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Although the provision of initial teacher education has been the subject of more than 100 inquiries and multiple reforms, the work of those in teacher education remains under-researched. This comparative research provides two snapshots of teacher educator surveys conducted seven years apart (2013 and 2020) in a regional university in Australia. The primary aim of the research was to examine how teacher educators describe their work and goals and to identify the barriers and enablers that are present in their practice. The data were thematically coded and categorised. The outcomes highlight that personal and professional experiences do shape the goals and motivations of teacher educators; that knowledge and skills impact the ways that they enact their work, and that professional development is essential. Issues pertaining to the discipline of teacher education and an increasingly casualised workforce need to be addressed by those within and external to the profession.

Across the world, many university-based early career researchers (ECRs) are experiencing an unprecedented intensification of research expectations on transition from doctoral research to academic life. Countries such as Australia have put into place national frameworks of research excellence to remain globally competitive. Pressure on universities to elevate global research rankings has soared, with many regional universities and disciplines such as education responding with a rapid escalation of research performance expectations for academics. Consequently, concerns have been raised for ECRs embroiled in intensified research agendas in these contexts. Framed by concepts of liminality and identity construction, we argue that intensified expectations do not take account of liminality experienced by ECRs during times of transition, compromising perceived academic progress. We report on the identity journeys of ECRs in a School of Education at one regional Australian university. Data was collected from nine ECRs using online focus groups and analysed using a hybrid thematic approach. Key findings indicate that ECRs transition into the Academy post-doctorate with varying experiences of identity liminality that impact their capacity to manage research expectations. ECRs experiencing shorter periods of liminality are best positioned to manage the intensified expectations of academic life while ECRs experiencing persistent liminality and identity 'struggle' are more likely to perceive a diminished sense of achievement and support. These findings have significant implications for university leadership and research supervisors, in Australia and globally, regarding the ways they support ECRs to productively navigate the hyper-invigilated audit cultures of what we have termed the neo-academy.

It is a requirement for pre-service students in Initial Teacher Education programs in Australia to successfully complete a teaching performance assessment (TPA) before they graduate. This follows similar requirements in other international contexts, particularly the United States, where standard-based assessment is also a focus. As members of the design team of a TPA, which was affirmed by a nationally appointed Expert Advisory Group in Australia, we examine the social processes contributing to the development of a high-stakes assessment task. Significant challenges emerged through the nature of the task and the responsibility developers had for ensuring validity and fairness, but also because the design team comprised of teacher educators from ten universities. Using collaborative self-study as a methodology we examine our reflexive narratives and find that collaborative leadership and key personal dispositions are at the heart of the design process. These enable us to identify, examine and navigate arising tensions.

Global attention continues to focus on the quality of teaching, teacher quality, teacher education programs and the preparation of graduates who are ready to teach. This self-study research focuses on one aspect of the preparation and assessment of graduates for teaching: the marking and moderation of a Teaching Assessment Performance (TPA), a mandated assessment tool implemented in Australian universities and education institutions that is used as one key determinant to assess graduate readiness for the profession. While there is a developing field of research related to the implementation and effectiveness of TPAs, less is known about the teacher educator expertise required to mark and moderate these assessments. The purpose of this self-study, conducted at Federation University, a regional university in Australia, aimed to identify and examine teacher educator marker and moderator experience and expertise through the establishment of a professional learning community (PLC). Using audio-recorded transcripts of team meetings and teacher educator vignettes, the data were analysed using NVivo and were individually and collectively categorised and coded. Reflecting in and on our practice, we focused on critical moments, interactions, and experiences to interrogate the data. The key themes included: (1) collaboration through marking and moderation; (2) reflection through critical engagement; (3) growth as a teacher educator and (4) enactment in teacher educator practice. This self-study of practice, using a PLC, enabled us to make our often-tacit knowledge, understanding and expertise explicit, and provided frameworks and structures for enacting this new knowledge in practice.

Using pedagogical confrontations as a lens for a study of teacher educator work, we identify the way that teacher educator practice is mediated by teacher educator values and beliefs. We highlight the ways that an examination of these confrontations provides greater understanding of the pedagogy, practice, and decision-making of teacher educators and contend that analysis of practice is vital to revealing the complexity of teacher educator work.

This article examines the genesis, development and implementation of an interdisciplinary university cross-school research group (three individual schools) at Federation University in Australia. This CSRG is a consequence of both local and national calls for interdisciplinarity in university research and a direct response to the revised Strategic Goals and Policy document at Federation University. Using a conceptual framework based on a treatise by Jürgen Habermas (The theory of communicative action, Beacon Press, 1987) incorporating three socio-political levels (Lifeworld, Steering Media and Systems), we examined the ideals, processes and challenges in setting up an interdisciplinary research group within a traditional disciplinary-based university environment. Drawing on multiple data sets composed of member survey responses and interviews, email communication, online meetings, policy documents and co-leader feedback, we identified key resonant themes focussing on academic aspiration and motivation, the role of policy and practice, influence of grants and grant development across schools, mentoring and publishing. Using Habermas' conceptual framework and his overarching notion of Lifeworld with qualitative methods of data analysis, this article explores establishment of the CSRG, deeper academic aspirations and engagement for interdisciplinarity informing the group's formation and effectiveness of the processes used in this specific case. The impact on systems and policy is addressed together with the processes adopted to bring about interdisciplinary university collaboration. Evaluating the formation of the CSRG, the authors found that researchers placed a high value on opportunities to creatively collaborate in a cross-school and interdisciplinary environment, whereas obtaining grants and publishing research were seen by staff as indirect and less immediate benefits of collaboration. This article contributes to the growing body of research on interdisciplinary collaboration by applying a distinct theoretical and analytical framework to emphasise the potential of grassroots collaboration and the role of power and influence on research within universities.

This paper explores how data can shape and enhance mathematics learning and teaching in an initial teacher education Learning and Teaching Mathematics Course for First Bachelor of Education preservice teachers in a Regional University. The implementation of a 'data praxis' approach to teaching, required the development of a custom-designed suite of data gathering tools and approaches to inform our mathematics teaching and enhance pre-service teacher mathematical learning, underpinned the conduct of the study. Praxis required the teacher educators to constantly and systematically interact with the data sets and refine the pedagogical approaches to mathematics teaching and learning. The results of this research highlight the gains that students made and the challenges for teacher educators who choose a data based approach.

This paper identifies and examines the narratives of the lived experience of young adults who had been previously disconnected from mainstream education but who are completing, or have successfully completed, an education in an alternative education programme in a regional city in Australia. It highlights the factors that contribute to successful educational outcomes and foregrounds the pedagogical practices that contribute to success. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven current and/or past participants. The narratives and narrative portraits reveal that the structure of learning and teaching environments, supportive relationships, as well as opportunities to identify goals and ambitions and manage fear and anxiety were key factors in achieving successful educational and personal outcomes. Success is influenced by pedagogical practices that are underpinned by an ethos of care, respect and flexibility.

The field of teacher education is subject to intense scrutiny and policy reform and within this context, the voices of those working within the field are often marginalised. Drawing on our larger study of teacher educators, we addressed the key research question: "How do those who work in the field of teacher education articulate and represent the nature of their work?." Using a fusion of arts-based and data science research methods and the theory of practice architectures, we examined the ways that teacher educators' work is mediated within cultural-discursive, material-economic, and social-political domains. We argue that while ambiguous dimensions exist in teacher educators' practices, they remain hopeful about their work and find spaces to create alternative sayings, doings and relatings as they prepare teachers for the profession. We contend that using both text-based and visual images facilitates the generation of enhanced meanings to highlight the complexity of teacher educators' work to those within and outside the profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impetus for this article was a university-school research project (Teaching Perimeter and Area in a Primary Classroom) and it was while working with Lani, a Year 4 teacher, that the role of reflection both 'in and on' her practice (Schön, 1983) became evident. Lani was subsequently interviewed about her reflective practices and the new insights these produced became an unintended, and yet powerful outcome of the initial research project. The article is presented as a conversational piece and Lani's responses highlight her mathematical philosophy, her embedded reflective practices, together with the mathematical (and broader) learning outcomes for both the students and the teacher.

Global attention continues to focus on the quality of teaching, teacher quality, teacher education programs and the preparation of graduates who are ready to teach. This self-study research focuses on one aspect of the preparation and assessment of graduates for teaching: the marking and moderation of a Teaching Assessment Performance (TPA), a mandated assessment tool implemented in Australian universities and education institutions that is used as one key determinant to assess graduate readiness for the profession. While there is a developing field of research related to the implementation and effectiveness of TPAs, less is known about the teacher educator expertise required to mark and moderate these assessments. The purpose of this self-study, conducted at Federation University, a regional university in Australia, aimed to identify and examine teacher educator marker and moderator experience and expertise through the establishment of a professional learning community (PLC). Using audio-recorded transcripts of team meetings and teacher educator vignettes, the data were analysed using NVivo and were individually and collectively categorised and coded. Reflecting in and on our practice, we focused on critical moments, interactions, and experiences to interrogate the data. The key themes included: 1) collaboration through marking and moderation; 2) reflection through critical engagement; 3) growth as a teacher educator and 4) enactment in teacher educator practice. This self-study of practice, using a PLC, enabled us to make our often-tacit knowledge, understanding and expertise explicit, and provided frameworks and structures for enacting this new knowledge in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using pedagogical confrontations as a lens for a study of teacher educator work, we identify the way that teacher educator practice is mediated by teacher educator values and beliefs. We highlight the ways that an examination of these confrontations provides greater understanding of the pedagogy, practice, and decision-making of teacher educators and contend that analysis of practice is vital to revealing the complexity of teacher educator work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of university-based mentors providing support for pre-service teachers (PSTs) on professional experience placements has long been an element of teacher education programs. These mentors often face challenging situations as they confront their own assumptions about teaching and learning, while also supporting PSTs who may be experiencing stressful placements in classrooms. In this article, we examine the learning undertaken by two teacher educators participating in a professional experience mentor program in a regional university in Australia. The research was conducted as a self-study in two phases. The first phase involved gathering data (email correspondence, mentor entry and exit surveys, meetings) and discussions throughout 2010; the second phase was a retrospective analysis of 10 critical emails. Identification and analysis of our assumptions revealed both the dominant categories of assumptions that underpinned our beliefs and practices, and the tensions and challenges we faced in our roles as mentors. Data analysis generated five themes that characterized our experiences as mentors: (1) ideals and reality; (2) emotions and assumptions; (3) transition to new leadership roles; (4) transitions as transformative experiences; and (5) tunnel vision. By systematically examining our practice, we developed a deeper understanding of the powerful ways that taken-for-granted assumptions influence our practice; we have also exposed the crucial influence of emotions and transitions on the growth of our professional identities. (Contains 2 tables.)

The ethical practice underpinning self-study research has been addressed extensively in the literature of self-study of teacher education practices. Less attention has been paid to how researchers deal with ethical tensions and dilemmas when they arise unexpectedly during self-study research. In this article, we examine how the extrapolation and examination of one critical incident in the process of conducting self-study research challenged our ethics as researchers and led us to new understanding and knowledge. Our focus is on the initial acknowledgment of what we considered to be an ethical dilemma as it had rattled our cage. We were uncomfortable, disturbed, and challenged. We analyzed the data using critical incident analysis and discussed the outcomes in relation to being ethically responsive as researchers. Our responsiveness has led us to "ethical praxis", whereby we now routinely and intentionally incorporate ethical dilemma identification and data analysis into our research designs. This study also highlights that our responsibilities as researchers are both private and public. By distilling the essence of a single critical incident, we can contribute new knowledge to the conversation about ethical practice. (Contains 1 table.)

Curriculum reform aimed at improving students' reasoning strategies for calculating was the focus of a research project in which the authors participated along with two school communities in regional Victoria. Another focus of the research was assisting teachers to gain insight into how their students approached calculations. This article explores one aspect of the research in which "concept cartoons" were introduced as an innovative way for gaining insight into children's strategies for addition calculations in a situation that begs for the use of mental strategies. A concept cartoon is a learning and teaching tool used primarily in science education to explore scientific concepts. However, the authors believe that concept cartoons also have great potential in mathematics education. (Contains 2 figures and 1 table.)

This paper is an account of one aspect of a self-study--the "roundtable reflections"--conducted over two semesters with two cohorts of Bachelor of Education preservice teachers at the University of Ballarat. An innovative approach to learning and teaching mathematics based on negotiation, "commuting" teaching experience, and systematic reflection was introduced with each cohort and roundtable sessions provided the reflective space for the systematic "unpacking" of the learning. Analysis of these roundtable sessions has developed understandings of the impact and effectiveness of this approach in redefining the role of both the pre-service teacher and the teacher educator as "co-learners". The implications for those involved in teacher education are explored as a means of further understanding the nature of teaching and learning about teaching. (Contains 1 figure.)

This paper is an account of one aspect of a self-study--the 'roundtable reflections'--conducted over two semesters with two cohorts of Bachelor of Education preservice teachers at the University of Ballarat. [...]