and make tailored alterations.

Merchie, E., Tuytens, M., Devos, G., & Vanderlinde, R. (2016). Evaluating teachers’ professional development initiatives: Towards an extended evaluative framework. Research Papers in Education, 33(2), 1–26. Mortelmans, D. (2011). Handboek kwalitatieve onderzoeksmethoden. Acco. O'Hara, S., & Pritchard, R. (2008). Meeting the Challenge of Diversity: Professional Development for Teacher Educators. Teacher Education Quarterly, 35(1), 43-61. Ponet, B., Tack, H., Vantieghem, W., & Vanderlinde, R. (under review). Uncovering the role of teacher educators in the reduction of inequalities in education: a critical discourse analysis. Tack, H., Vanderlinde, R., Bain, Y., Kidd, W., O’Sullivan, M., & Walraven A. (2021). Learning and design principles for teacher educators’ professional development. In R. Vanderlinde, K. Smith, J. Murray & M. Lunenberg (Eds.), Teacher Educators and their Professional Development: Learning from the past, looking for the future (pp. 51-64). Routledge. Vanderlinde, R., Smith, K., Murray, J., & Lunenberg, M. (Eds.). (2021). Teacher Educators and their Professional Development: Learning from the past, looking for the future. Routledge.

Employing teachers with physical and sensory impairments (PSI) has significant advantages. Their presence in schools contributes to diversifying the teaching force, and provides opportunities for social and personal interactions that are often limited and evoke discomfort. Effective teachers with PSI can reduce negative stereotypes relating to disabilities. Furthermore, they can be positive role models for students with disabilities (Neca et al., 2022; Parker & Draves, 2018). The transition from initial teacher education into teaching requires particular attention and support, as this is the most vulnerable stage in the career of most teachers. In Israel, during the first two years of teaching, beginning teachers (BTs) have regular meetings with school-based mentors, and participate in an obligatory workshop facilitated by a higher education based teacher educator. This case study examines a unique online workshop that was devised to support BTs with PSI. It explores how the workshop’s facilitators supported BTs with PSI’s professional development as teachers and their integration into the education system. The participants are the four facilitators of the workshop. The data are transcripts of audio recordings of the workshop’s 18 meetings. We received the participants’ (and the institutional IRB’s) permission to analyze the recordings, while disguising participants’ identities. We performed a thematic analysis of the facilitators' audio segments in the recordings (Braun & Clarke, 2021). The analysis resulted in themes that describe the facilitators’ behaviors as ‘actionable principles’ (Schechter, 2019): 1. Workshop facilitators were devoted to BTs by being available to them at all times (Miller & Kass, 2018). 2. They set high expectations and performance standards (Miller & Kass, 2018; Hewett et al., 2020). 3. They supported BTs’ wellbeing and psychological needs by strengthening BTs’ sense of autonomy, relatedness, self-efficacy and accomplishment (Hewett et al., 2020; Ryan & Deci, 2020). Specifically, facilitators encouraged BTs to share solutions they devised themselves to overcome challenges, and added further ideas. 4. They designed the academic workshop as an online Community of Practice (Kaplan et al., 2022). The first two principles are known as supporting individuals with disabilities, whereas the latter two support BTs. Together, these principles can be implemented in other contexts, and thus contribute to successful inclusion of teachers with SPI in schools.

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2021). One size fits all? What counts as quality practice in (reflexive) thematic analysis? Qualitative research in psychology, 18(3), 328-352. Hewett, R., Douglas, G., McLinden, M., & Keil, S. (2020). Balancing inclusive design, adjustments and personal agency: progressive mutual accommodations and the experiences of university students with vision impairment in the United Kingdom. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 24(7), 754-770. Kaplan, H., Alatawna-Alhuashla, H., Bar-Nadav, B., & Al-Said, K. (2022). Developing Excellence Leadership and Autonomous Motivation among Beginning Teachers in the Arab-Bedouin Community in Israel: A Self Determination Theory-Based Intervention Program. Open Journal of Leadership, 11(3), 246-278. Miller, E., & Kass, E. (2018). Professional success stories of people with disabilities. (Research report No. mof.‪study_13131). Tel Aviv: MOFET (In Hebrew).‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Neca, P., Borges, M. L., & Pinto, P. C. (2022). Teachers with disabilities: A literature review. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 26(12), 1192-1210. Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2020). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation from a self-determination theory perspective: Definitions, theory, practices, and future directions. Contemporary educational psychology, 61, 101860. Schechter, C. (2019). The collective wisdom of practice: Leading our professional learning from success. Thousand Oaks, Cal.: Corwin Press.

As Europe seeks to become a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy, a society attaining high levels of relevant skills is required, including the demand for science-related attributes. To enable this, there is a need for a future generation of researchers and practitioners who can identify and seek to resolve major challenges (eg issues related to energy, water, climate change, food, health and transport) and prepare for future change. The Educational sector, particularly in the science education field, has a prominent role to play in promoting attributes for those facing such challenges. In fact, there is a perceived need for science education to contribute to developing competences such as the capacity to analyse global and intercultural issues critically and, from multiple perspectives, to evaluate how differences affect perceptions, judgements and ideas of self and others.

The current proposal seeks to build on the global trend towards changing the focus of learning from knowledge acquisition to competences, and more specifically, towards the so-called transversal competences a learning expectation for the next generation to acquire in school (Reimers & Chung, 2016). Models of transversal competence emphasise the importance of critical and creative thinking, problem-solving and collaboration skills, as well as an understanding of core ideas, or concepts (Holbrook et al.,2020)

Despite a focus towards encompassing such broader competences, their implementation within school curricula is not straightforward, even though aspects of transversal competences have been integral to curricula in various countries (Reimers & Chung, 2016). While science education, in particular, has seen a transformation from the teaching of subject knowledge to the broader advancement of competences, lacking is an overarching (international) guiding framework to enable educationists to support the teaching of transversal competence goals.

The goal of the current symposium is to introduce a new vision for a STEM teacher career pathway, which is novel, attractive and recognising the need to attract non-science oriented persons who later become motivated to take up a STEM teacher career. The vision further recognises the inclusion of attributes, highly acknowledged among the younger generation, such as those related to business, policymakers, leaders, managers, international ambassadors, as valued acquisition for science teachers. This is seen as important noting the lack of teachers in all STEM- related subjects across Europe. This symposium based on the Erasmus+ project - HighFliers. involves four European countries: Estonia, Finland, Portugal and Croatia.

The theoretical framework is based on - skills highlighted in Education 2030 model (OECD, 2018), a three stage motivational STEM teaching model (Holbrook & Rannikmäe, 2014), Vygotsky's zone of proximal development, plus self determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000) and social constructivism (Bandura, 1997)

The following research questions are addressed and answered during the symposium:

- How do participants evaluate a cross-national (international) modular course, developed to promote transversal skills for future STEM teachers?

- How important are self mangement skills perceived to be and how can they be imporved?

- How do future Finnish teachers appreciate the need for interactive and communication competence?

- How do Estonian course participants evaluate educationally relevant skills, promoted during a course based on international modules?

During the symposium, case studies from participating countries are introduced and an overall self-evaluated status among transversal skills within becoming educationalists from the 4 countries are discussed. Validity issues of evaluation instruments, determining the effectiveness of the modular course, are discussed

The main objective is to develop and evaluate a modular course which supports high-quality, research-based STEM teacher education for all stages, equipping teachers with the transversal skills needed to better prepare themselves in enabling their students for entry into the future labor market. An optional modular course for future STEM educationalists was developed, comprised of four modules, with each module targeting a specific group of competences and presented in a motivational real life situation (Gilbert et al, 2017) so as to promote science-related career awareness (Kang et al, 2021) The modules sought to: - increase the need for communication skills, stimulate thinking and research skills through impacting on an awareness of and self evaluation via the creation of a 3- minute video geared to general, interactive communication skills needed for the teacher, but applicable in other leadership careers; - raise interest in STEM subjects and the importance of science in society, through realising thinking and research skills, plus valuing the nature of science through the creation of a public lecture on an attractive, yet controversal STEM topic raising an awareness of conceptualisations needed for being a STEM teacher and also the importance of these skills for decision- and policy-makers; - promote social skills eg self-responsibility, responsible action and skills associated with applying to STEM related positions as well as impacting on an assignment on proposing a resolution with respect to a socio–scientific issue, based on Toulmin`s model - this all enabling readiness to initiate public debates and within this, take a leadership role; - promote creative and innnovation skills, time management, application of knowledge in new situations, all seen as impacting on developing new, innovative educational materials for non-formal settings. A likert scale questionnaire to assess transversal skills (Holbrook et al, 2020) has been developed, piloted in four countries among 110 participants (students and in-service teachers). Exploratory factor analyses was carried out, identifying four factors, a different factor highlighted in each the 4 modules. Evaluation of the course, based on a validated tool, was carried out by 12 international experts. Outcomes confirmed criterion based validity of the modules and international suitability of the contexts. Complementary to the above modular structure, coaching was offered for promoting self-awareness and self-analysis, as well as impacting on facilitating self-attributes in a non-threatening environment.

Gilbert, J. K., Bulte, A. M. W., & Pilot, A. (2011). Concept development and transfer in context- based science education. International Journal of Science Education, 33(6), 817–837 Kang, J., Salonen, A., Tolppanen, S., Scheersoi, A., Hense, J., Rannikmäe, M., Soobard R& Keinonen, T. (2021). Effect of embedded careers education in science lessons on students’ interest, awareness, and aspirations. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 1-21.‏ OECD. (2018). The Future of Education and skills: Education 2030.

In order to effectively respond to changes in the vision and goals of education and educational systems, schools as organizations, as well as teachers as individuals within these organizations, should be continuously engaged in the process of self-management (Cheung & Cheng, 1997). Self-management generally refers to the management of one’s own behavior, thoughts and emotions. Professional self-management encompasses a set of skills which enable individuals to set goals, to plan, monitor and evaluate their own actions (Jain & Sinha, 2006). Professional self-management skills are among the skills encompassed in the Erasmus+ HighFliers project, based on the EC Education 2030 model (OECD, 2018). Within the Highfliers project, the development of several important professional self-management skills is targeted, such as self-analysis and self-awareness, creativity and innovation, decision and choice making, planning, and time management. The process of designing a Highfliers project module targeting the development of STEM teachers’ professional self-management skills is described. The development of the module is based on the review of empirical evidence regarding the importance and effects of these skills on teachers’ job performance outcomes and satisfaction, as well as the effectiveness of different interventions aimed at their improvement. The designed module has been piloted with a group of 28 STEM teachers from Croatian primary schools. During module piloting, teachers rated their professional self-management skills before and after interacting with the module. According to their responses, STEM teachers consider these skills very important, and they think they mostly possess them. The results further indicate that participation in the module contribute to the improvement in these skills among teachers. Based on the results, effective practices for the development of self-management skills in STEM teachers are identified and implications for interventions aiming at improving the attractiveness and quality of STEM teaching and careers are discussed.

Cheung W-M., & Cheng, Y. C. (1997). Self-Management: Implications for Teacher Training. Training for Quality, 5(4), 160-168. Jain, A. K., & Sinha, A. K. (2006). Self-Management and Job Performance: In-Role Behavior and Organizational Citizenship Behavior. Psychological Studies, 51(1), 19–29. OECD (2018). The Future of Education and Skills: Education 2030. OECD.

While the ways we communicate are changing because of rapid advancements in technology and societal challenges, teaching still relies on interaction between teachers and students. Thus teachers need to reflect on their interaction and communication competence from different perspectives e.g. what skills are involved and how to use them in their work community and teaching, as well as what skills are relevant for students in their future working life and how to include these in education (cf. Barak, 2017). Whether it is verbal, or through the use of educational technology, communication and interaction between teachers and students shape teaching-learning processes (Smart & Marshall, 2013). To better understand how future teachers understood the interaction and communication competence, this study aimed to examine trainee science teachers’ perceptions of interaction and communication skills in work life and in STEM education. In this study, 28 Finnish science teacher trainees participated in a designed study module emphasising communication and interaction in science. At the beginning, the students wrote an essay on what they think interaction skills were, and why they were important in working life. After completing the module, the participants answered a questionnaire, having open-ended questions, about interaction and communication skills in STEM education. The data was analysed using content analysis using an inductive approach. Results show that teacher students have traditional, but also modern and novel, perceptions of interaction and communication skills in working life and STEM education. According to the students, the meaning of the interaction skills, from the point of general working life, is related to well-being and a functioning working community, with successful collaboration and preventing conflict, but also centred on accomplishing work tasks. Furthermore, the students perceive that the meaning of interaction as a teacher is in collaboration with colleagues and parents, creating a supportive learning atmosphere, and, of course, the actual teaching. In STEM education, the students perceive interaction and communication skills acting as a part of science teachers’ professional development by providing them with tools for implementing teaching. In addition, according to the students, these skills make multidisciplinary STEM education possible. The students highlight the need for interaction and communication skills in STEM education within inquiry-focused science teaching and learning. We conclude that interaction and communication skills are important and a versatile part of teacher competence in STEM and deserve more attention in teacher education from theoretical viewpoints to practical training.

Barak, M. 2017. Science Teacher Education in the Twenty-First Century: a Pedagogical Framework for Technology-Integrated Social Constructivism. Research in Science Education, 47, 283–303. DOI: 10.1007/s11165-015-9501-y Smart, J. & Marshall, J. 2013. Interactions Between Classroom Discourse, Teacher Questioning, and Student Cognitive Engagement in Middle School Science. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 24(2), 249-267. DOI: 10.1007/s10972-012-9297-9

This study undertaken on the professional development HighFliers course is to understand the role of STEM teacher in a modern school and to promote educationally relevant skills needed for STEM teachers. Designing a practical course for this purpose is challenging, particularly in the emerging field in which there are insufficient STEM teachers in Estonia and worldwide. For this reason, this course targets undergraduate students in the fields of science, mathematics and technology - these fields being seen as the source for future STEM teachers. In this study, the course follows four developed modules from the project „Highly Interactive Guidance Helpful For Leadership In Educationally Relevant Skills“, i.e. (1) relevant communication skills for STEM teachers, (2) understanding nature of science, (3) modern science teaching methodology and (4) self-management plus leadership skills for STEM teachers. The whole learning process is supported by the Moodle environment and includes practical activities that enable collaboration and support creativity in order to understand the essence and specifics of teaching and to support the learner's own development. 18 undergraduates was registered, with the biology, geography and mathematics background. During the course, each module was handled in a separate session (90 minutes) and consisted of, at least, two practical activities (e.g. developing communication and presentation skills through writing exercises; widening understanding about nature of science and recognising its relevance as a component of science subjects in schools; using modern methodological approaches relevant in the school setting to deal with climate change mitigation issues; developing self-management and leadership skills through raised self-awareness and coaching type of practices). At the end of the course, students were asked to make a 3-minute video (group work) explain one controversial issue from society which has a scientific content. Within the video, students were also asked to demonstrate the skills obtained from the course. After the course, 6 students were interviewed, based on voluntary participation, each Interview lasting approximately 30 minutes. The interviews were analysed using inductive (data driven) thematic content analysis, seen as recognizing meaningful units, coding, generating, reviewing and naming categories (Vaismoradi & Snelgrove, 2019). Based on the outcomes from the first piloting of the course, it can be said that students appreciated the course, as they gained an insight into what is expected from STEM teachers in school and how they use self-management and leadership skills as teachers. Additional results from the qualitative study are to be presented and discussed during the symposium presentation.

Vaismoradi, M., & Snelgrove, S. (2019). Theme in qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 20(3). https://dx.doi.org/10.17169/fqs-20.3.3376.

Teachers shape the future, particularly in a post-COVID world. In supporting the transformational work of teachers, understanding who they are, and which personal characteristics are likely to predict teacher effectiveness is essential. This symposium seeks to explore the relationship between prospective teachers' desire to become a teacher and their subsequent classroom readiness. We argue that a number of major characteristics or dispositions sit alongside cognitive abilities that are essential to be considered when selecting and graduating new teachers.

Amidst the varied discourses about education's future, the teacher's role continues to garner great interest and scrutiny. This is because there is strong evidence to suggest that teaching quality is a key predictor of success in the classroom (Hattie, 2009). Darling-Hammond (2000) noted that the effects of quality teaching on student outcomes are greater than those that arise from students’ backgrounds. This impact may be positive or negative, with the effect of poor-quality teaching being seen as debilitating and cumulative on student outcomes (Darling-Hammond, 2000). Darling-Hammond, et al. (2012), go on to suggest that there is an important distinction between teaching quality as defined by practice and instruction and teacher quality defined by personal attributes, competency, skill, and dispositions. As policymakers continue to grapple with a global teacher shortage, the interplay between selection processes into initial teacher education programs and the effectiveness of these programs in preparing teachers for an uncertain future must be better understood.

Access to schooling has grown and the demand for teachers has expanded. However, the number of qualified schoolteachers worldwide has not kept pace, creating a gap that policymakers are struggling to fill (UNESCO, 2021). With the advent of COVID-19, these gaps have become even more stark.

The four papers presented in this symposium interrogate the future of teacher education more broadly by adopting a variety of methods and arguments and at the same time, raising the challenges that initial teacher education is facing in the post-COVID world.

This symposium culminates in a discussion about implications for policy and practice. It is argued that reflection on attitudes, behaviours, and cognitive characteristics in different contexts is essential to understanding an educator's impact. We also argue that both teacher educators and pre-service teachers must understand the importance of individual dispositions to ensure a career as an effective educator.

Perspectives from Australia, USA, and Ecuador are presented to explore diverse contexts and the changing needs of our education communities, followed by a challenge from a discussant from Europe and the USA. These different perspectives are used to understand the impact of teacher dispositions and teacher wellbeing on the ideal of sustaining teachers and increasing the status and effectiveness of teaching generally.

Teacher shortages, wellbeing concerns, and an emphasis on creating inclusive and culturally responsive learning environments have recently come to the fore. Accordingly, the role of the teacher is more complex and the stakes of ensuring that teachers are equipped to handle their roles are higher. A teacher’s professional journey starts when they commence initial teacher education (ITE). Thus, ITE has a key role in ensuring that teachers can practice effectively in dynamic, complex, and diverse communities (Clinton et al., 2018). That role begins with teacher selection. The Teacher Capability Assessment Tool (TCAT), (Clinton & Dawson, 2018; Bowles et.al. 2015) is a comprehensive standardised online tool that informs teacher selection. The tool assesses a range of factors including; motivations for teaching, cognitive reasoning skills, non-cognitive domains and characteristics such as disposition, self-regulation and resilience. TCAT also includes self-report items related to a candidate’s communication style and self-awareness. The tool also asks candidates about their ability to act fairly, their cultural sensitivity, and their acceptance of difference. Our data suggest that there are key characteristics that predict intended behaviour and performance during a pre-service teachers’ journey. This paper will present evidence in relation to these dispositional factors and include a discussion of the measures of cultural sensitivity, ethics and social desirability. Building on the notion that teaching is a complex and challenging profession that requires a mix of knowledge, skills, and competencies, dispositions and personal characteristics must be an important focus given they are predictive of teacher behaviour, student outcomes and intention to stay in the profession. Research findings will be shared that illustrate the differences between what teacher candidates believe what makes an effective teacher in Australia, the USA and Ecuador. Data from a random sample of 100 candidates from each country were selected to illustrate variance across the three countries. The differences across the countries provide a diverse perspective while demonstrating latent dimensions across the key characteristics. For instance, Australian respondents were less likely than respondents from Utah to believe kindness and empathy were important aspects of being an effective teacher. Further, a common pattern across the countries was found around high-level dimensions relating to relationships, knowledge, skills, and evaluative thinking. This paper provides the foundation for examining teachers’ views about effective teaching, the importance of ongoing self-development, and implications for teachers’ professional journeys. The paper is relevant to educators, teacher educators, and policymakers in education and initial teacher education.

Bowles, T., Hattie, J., Dinham, S., Scull, J., & Clinton, J. (2014). Proposing a comprehensive model for identifying teaching candidates. The Australian Educational Researcher, 41(4), 365–380. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-014-0146-z Clinton, J., Aston, R., & Koelle, M. (2018). Investigating the key determinants of effective teaching: a systematic review. Report prepared for the Australian Government Department of Education and Training. Clinton, J., & Dawson, G. (2018). Enfranchising the profession through evaluation: a story from Australia. Teachers and Teaching, 24(3), 312–327. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2017.1421162

In this paper, we explore answers to the question ‘what makes an effective teacher?’ drawing from two diverse education contexts; Ecuador and Australia. We compare these two countries using data from the Teacher Capability Assessment Tool administered among pre-service teachers (Australia) and in-service teachers (Ecuador), augmented with a Delphi-study with teacher regulatory authorities, initial teacher educators, and education policymakers in Australia (Clinton, Aston, Qing & Keamy, 2019). As some argue that the role of teachers is expanding with the advent of the contemporary components of teaching, including but not limited to inclusive education and school health promotion in mental wellbeing, exploring the degree to which initial teacher education offerings, and definitions of what an effective teacher is (including patterns of dispositional characteristics) are in alignment within different contexts is essential. We will do this through the case example of a contemporary component of teaching, inclusive education both prior to COVID-19 and since 2020 in Ecuador (Graham, Berman & Bellert, 2015; Sawyer, Raniti & Aston, 2021; Didier, 2011). The experience in Ecuador suggests that some teacher factors are more significant than others when examining different education contexts. For example, there were interesting differences in personality scales between in-service teachers in Ecuador when compared to Australian pre-service teachers. However, there was virtually no difference in social interaction characteristics such as conflict resolution, collaboration, trust & respect, leadership, multicultural awareness and acceptance of difference and self-awareness. When these teacher dispositions are drawn against the backdrop of policy imperatives that seek to advance inclusive education, the key developmental differences in prospective and early career teacher from the two different education contexts become even more significant. The data suggests that while there are common traits that predict an effective teacher, in essence, context matters. Factors that make an effective teacher may not be universal. It is influenced by the dynamic nature of reforms targeting improving teacher and education quality. This paper highlights the importance of considering teacher dispositions in relation to the definition of what makes an effective teacher when supporting teachers to embed inclusive education practices. Using this information to navigate the variability in teacher workforce and the complex ecosystem of education actor roles, geographic and cultural characteristics provides us an opportunity to shape the idea of nurturing successful future teachers in a socially just world

Didier, J. (2011). Health education in schools The challenge of teacher training. National Institute for Prevention and Health Education. Clinton, J., Aston, R., Qing, E. & Keamy, K. (2019). Teaching Practice Evaluation Framework: Final Report. Prepared for the Australian Government Department of Education and Training. Centre for Program Evaluation, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne. ISBN 978-1-76051-901-8 Graham, L., Berman, J. & Bellert, A. (2015). Sustainable Learning: Inclusive Practices for 21st Century Classrooms. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781107280243 Sawyer, S., Raniti, M. & Aston, R. (2021). Making every school a health promoting school. Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, Aug 5(8), doi: 10.1016/S2352-4642(21)00190-5

The notion of classroom readiness and graduating new teachers from initial teacher education programs is often linked with the highly charged rhetoric of the effectiveness and utility of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programs and teacher quality (Darling-Hammond et al., 2005). In Australia, this has resulted in a series of ongoing reviews of the Initial Teacher Education sector (e.g. TEMAG, 2014; Paul, 2021; Productivity Commission, 2022), which have policy implications for national professional standards and the accreditation of programs. Australian ITE providers are required to include a final Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) as evidence of pre-service teachers (PSTs) meeting the Australian Professional Standards for Graduate Teachers (AITSL, 2015). In the first part of this paper, we locate TPAs in the current policy context and discuss the development of the Assessment for Graduate Teaching (AfGT) as a case study of TPAs. The AfGT comprises four elements, designed to provide a robust and comprehensive assessment of a PST’s ‘readiness to teach’ and is currently implemented by a consortium of fifteen Australian ITE providers. In order to be classroom-ready, PSTs are expected to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the impact of culture, cultural identity, and linguistic background on the education of students from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds, understanding of and respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures, and languages, understanding of legislative requirements and teaching strategies that support participation and learning of students with disability and knowledge of practical approaches to manage challenging behaviour in diverse school contexts. We then present data that tracks the progress of PSTs from selection through to the assessment of classroom readiness for a cohort of PSTs undertaking the AfGT. We discuss the relationship between the PSTs’ individual dispositions, expectations and beliefs and their ability to judge authentic and recognisable situations and dilemmas faced in school settings. We argue that when PSTs have a deep understanding and a repertoire of strategies that cater for the diversity of students represented in classrooms, they are better equipped to mitigate issues associated with disadvantage and access to quality education and curriculum (Villegas, 2007). Finally, we consider the implications of these findings beyond the Australian context and reflect on the work completed in Finland across two Master of Teaching programs from two universities in order to discuss the predictive relationships between teacher dispositions and successful classroom readiness for national and international education research and policy reform.

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (2011) Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, AITSL, Melbourne. Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (2015) Accreditation of initial teacher education programs in Australia, AITSL, Melbourne. Darling-Hammond, L., Holtzman, D. J., Gatlin, S. J., & Heilig, J. V. (2005) Does Teacher Preparation Matter? Evidence about Teacher Certification, Teach for America, and Teacher Effectiveness. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 13, 1–47. Paul, L. (2022) Next Steps: Report of the Quality Initial Teacher Education Review. Commonwealth Government of Australia Productivity Commission (2022), Review of the National School Reform Agreement, Interim Report, Canberra, September. Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group, author. (2014). Action now: classroom ready teachers. Commonwealth Government of Australia Villegas, A. M. (2007). Dispositions in Teacher Education: A Look at Social Justice. Journal of Teacher Education, 58(5), 370–380.

Globally there is a teacher shortage and questions are being asked about the nature of teacher quality and effectiveness across diverse communities. This points to a need for teacher education to change going forward. This paper argues that that the role of teacher dispositions is a significant factor in developing the self-perspective as a teacher and, consequently, effectiveness in teaching practice. The nature of teaching continues to be discussed, and our understanding of strategies and pedagogy in relation to teaching has made significant strides in the last decade, (Hattie, 2012). At the same time, there is growth in the role of the teacher in the school, and evidence to suggest that teaching has become more difficult and stressful. Hence a significant number of teachers are leaving the profession. This draws attention then to the need for support for teachers, who must now teach in very diverse communities and contexts and ensure that an inclusive education is being provided for all students. Our argument (bolstered by evidence presented in this symposium) is that for teachers to respond to these challenges, they must have a strong sense of self-awareness, and understand the impact of their own beliefs and attitudes to engage effectively in the tasks in front of them. In line with this argument then, teachers have a responsibility to develop this sense of self and at the same time, adopt a sense of ongoing development than is supported by a quality professional learning and resourcing. This has a flow-on effect for initial teacher education, the way the education system provides policies to support teacher education and of course, in the evaluation of teacher performance. The three papers highlight common patterns of perceptions about the nature of effective teaching in inclusive and diverse spaces as well as demonstrating the significance of teacher dispositions across three countries, from beginning preservice teachers through to experienced teachers and policymakers across the education system. Thus, the final paper draws on the evidence provided in each of the presentations and suggests a model theory of change that encompasses teacher education, the teacher and the practice of teaching in diverse spaces. It is our view that it is the combination of the individual teacher’s role, a supportive system and school communities working in harmony that can ensure a positive impact for students, the teaching workforce, and teachers and ensure that diverse and inclusive education communities are being developed and sustained.

Darling-Hammond, L. (1997). Teacher quality and student achievement: A review of state policy evidence. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 5(1). National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. (2010). Teacher Dispositions: A Conceptual Framework. Ingersoll, R. M., & Strong, M. (2011). The impact of induction and mentoring programs for beginning teachers: A critical review of the research. Review of Educational Research, 81(2), 201-233