Teaching Performance Assessments as a Cultural Disruptor in Initial Teacher Education: Standards, Evidence and Collaboration (Teacher Education, Learning Innovation and Accountability)

"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"--Back cover Acknowledgments A Letter to Readers From John Ryan Contents Editors and Contributors Abbreviations List of Figures List of Tables Part I Situating Teaching Performance Assessments 1 Professional Standards, Evidence and Collaboration: Cultural Disruption in Teacher Education 1.1 Teacher Education in a Crucible of Change 1.2 The Move to Assess Professional Competence in Teaching 1.3 Chapter Overview 1.4 Contribution of This Chapter References 2 The Conceptualisation of a Teaching Performance Assessment: Designing for Evidence of Graduate Competence 2.1 Introduction 2.2 The Emergence of Teaching Performance Assessments in Initial Teacher Education 2.3 Purpose/s, Accountability, and Responsibility 2.4 The Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment (GTPA) 2.5 Responsiveness to System and Site Validity 2.6 Illustration of Core Design Principles 2.6.1 Authentic Assessment 2.6.2 Theory and Research-Informed Practice 2.6.3 Pedagogic Decision-Making 2.6.4 Data-Based Decision-Making 2.7 Conclusion References 3 Introducing a New Model for Online Cross-Institutional Moderation 3.1 Introducing the Model of Cross-Institutional Moderation Online 3.2 Moderation in Teacher Education 3.3 Conditions for Ensuring Dependability of Judgement 3.4 Implementing CIM-Online Processes and Practices 3.4.1 Who is Involved in Scoring? 3.4.2 What is Involved in Calibration to Build Judgement Dependability? 3.4.3 What Do Raters Do? 3.4.4 What Material Artefacts Are Used? 3.5 Digital Infrastructure for Moderation as Benchmarking 3.6 Submission of Cohort Data for Analysing Program Characteristics 3.6.1 Reporting 3.7 What is Involved in Getting Cross-Institutional Moderation of TPAs Right? 3.8 Conclusion References 4 Teacher Education Reform and Preservice Teacher Assessment: Representations of Teachers and Initial Teacher Education in News Media 4.1 Introduction and Background 4.2 Representation, Identity, and the Media 4.3 Methodology 4.3.1 Analytical Framework for Media Discourse 4.4 Findings 4.4.1 Voices and Representation 4.4.2 Language, Grammar, and Rhetoric 4.4.3 Headlines 4.4.4 Keywords 4.5 Conclusion References Part II Giving an Account of Teaching Performance Assessments In situ 5 Opportunities and Tensions in the Experiences of Collaborative Professionalism During the Enactment of the GTPA 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Methodological Framework 5.3 Narratives of Practice: Implementing the GTPA 5.4 Conclusion: (Re)imagining Opportunities for Learning References 6 Collaboration in a Context of Accountability: Cultural Change in Teacher Educator Practice Across University Boundaries 6.1 Initial Teacher Education in the Australian Context 6.1.1 Assessing Readiness to Teach 6.2 The GTPA Collective 6.3 Relational Agency in Collaborative Professional Practice 6.4 Research Approach 6.4.1 Collaborative Autoethnography 6.5 Method 6.6 Findings 6.6.1 Change 6.6.2 Confidence 6.6.3 Collaboration 6.7 Discussion 6.7.1 Artefacts and Agents of Change 6.7.2 Uncertainty and Ambiguity 6.7.3 Collaborative Professional Development 6.8 Conclusion References 7 Redefining Boundaries in Initial Teacher Education: Creating a Collective Vision and Approach to Preparing High-Quality Graduate Teachers 7.1 Teacher Education Within a Changing Context 7.2 Understanding Existing Boundaries and Identifying Crossing Points 7.3 Mapping Boundaries and Understanding the Contours 7.4 Redefining New Boundaries and Opening up the Borders 7.5 Conclusion: A Collective Vision for Redefining Boundaries References 8 GTPA as Enabler: Review, Renewal and Evidence of Preservice Teachers’ Assessment Practices 8.1 Introduction 8.2 A Range of Assessment Practices 8.3 Assessment and Initial Teacher Education 8.4 Examining Assessment Practices 8.5 Assessment Identity 8.6 Methods 8.6.1 Phase 1: Findings 8.6.2 Beginning Participation in the GTPA Trial 8.6.3 Following the First Year of the Trial 8.6.4 Second Iteration of Implementation 8.6.5 Summary of Key Changes 8.7 Phase 2: Results and Discussion 8.7.1 Theme 1: Knowledge and Skills Related to Assessment Practice 8.7.2 Theme 2: Feelings and Beliefs About Assessment 8.7.3 Theme 3: Confidence in Assessment; Control Over Practice 8.7.4 Theme 4: Understanding and Experience of Their Role as a Teacher Assessor 8.8 Conclusion References 9 The GTPA as a Collaborative Project in Australian Initial Teacher Education: A Cultural-Historical Activity Theory Perspective 9.1 Introduction 9.2 My Engagement in the GTPA Collective 9.3 CHAT as an Analytic Framework for Interrogating the GTPA as a Form of Practice 9.4 The GTPA as Mediational and Re-mediational Means for Preservice Teacher and Teacher Educator Practice 9.5 The GTPA as a Multi-scalar Collaborative Project 9.6 The GTPA as a Collaborative Project for Preservice Teachers 9.7 The GTPA as a Collaborative Project Within Higher Education Institutions 9.8 The GTPA as a Collaborative Project Across Multiple Higher Education Institutions 9.9 The GTPA as a Collaborative Project at a National Systems Scale 9.10 The GTPA as a Site for Reclamation of Teacher Educator Agency 9.11 Conclusion References Part III A Suite of Provocations 10 Provocation 1: Towards More Radical Assessment Systems References 11 Provocation 2: The Impact of Digital Upon Assessment: Innovation is Necessary but Not Easy 11.1 Provocation One: Assessment Must Innovate to Help Learners Negotiate the Ever-Changing Digital World 11.2 Provocation Two: Innovation in Assessment is Easy to Say but Hard to Do 11.3 Concluding Thoughts References 12 Provocation 3: Language in the School Room References 13 Provocation 4: Educating for the Future—Reflections from COVID-19 Lockdown References 14 Provocation 5: COVID Triggered Disruption in Teacher Education and Resultant Actions 14.1 Introduction 14.2 The Disruption to the Teaching Workforce Caused by COVID-19 14.3 Acting in Response to the COVID Disruption 14.4 The Data Scenarios 14.5 Conclusion References 15 Commentary: We Have to Get TPAs Right! References Part IV Future Directions 16 Innovation in Methodology: Longitudinal Analysis of Progression in Teacher Preparation 16.1 Introduction 16.2 Going to Scale in Initial Teacher Education Research 16.3 Methodology 16.3.1 Description of Data Categories 16.4 Compiling the Longitudinal Data for a Cohort of Preservice Teachers 16.5 Analytic Method 16.5.1 Stage 1: Transformation of Longitudinal Performance Variables 16.5.2 Stage 2: Identifying Patterns in the Preservice Teacher Performance Trajectories 16.5.3 Stage 3: Illustrative Narratives of Preservice Teacher Performance Trajectories 16.6 Discussion 16.7 Conclusion References 17 Disrupting Teacher Education for Sustainable Change 17.1 Introduction 17.2 GTPA Longitudinal Studies in Initial Teacher Education 17.3 Pre-conditions for Sustainable Culture Change in Teacher Education 17.4 The Next Move 17.5 What is Involved in Getting TPAs Right? References Glossary References 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 teachers0́9 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.