Open AccessTeacher Quality and Teacher Education: A Critical Policy Analysis of International and Australian Policies.
Author(s) -
Parlo Singh,
Frances Hoyte,
Stephen Heimans,
Beryl Exley
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the australian journal of teacher education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.646
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1835-517X
pISSN - 0313-5373
DOI - 10.14221/ajte.2021v46n4.1
Subject(s) - teacher education , disadvantage , context (archaeology) , government (linguistics) , quality (philosophy) , curriculum , policy analysis , education policy , construct (python library) , pedagogy , sociology , discourse analysis , work (physics) , political science , critical discourse analysis , public relations , higher education , public administration , politics , mechanical engineering , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , epistemology , ideology , computer science , law , biology , programming language , engineering
This article examines how the ‘teacher quality’ agenda, evident in the globalised discourse on education policy, constructs changes to teachers’ work and teacher education. We undertake a critical policy analysis of two reportsfrom the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), addressing three issues. First, we discuss the global and national context in which ‘teacher quality’ policies have emerged. We examine implications of policy enactment in Australia and analyse how the OECD documents construct understandings of teacher quality. We link our analysis to a recent government inquiry into the teaching profession in Australia, looking specifically at the impact of the teacher quality discourse on teacher education. The OECD documents constrain what is perceived as acceptable curriculum, pedagogy and evaluation in teacher education. We argue, with others, that changes in response to the teacher quality discourse are narrowing what it means to undertake quality teaching work,especially in contexts of disadvantage.