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Our purpose is to provide an exploratory statistical representation of initial teacher education as a complex system comprised of dynamic influential elements. More precisely, we reveal what the system looks like for differently-positioned teacher education stakeholders based on our framework for gathering, statistically analyzing, and graphically representing the results of a unique exercise wherein the participants literally mapped the system as they perceived it. Through an iterative series of inter-related studies employing cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling procedures, we demonstrate how initial teacher education may be represented as a complex system comprised of interactive agents and attributes whose perceived relationships are a function of nested stakeholder-dependent simplex systems. Furthermore, we illustrate how certain propositions of complexity theory, such as boundaries, heterogeneity, multidimensionality and emergence, may be investigated and represented quantitatively.

Many scholars have concluded that teacher education research needs to take a complex view, resist simplification, and account more fully for teacher education's contexts and processes as well as its impact on teacher candidates' and school students' learning (Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2005; Grossman & McDonald, 2008; Opfer & Pedder, 2011). In this article, we describe a research platform for initial teacher education, developed by the Project RITE (Rethinking Initial Teacher Education) research team, which combines key ideas from complexity theory and critical realism (CT-CR) and applies these to teacher education. Our intention in referring to CT-CR as a research "platform" is to suggest that the integration of complexity theory and critical realism offers a potentially powerful framework for exploring how initial teacher education programs and pathways function as complex systems and why their outcomes are so uncertain and variable. In this article, we suggest that as a research platform, CT-CR has the capacity to open up new questions, point to new places to look for explanations, and offer new ways of understanding the initial conditions, system interactions, and underlying causal mechanisms involved in initial teacher education. In particular, we suggest that the CT-CR platform may support studies of the extent to which teacher candidates learn to engage in patterns of practice that support the learning of students who have been historically marginalized on the basis of race, culture, language, class and gender. The primary purpose of this article is conceptual in that it is intended to describe CT-CR as a research platform for initial teacher education. To achieve this purpose, the article includes multiple examples of the questions, research methods, and analyses researchers have developed, guided by complexity theory and/or critical realism. In addition, we use our own emerging program of research in Project RITE as a concrete in-progress example that elaborates the CT-CR framework and illustrates some of its applications to initial teacher education research.

This article examines evidence regarding the assessment learning of preservice teachers (PTs) in a new Master of Teaching designed to prepare teachers to address the less than equitable outcomes of certain groups of students in New Zealand. The assessment curriculum was integrated across all of the courses and the in-school experiences as one of six interconnected facets of practice for equity. Evidence about the assessment learning of 27 preservice teachers was collected using a survey, interpretive analysis of three assignments and a focus group interview. The findings demonstrated that preservice teachers combined theory and practice encountered in many contexts to build the assessment understanding and competence needed to address equity issues. We argue that this was facilitated by incorporating the assessment curriculum within each course, intertwining university and school experiences, and the specific focus on addressing equity throughout the programme.

Researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers in many countries are grappling with ways to address the persistent problem of inequitable educational outcomes between advantaged and disadvantaged students. This paper reports the results of a unique cross-country, cross-cultural analysis undertaken to provide insights into teaching practices that promote equity, drawing on programmes of empirical research or syntheses of major programmes of research that worked from a complex, non-linear view of teaching and its outcomes. We analysed international evidence about teaching practices that have a positive influence on diverse students' learning outcomes and opportunities and then compared and contrasted the results of these analyses. From the commonalities we identified, we derived six interconnected "facets of practice for equity," which are general principles of practice rather than specific teaching strategies or behaviours. Building on these facets, we developed a conceptual framework that can inform an equity-centred teacher education curriculum that specifically addresses the task of preparing teachers who can make a positive difference to the learning opportunities and outcomes of diverse students, particularly those historically disadvantaged by the education system.

Despite a growing body of knowledge about what content, processes and arrangements for learning may result in more effective initial teacher education, there remains a problem with the variability of outcomes from teacher education programmes. This paper reports on a multi-perspective exploration of what influences learning to teach in valued ways during initial teacher education. Framed by complexity theory, which emphasises the non-linear nature of social phenomena, the paper presents an analysis of 76 maps of influences on learning to teach (made by teacher candidates, teacher educators, mentor teachers and policy makers), looking for differences and patterns that might point the way to explanations about teacher candidates' varying ability to enact practice that improves outcomes for all learners.

Differential student achievement has particular significance in New Zealand as it has one of the largest gaps between high and low achievers among all OECD countries. Students from low socio-economic status (SES) communities, who are often Maori and Pasifika, are heavily over-represented in the low achieving group, while students from wealthier communities, mainly European and Asian, are over-represented in the high achieving group. This article reports a predominately qualitative study, which investigated student teacher perceptions of how their programme, specifically designed to put equity front and centre, prepared them for teaching in low SES communities. Overall, the findings indicated that the student teachers perceived their programme did prepare them to work in such contexts. However, the study also highlighted ways in which the programme could be strengthened, including the need for a more direct focus on the effects of poverty on children's learning, and the implications of this for teaching.

Purpose: The purposes of this paper are, first, to establish the psychometric properties of the ELP tool, and, second, to test, using a Rasch item response theory analysis, the hypothesized progression of challenge presented by the items included in the tool. Design/ Methodology/ Approach: Data were collected at two time points through a survey of the educational leadership practices of school principals (n = 148) and their teachers (n = 5,425). The survey comprised seven effectiveness scales relating to school-wide dimensions of leadership, and one scale relating to the effectiveness of individual principals' leadership. The authors undertook validation of the hypothesized structure of the eight ELP scales using the Rasch rating scale model. Findings: The authors established constructs that underpin leadership practices that are more and less effectively performed and determined the nature of their progression from those that are relatively routine through those that are more rigorous and challenging to enact. Furthermore, a series of analyses suggest strong goodness-of-model fit, unidimensionality, and invariance across time and educator group for the eight ELP scales. Research Limitations/Implications: This study focussed on experienced principals--future studies could usefully include school leaders who are new to their role or compare leadership patterns of higher and lower performing schools. A useful future direction would be to investigate the predictive validity of the ELP tool. Originality/Value: This study reveals the ELP is a useful tool both for diagnosing leadership effectiveness and, given that it is essentially stable over time, may prove useful for charting the effectiveness of leadership development interventions.

Multi-source evaluation of school principals is likely to become increasingly common in education contexts as the evidence accumulates about the relationship between principal effectiveness and student achievement. The purpose of this study was to examine (1) the magnitude and direction of discrepancy between how principals and their teachers perceive the principal's effectiveness and (2) what predicts principals who are at risk because their self-ratings considerably exceed the ratings others give them. We also investigated the appropriateness of various probability cut levels in analyses to predict overrating principals. The data sources were ratings by New Zealand principals (n?=?135) and their teachers (n?=?2757) of principal effectiveness--one scale (16 items) of an educational leadership practices survey. On average, both groups rated principals highly, and teachers tended to rate their principal higher than the principals rated themselves. There was more variance in teachers' ratings than principals' ratings. The variables of principal age (younger), time in principal role at the school (shorter), and socio-economic status of the school (lower) were all associated with greater magnitudes of discrepancy. Such discrepancies have implications for principals' evaluations, principal development efforts, and for school improvement.

Cancer therapy related cardiac dysfunction (CTRCD) is an area of increasing focus, particularly during the survivorship period, for paediatric, adolescent and adult cancer survivors. With the advent of immunotherapy and targeted therapy, there is a new set of mechanisms from which paediatric and young adult patients with cancer may suffer cardiovascular injury. Furthermore, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the survivorship period. The recently established Australian Cardio‐Oncology Registry is the largest and only population‐based cardiotoxicity database of paediatric and adolescent and young adult oncology patients in the world, and the first paediatric registry that will document cardiotoxicity caused by chemotherapy and novel targeted therapies using a prospective approach. The database is designed for comprehensive data collection and evaluation of the Australian practice in terms of diagnosis and management of CTRCD. Using the Australian Cardio‐Oncology Registry critical clinical information will be collected regarding predisposing factors for the development of CTRCD, the rate of subclinical left ventricular dysfunction and transition to overt heart failure, further research into protectant molecules against cardiac dysfunction and aid in the discovery of which genetic variants predispose to CTRCD. A health economic arm of the study will assess the cost/benefit of both the registry and cardio‐oncology clinical implementation. Finally, an imaging arm will establish if exercise cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and VO2 max testing is a more sensitive predictor of cardiac reserve in paediatric and adolescent and young adult oncology patients exposed to cardiac toxic therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Patient‐reported outcome measures (PROMs) and patient‐reported experience measures (PREMs) are increasingly used in research to quantify how patients feel and function, and their experiences of care, however, knowledge of their utilization in routine nephrology is limited. Methods: The Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant Registry (ANZDATA) PROMs working group conducted a prospective cross‐sectional survey of PROMs/PREMs use among renal 'parent hospitals'. One survey per hospital was completed (August–November 2017). Descriptive statistics reported type and frequency of measures used and purpose of use. Results: Survey response rate was 100%. Fifty‐five of 79 hospitals (70%) used at least one PROMs or PREMs for specific patient groups. PROMs were more likely to be collected from patients receiving comprehensive conservative care (45% of hospitals) than dialysis patients (32%, 31% and 28% of hospitals for home haemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis and facility dialysis, respectively). Few renal transplanting hospitals (3%) collected PROMs. The Integrated Palliative Outcome Scale‐Renal (IPOS‐Renal) (40% of units), and the Euro‐Qol (EQ‐5D‐5 L) (25%), were most frequently used. The main reason for collecting PROMs was to inform clinical care (58%), and for PREMs was to fulfil private dialysis/hospital provider requirements (25%). The most commonly reported reason for not using PROMs in 24 hospitals was insufficient staff resources (79%). Sixty‐two hospitals (78%) expressed interest in participating in a registry‐based PROMs trial. Conclusion: Many renal hospitals in Australia and New Zealand collect PROMs and/or PREMs as part of clinical care with use varying by treatment modality. Resources are a key barrier to PROMs use. SUMMARY AT A GLANCE: Many renal units in Australia and New Zealand collect PROMs and/or PREMs as part of clinical care with use varying by treatment modality. Resource limitation is a key barrier to PROMs use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]