This open access book follows the development of the Building Resilience in Teacher Education (BRiTE) project across Australia and internationally. Drawing on the success of this project and the related research collaborations that have since emerged, it highlights the importance of cultivating resilience at various stages of teachers' careers.…

Drawing upon data from an Australian study, this book gives voice to beginning teachers navigating their way through their first year of teaching and discovering what it means to be professional learners. The chapters within provide rich insights into the ways in which beginning teachers make sense of the new and challenging experiences they face…

This article examines the findings of a research program that investigated primary school mathematics teaching by graduates of the teacher education program at the University of Technology Sydney. The research comprised two distinct studies, one examining the experiences of student teachers in our teacher education program and the other…

I have been an English teacher for 38 (gulp!) years. For over 20 of those I have taught "English methods" courses in initial teacher education programs. As the retirement light glows increasingly brighter at the end of my career pathway, I reflect on three aspects of teaching English that have been--and remain--the cornerstones of my…

Mentoring teachers during their early career induction has the potential to pay long-term benefits in respect of improved teacher effectiveness and retention. To add to our understanding of mentoring beginning teachers, this paper documents the experiences of thirty-eight teachers in their first year of teaching Science or Mathematics who…

This paper reports on a longitudinal ethnographic study of beginning primary school teachers in rural and regional Victoria, Australia. The study uses a conceptual framework of "place" and "workplace learning" to ask: How do new teachers learn to do their work and how do they learn about the places and communities in which they…

For beginning teachers to make the transition to full professional membership they need to increase their professional knowledge of the art and science of teaching. This paper explores the difference in knowledge growth between beginning teachers who commence teaching in fragmented teaching situations in the first two years of teaching, and their…

The professional plans, satisfaction levels, demographic characteristics, perceptions and motivations of different teacher types distinguished by cluster analysis were investigated among graduate-entry primary and secondary teacher education candidates (N=510) from three Australian universities in an ongoing longitudinal study. Participants…

A social-cultural theory of difference informed the development of a university unit on inclusive education with a focus on broadening students' experience and understanding about the backgrounds and values of people in society. One of the aims of the unit was to "develop and work within legal and ethical frameworks that promote diversity,…

This paper focuses on the recommendations of "Top of the class," the February 2007 report of an inquiry into teacher education conducted by the Australian House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Vocational Training. To do this action policy analysis, it presents Raymond Williams' dictum of "making hope…

Worldwide, teachers' work continues to be the subject of discussion and debate, especially in terms of teacher competence and its appropriate appraisal. Available literature offers a number of perspectives of beginning teacher competence, yet the voices of beginning teachers themselves are not represented. This paper outlines the findings of a…

Australia wide, all school systems are in the process of providing teachers with computers and there is an expectation that new teachers will possess the expertise to use them in their teaching. In addition to using computers for basic word processing and data manipulation, early-career science teachers need to be able to use a range of…

This paper is an exposition and comparison of the objectives, methodology, and findings of two research projects entitled "An Occupational Analysis of Training in Industry" and "An Occupational Analysis of the Work of Beginning Teachers." The relevance of these studies to the design and evaluation of teacher education…

This paper reports on an investigation into the first time implementation of a technology education unit of work by a beginning primary school teacher. The researchers monitored the teacher's implementation of the unit across a 6 week period using an interpretivist research approach. A variety of data sources were drawn upon including teacher and…

In Australia, many teachers begin their careers in rural schools, a posting for which they are often ill-prepared. This book addresses the concerns of beginning teachers or other teachers about to take up rural appointments. The first chapter examines the context of rural schools, differentiates between "rural education" (education…