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teaching experiences in a range of contexts, integration of school experiences with
university coursework, mentoring by expert teachers and opportunities for shared
learning experiences with other preservice teachers, mentors and teacher educators.
The immersion programs discussed reflect many of the characteristics of successful
initial teacher education programs summarised in Australia’s recent Longitudinal
Teacher Education and Workforce Study (LTEWS 2013 ) and Studying the
Effectiveness of Teacher Education Report ( 2015 ). The four models below offer
examples of Bahr and Mellor’s ( 2016 ) call for research on teacher education to
provide a stronger body of evidence of programs where there is ‘mutual benefit
designed into collaborative enterprise between school-based and campus-based
educators’ (p.16).
Model: Victoria (Monash University)
Introduction
The Advanced Placement model at Monash University was developed and first
implemented in 2001 at the Gippsland campus and then adopted at the Peninsula
campus, where it is still in operation. The aim was to provide final-year Bachelor of
Education (Primary) preservice teachers with a new way of experiencing learning to
teach in the last phase of their undergraduate degree. The model, which links school
life to university life, was conceptualised by Michael Dyson, Lecturer in Education
at Monash University Gippsland. This model was based on his earlier work in a
school-based program, which was first implemented in the mid-1990s when the
compulsory 4-year degree was introduced. Dyson redesigned the school-based pro-
gram to become the Advanced Practicum, which enabled a:
worldview of learning [and to] facilitate a synergy between theory and practice...The
interns themselves drew the pieces together to form new understandings, took responsibil-
ity for their own learning, their relationships, and the formation of their identity as a teacher.
(Dyson, 2010 , p. 9)
Broadly, the aims of the Advanced Placement program are:- To provide a framework in which preservice teachers develop an ongoing and long- term
relationship with a school community - To provide an opportunity for preservice teachers to respond as adult learners to the demands
and experiences of their work and to develop the communication and interpersonal skills
expected of a professional - To induct preservice teachers into the profession as reflective teachers with a realistic aware-
ness of the nature and scope of contemporary schooling - To contribute to establishing a collegial relationship between mentor and mentee in a recip-
rocal professional learning environment (Monash University Advanced Placement Guide,
2014 , p. 3)
S. Tindall-Ford et al.