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on their learning and their students’ learning. Preservice teachers have commented
that their participation and engagement in the communicative spaces enabled by the
assessment rubric encouraged them to be proactive in their own learning and devel-
opment. The use of a teaching tracker tool described in Chap. 10 provides the
opportunity for mentors to give descriptive feedback to preservice teachers about
their teaching, building their capacity to make professional judgements. In this
respect the tool enables communicative spaces for dialogue about practice. The
examples, however, report that the tools work only when participants involved in the
experience contribute to the communicative space and engage in collaborative dis-
cussions about practice. These processes show promise in building prospective
teachers’ capacities to make professional judgements, forming ‘a key and critical
element of professional practice’ (Groundwater-Smith & Mockler, 2009 , p. 8).
Policy Directions
Many of the chapters in this volume have identified that the introduction of a set of
nationally agreed professional standards for teaching has been a significant driver of
the recent quality teaching agenda in Australia. The Australian Professional
Standards for Teachers (APST), endorsed by all Federal, State and Territory
Ministers for Education in December 2010, have been implemented across all juris-
dictions since 2012. The form and focus of the standards have had powerful effects
in shaping how initial teacher education is understood in Australia and in identify-
ing what can reasonably be expected of a graduate teacher in terms of being ‘class-
room ready’ (TEMAG, 2015 ). Paradoxically, teacher professional standards may
deprofessionalise teaching by diminishing how the scope and purposes of teaching
are articulated (Kriewaldt, 2015 ).
The notion of teacher knowledge as a complex and continuously changing amal-
gam is strongly evidenced in the literature over the last 15 years (Fenwick & Weir,
2010 ; McCormack & Thomas, 2005 ; Santoro, Reid, Mayer, & Singh, 2012 ). The
seven professional standards articulate the professional knowledge, practice and
engagement required of teachers across four career stages (graduate, proficient,
highly accomplished and lead teacher) and reflect the continuum of teachers’ devel-
oping professional expertise of what they know and are able to do (Australian
Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), 2011 ). The graduate level of
the APST outlines the expected performance at graduation from an initial teacher
education program, and in these statements, it highlights that graduate teachers are
still evolving their professional skills and identity. This continuum of learning and
developing is important to keep in mind in terms of focussing on what should be a
shared responsibility for quality teaching preparation and outcomes.
Consequently, as well as this intense national focus on the role initial teacher
education plays in the preparation of effective teachers, there is also another matter
of concern. This refers to the impact that certain factors have on beginning teachers’
knowledge development once teachers have graduated from their initial teacher
A. Ambrosetti et al.