effectiveness of new teachers”(TEMAG2014b: 1). TEMAG also claims that in
their preparation:
less than 10 % of time in compulsory subjects is devoted to equipping pre-service [primary]
teachers with an understanding of how to teach reading. In a survey of secondary beginning
teachers, only 10 % of all respondents indicated that their course prepared them‘very well’
to teach literacy. (TEMAG2014b: 19)The assertion is that TE needs to change to ensure that all new teachers leave their
training‘classroom ready’(TEMAG) and measure up against national accreditation
requirements. This requires an increased focus on the content of TE courses, to
emphasise “what is really important” (DfE 2010 : 22), namely literacy and
numeracy, and‘evidence-based’teaching practice (TEMAG2014b). In contrast
(and indicative of Scotland’s distinctive approach), Donaldson ( 2011 : 34) suggests
that it is unrealistic to demand initial teacher education cover“all that would ever be
required of teachers”, acknowledging that much teacher knowledge is developed
over time through experience and ongoing professional development.
Part of the diagnosis of the TE‘problem’is that its courses are not attracting the
right people. A common concern in Australia, England and Scotland is with
attracting suitable candidates—the ‘most talented’ (DfE 2010 : 20)—into TE
courses, with an emphasis on academic skills in combination with personal char-
acteristics and traits believed to make good teachers (TEMAG). The UK govern-
ment (DfE 2010 : 20) has indicated it will cease“to provide Department for
Education funding for initial teacher training [in England] for those graduates who
do not have at least a 2:2 degree”.^3 It has also proposed shifting a literacy and
numeracy test for pre-service teachers from the end of their studies to the beginning,
while also arguing for a more rigorous test and cutting down on opportunities to
enter TE until a satisfactory mark is attained. The aim is to ensure“that all entrants
to initial teacher education are the bestfit for teaching. This includes the balance of
academic skills and personal characteristics needed to be suitable for teaching”
(TEMAG2014b: xi).
The TEMAG report similarly determined that the application of existing pro-
fessional standards are inadequate, unevenly applied or implemented too slowly;
such that many graduate teachers lack essential skills, like“evidence-based teaching
strategies and skills they need to respond to different student learning needs”
(TEMAG2014b: xi). In short, TEMAG asserts that not all graduates are‘classroom
ready’but are victims of poor quality‘training’and/or were never suitable for
teaching in thefirst place. These perceptions are reinforced by media sentiments
that“low entry scores required to study teaching sent the message that‘if you’re
dumb you can be a teacher’”(Ferrari 2015 ).
(^3) A‘2:2 degree’is an expression used in the UK to mean a lower second-class honours under-
graduate degree. Honours is incorporated within students’degrees, often spread over thefinal two
years. In England, the undergraduate degree is taken over 3 years full time; in Scotland it is over 4
years full time.
526 T. Gale and S. Parker