This book explores how well teachers are prepared for professional practice. It is an outcome of a large-scale research and development program that has collected extensive data on the impact of the Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment on Initial Teacher Education programs and preservice teachers' engagement with the assessment. It contributes to international debates in teacher education by examining an Australian experience of teacher performance assessments as a catalyst for cultural change and practice reform in teacher education. The respective chapters describe and critique this unique, multi-institutional investigation into the quality of teacher education and present substantial evidence, drawing on a variety of conceptual, empirical and methodological entry points. Further, they address the intellectual, experiential and personal resources and related expertise that teacher educators and preservice teachers bring to their practice. Taken together, they offer readers clearly conceptualised and evidence-rich accounts of site-specific and cross-site investigations into cultural, pedagogical and assessment change in Initial Teacher Education.

This volume addresses both 'evidence of impact' and 'impact of evidence' to reveal the complex dialogue between the enterprise of teacher education and evidence of its effects in the early 21st century, taking a critical position on the very notions of 'evidence' and 'impact' that underpin contemporary policy frameworks. Teacher education programs in Australia and internationally are challenged by contemporary policy frameworks to demonstrate evidence of the impact they have on the capacity of graduating teachers to act with confidence and competence in school and early childhood education classrooms. At the same time, the field of teacher education is increasingly working to build a robust platform of research evidence that speaks to these policy frameworks and to broader issues concerning the role of teaching and teacher education in society.

This book explores how well teachers are prepared for professional practice. It is an outcome of a large-scale research and development program that has collected extensive data on the impact of the Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment on Initial Teacher Education programs and preservice teachers' engagement with the assessment. It contributes to international debates in teacher education by examining an Australian experience of teacher performance assessments as a catalyst for cultural change and practice reform in teacher education. The respective chapters describe and critique this unique, multi-institutional investigation into the quality of teacher education and present substantial evidence, drawing on a variety of conceptual, empirical and methodological entry points. Further, they address the intellectual, experiential and personal resources and related expertise that teacher educators and preservice teachers bring to their practice. Taken together, they offer readers clearly conceptualised and evidence-rich accounts of site-specific and cross-site investigations into cultural, pedagogical and assessment change in Initial Teacher Education.

This volume addresses both 'evidence of impact' and 'impact of evidence' to reveal the complex dialogue between the enterprise of teacher education and evidence of its effects in the early 21st century, taking a critical position on the very notions of 'evidence' and 'impact' that underpin contemporary policy frameworks. Teacher education programs in Australia and internationally are challenged by contemporary policy frameworks to demonstrate evidence of the impact they have on the capacity of graduating teachers to act with confidence and competence in school and early childhood education classrooms. At the same time, the field of teacher education is increasingly working to build a robust platform of research evidence that speaks to these policy frameworks and to broader issues concerning the role of teaching and teacher education in society.

Learning to Lead in Early Childhood Education makes a major new contribution to the educational leadership literature in early childhood education. Three sharply contrasting theoretical and methodological approaches are explained, each with an accompanying case study as a separate chapter. This allows readers to clearly see the relationship between theory, research, and practice, including theory-driven approaches to analysis. By drawing the case studies from three countries – Australia, Norway, and Aotearoa New Zealand, including one involving Indigenous participants – this book allows readers to learn about early childhood leadership policy and cultures in settings with different languages, histories, and national contexts. It will appeal to early childhood centre leaders, early childhood education and leadership academics, and post-graduate students in educational leadership interested in the potential of – and for – multiple approaches to leadership research and learning in early childhood education.

Learning to Lead in Early Childhood Education makes a major new contribution to the educational leadership literature in early childhood education. Three sharply contrasting theoretical and methodological approaches are explained, each with an accompanying case study as a separate chapter. This allows readers to clearly see the relationship between theory, research, and practice, including theory-driven approaches to analysis. By drawing the case studies from three countries – Australia, Norway, and Aotearoa New Zealand, including one involving Indigenous participants – this book allows readers to learn about early childhood leadership policy and cultures in settings with different languages, histories, and national contexts. It will appeal to early childhood centre leaders, early childhood education and leadership academics, and post-graduate students in educational leadership interested in the potential of – and for – multiple approaches to leadership research and learning in early childhood education.

The only volume to bring together New Zealand and international commentary on the history, implementation, and influence of Aotearoa New Zealand's groundbreaking early childhood curriculum framework. This new edition contains substantial updates of the chapters in the first edition, plus four new chapters: on Pasifika perspectives, working with infants and toddlers, transition to school, and perspectives on play. Authors from New Zealand, Australia, Denmark and the United Kingdom offer their analysis of New Zealand's early childhood curriculum (Te Whariki) in ways that will be accessible to student teachers, early childhood educators, academics, and policy makers alike.