Arguing for the Subjectification of Graduate Teachers

The quality of graduate teachers is a significant concern for teacher educators, policymakers and the public. Initiatives regarding the quality assurance of initial teacher education (ITE) programs require critical examination to ensure that ITE programs develop proficient graduate teachers to meet the demands of modern classrooms. In this paper, we draw on Biesta’s (2015, 2019, 2020) theoretical framing of purpose in education (i.e., qualification, socialisation and subjectification) to analyse the policy texts related to graduate teaching performance assessment from institutions involved in the creation and implementation of the Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) in ITE in Australia. Researchers used document analysis to examine the publicly stated purpose of the TPA. The analysis revealed that the relevant policy texts focused much more on qualification (81%) than socialisation (8%) and subjectification (11%). The findings imply that the TPA policies may contribute to narrowing the ITE curriculum and the subsequent thwarting of teacher subjectification.