Longitudinal Teacher Education and Workforce Study (ltews) Final Report

4.2.2 Structures, approaches and content considered by graduates and principals as being effective in preparing teachers for initial employment

This section draws on survey data concerning graduates’ perceptions about their teacher preparation program. This includes both statistical data and free text responses. Principals were also surveyed with regard to their perceptions of how well teacher education programs currently equip graduates to handle their responsibilities as early career teachers.

Distinguishing features of programs

In the Graduate Teacher Survey, respondents were asked to identify any distinguishing features of their teacher preparation programs that set them apart from other programs, from a list generated through the teacher education program mapping activity. Table 56 shows those that graduate teachers identified as distinguishing features of their teacher education programs.

Table 56. Graduate teachers’ perceptions of the distinguishing features of their teacher education programs

	n	%
Reflective practice	1,761	63.7
Quality teaching	1,460	52.8
Literacy	1,421	51.4
ICT skills	1,318	47.7
Supportive learning environments	1,295	46.8
Practicum visits from academic staff	1,282	46.4
Numeracy	1,276	46.1
Linking theory and practice	1,223	44.2
Content knowledge	1,215	43.9
Internship	992	35.9
Social justice	970	35.1
Social relationships	907	32.8
School Linkages	851	30.8
Catering for cultural and linguistically diverse learners	784	28.4
Team teaching	750	27.1
Discipline expertise	638	23.1
Community-based learning	588	21.3
Rural Education	522	18.9
Distance education	492	17.8

Note: n=2,765

The distinguishing features of teacher education programs most often referred to by the graduate respondents were reflective practice (64 per cent), quality teaching (53 per cent) and literacy (51 per cent). ICT and numeracy were also high on the list as distinguishing features. However, social relationships, catering for cultural and linguistically diverse learners, school linkages, team-teaching and discipline expertise, were identified by less than a third. The features that had the smallest number of responses were rural education and distance education (19 and 18 per cent, respectively).

When graduates' perceptions of distinguishing features were cross-tabulated with program type, the following results occurred. The distinguishing features are listed in Table 57 below in the order of their ranking according to those from a Bachelor of Education program.

Table 57. Graduate teacher perceptions of teacher education program distinguishing features – by program type

	Masters		Bachelor		Grad. Dip.
	n	%	n	%	n	%
Reflective practice	259	72.1	872	68.8	622	65.5
Quality teaching	207	57.7	773	61.0	475	50.1
Literacy	189	52.6	770	60.8	457	48.2
Numeracy	159	44.3	707	55.8	405	42.7
Supportive learning	154	42.9	690	54.5	443	46.7
ICT skills	173	48.2	689	54.4	451	47.5
Practicum visits from academic staff	175	48.7	677	53.4	424	44.7
Content knowledge	161	44.8	674	53.2	375	39.5
Linking theory and practice	173	48.2	632	49.9	411	43.3
Internship	122	34.0	629	49.6	237	25.0
Social justice	143	39.8	546	43.1	278	29.3
Social relationships	111	30.9	497	39.2	293	30.9
School linkages	126	35.1	437	34.5	284	29.9
Team teaching	98	27.3	422	33.3	226	23.8
Catering for cultural and linguistically diverse learners	118	32.9	409	32.3	254	26.8
Community learning	75	20.9	374	29.5	135	14.2
Discipline expertise	99	27.6	320	25.3	213	22.4
Rural education	58	16.2	314	24.6	147	15.5
Distance education	49	13.6	259	20.4	182	19.2

Note: Masters n=359, Bachelor n=1,267, Grad. Dip. n=949

The top three distinguishing features, referred to by respondents, were the same for all three program types. Across the three program types, reflective practice was perceived as a distinguishing feature by 72 per cent of those with a masters teacher education qualification, 69 per cent of those with a bachelor’s degree and 66 per cent of those with a graduate or postgraduate diploma. Numeracy was higher up the list for those with a bachelor’s degree, with 56 per cent indicating this as a distinguishing feature compared to 44 per cent of those from a masters program and 43 per cent of those from a graduate program. The distinguishing features referred to least by respondents were rural education and distance education for those from a masters and bachelor program. For graduate diploma respondents, community learning and rural education were the two least referred to features.

Information on how some of the above features were incorporated into teacher education programs was gathered from the teacher education institutions as part of the initial teacher education mapping component of the project. Key personnel in the institutions were asked to nominate whether some of the above features were addressed in their teacher education programs as stand-alone units, embedded in the overall program, or in a combination of both ways. The programs in which graduate teacher respondents were enrolled were cross-tabulated with this information and are shown in Table 58 below.

Table 58. Graduate teacher perceptions of teacher education program distinguishing features – by type of delivery

	Standalone		Embedded		Combination		NA
	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Discipline knowledge	946	78.7	63	5.2	193	16.1	-	0.0
Teaching culturally, linguistically and socio-economically diverse learners	372	30.6	320	26.3	453	37.3	71	5.8
ICT	219	17.2	370	29.1	534	41.9	150	11.8
Numeracy	200	13.9	535	37.1	330	22.9	354	24.5
Literacy	197	13.5	461	31.7	419	28.8	354	24.3
Assessment knowledge	355	26.1	467	34.3	467	34.3	71	5.2
Pedagogical knowledge	303	22.3	490	36.0	496	36.5	71	5.2
Curriculum knowledge	177	13.0	484	35.6	628	46.2	71	5.2
Classroom management skills	327	26.0	381	30.3	479	38.1	71	5.6

Note: n=2,765

As expected, the key feature with the highest percentage being delivered as a stand-alone unit is discipline knowledge (79 per cent). Distinguishing features that are more commonly embedded than others include numeracy (37 per cent) and pedagogical knowledge (36 per cent). Features that are more commonly addressed in teacher education programs in a combination of stand-alone and embedded units are curriculum knowledge (46 per cent) and ICT (42 per cent).

Table 59 shows the institutional view of distinguishing features of teacher education programs compared to the graduate respondents' views of distinguishing features. The institutional information was collected for the mapping component of the project.

Table 59. Distinguishing features of teacher education programs – by graduate teachers and institutions

	Graduates' views		Institutional views
	n	%	n	%
Social justice	500	27.2	28	63.6
Discipline/method knowledge	409	22.2	18	40.9
Community partnerships	448	24.4	18	40.9
School-university partnerships	293	15.9	15	34.1
Developing reflective practitioners	273	14.8	14	31.8
Quality teaching/quality programs	234	12.7	13	29.5
Ongoing professional learning	291	15.8	13	29.5
Catering for cultural and linguistically diverse learner/community focus	208	11.3	11	25.0
School/community partnerships	162	8.8	10	22.7
Rural education focus	176	9.6	9	20.5
Others	42	2.3	7	15.9
Placement supervision	100	5.4	5	11.4
Internship	9	0.5	2	4.5
Distance education	125	6.8	2	4.5
Teach teaching	0	0.0	1	2.3

Note: Graduates n=2,765; Institutions n=44

The table is ranked in order of the features that institutions stated as a distinguishing feature of their teacher education program. The order of elements identified as distinguishing features by the graduates matches the institutional view. Although overall percentages are lower for graduates, both have the highest proportion nominating social justice as the distinguishing feature (27 per cent for graduates and 64 per cent for institutions). All other features have a similar decreasing order of magnitude for graduates and institutions.