Abstract

Currently the Australian university sector almost has a monopoly in the provision of courses and programmes for the initial preparation of teachers across the nation. What the future holds for the filed, however, is quite uncertain. This uncertainty, as this paper will demonstrate, is reflected in a number of trends. First, while a trend has manifested itself over the last number requiring that in order to gain accreditation as a teacher one must graduate with a professional masters’ degree, it is not at all clear that this is being deemed attractive to potential student teachers. Secondly, national policies in all aspects of teacher education continues to be very difficult to implement since, constitutionally, States can, and do, insist on adding their own variations to them. Thirdly, the historical trend of regularly calling for an overhaul of approaches to teacher preparation in Australia had not died out and continues to be distract teacher educators from getting on with their work. Fourthly, further distraction is provided by a focus on the part of policy makers on emphasising the outcomes of programmes of teacher preparation rather than their content and on gathering evidence on the impact of the graduates of the various providers on student learning. Fifthly, the notion of ‘the teaching continuum’, receives very little emphasis in the current policy discourse on teacher preparation in Australia. Finally, the instructions for institutions applying for accreditation for their courses of teacher preparation and that the hours of work that have to be undertaken to provide the documentation required is so enormous that it is almost impossible to include approaches in courses of teacher preparation that cultivate creativity and innovation.