Teacher education needs new approach

6 Oct 2011
Traditional approaches to teacher education are not working, according to a Productivity Commission submission from the University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Education.

Traditional approaches to teacher education are not working, according to a Productivity Commission submission from the University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Education.

In a submission to the schools workforce report, the Graduate School said the traditional apprenticeship model of teacher education was contributing to many new teachers’ lack of preparedness and may be associated with Australia’s recent decline in the Program for International Assessment (PISA).

Only 41 per cent of new teachers in Australia claimed they were ’well’ or ’very well’ prepared for the classroom in a 2008 survey by the Australian Education Union, while Australia’s 2009 PISA results confirmed teachers were falling behind the top tier countries such as Finland, Korea and China.

Professor Field Rickards, Dean, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, said traditional teacher education often recycled ineffective practices.

"In traditional approaches, there is limited connection between the university lectures and the school experience," he said. "The school experience is in short blocks separated by long periods away from school. Teaching is just too complex and challenging for this approach."

Professor Rickards said clinical teacher education courses were more effective than courses following the traditional apprenticeship model.

"Clinical programs link theory and practice through intensive and meaningful school-university partnerships, in a similar way to university-teaching hospital partnerships," he said. "They also teach candidates to use evidence of their impact on students to better meet individual learning needs.

"We know the clinical approach works. Ninety per cent of graduates from our Master of Teaching feel either ’well’ or ’very well’ prepared for their first teaching role."

The submission argued that graduate, clinical teacher education programs should be recognised for the impact they make on student learning and should be funded at a higher level.

"Courses like our Master of Teaching are funded at the same rate as undergraduate humanities, but should be funded at the same rate as courses like nursing. They are more expensive to run than traditional courses, but they are also far more effective," Professor Rickards said.

He argued that funding clinical teacher education courses accordingly would ultimately benefit all Australian learners.

"Funding the development of clinical models nation-wide would have a huge impact on student achievement. This is particularly true for students from low SES backgrounds, for whom the quality of their classroom teacher is particularly important," he said.