Primary specialisations in Australia: graduates' perceptions of outcome and impact

S. Main; M. Byrne; J.J. Scott; K. Sullivan; A. Paolino; E. Slater; J. Boron

doi:10.1007/s13384-021-00496-y

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Primary specialisations in Australia: graduates' perceptions of outcome and impact

Journal article

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Peer reviewed

Primary specialisations in Australia: graduates' perceptions of outcome and impact

S. Main, M. Byrne, J.J. Scott, K. Sullivan, A. Paolino, E. Slater and J. Boron

The Australian Educational Researcher, Vol.50, pp.371-390

2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-021-00496-y

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Abstract

Teacher education and professional development of educators

Teacher and instructor development

Primary

Initial teacher education

employability

specialisations

university

teacher education

In 2014, the Australian Government established the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG) to advise on how teacher education programmes could ensure new teachers were adequately prepared for the classroom. Following this, the Australian Government endorsed a key recommendation of the TEMAG Action Now: Classroom Ready Teachers report, the inclusion of specialisations in primary Initial Teacher Education (ITE). This research was conducted at an Australian public university that, in 2016, had embedded specialisations in a revised primary teacher programme structure and was one of the first ITE institutions in Australia to graduate primary teachers with a specialisation. Using a mixed-methods case study design with convenience sampling, this study sought to investigate these primary graduates' perceptions of undertaking a specialisation in relation to the development of content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge in the specialist area, as well as perceived employment advantages. This research took place over 4 years with participants having completed a Bachelor of Education (Primary) at least three months prior to participating. The participants reported benefits to having completed a primary spe-cialisation but expressed concerns about their preparedness to teach their specialisa-tion and whether it would result in any advantages for employment. Recommendations from the participants included teaching practice in their area of specialisation, consideration of specialist skills and changing the timetabling of the specialisation in the programme. Ultimately, there is a need for ongoing research in this area to determine the extent to which primary specialisations deliver the intended outcomes and impacts at both the policy driver level and the university level.

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Title: Primary specialisations in Australia: graduates' perceptions of outcome and impact
Authors: S. Main (Corresponding Author) - Edith Cowan University
M. Byrne (Author) - Edith Cowan University
J.J. Scott (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Education and Tertiary Access
K. Sullivan (Author) - Edith Cowan University
A. Paolino (Author) - Edith Cowan University
E. Slater (Author) - Edith Cowan University
J. Boron (Author) - Edith Cowan University
Publication details: The Australian Educational Researcher, Vol.50, pp.371-390
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Date published: 2023
DOI: 10.1007/s13384-021-00496-y
ISSN: 2210-5328
Copyright note: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Organisation Unit: School of Education and Tertiary Access; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; Cancer Research Cluster; STEM in Education Research Theme
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99587808902621
Output Type: Journal article

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