New program for new times - Pre-service teacher education at QUT

The Faculty of Education at Queensland University of Technology has engaged in a process of reconceptualising its pre-service teacher education programs; and 2003 has seen the implementation of the first year of the new four-year Bachelor of Education program. The process of reconceptualisation led initially to a vision statement, which reads in part: The vision of this reconceptualised course is to graduate pre-service teacher education students who are: life long learners who possess a strong knowledge of the content and discourses of the disciplines from which their projected teaching areas are derived, and who will be able to contribute to the framing of new knowledge communities and areas of inquiry high level thinkers, capable of understanding the complex knowledges that shape the work of educators, particularly in reference to how students engage in high quality learning, and educators who actively reflect upon and investigate the dynamic socio-cultural and socio-political constructs in which their work is embedded. The course is designed to graduate beginning teachers and educators who are well respected in their field through their professional work, commitment to learning, expertise in current curriculum knowledge and leadership, refined repertoire of pedagogical practices, skills in knowledge facilitation and the construction of diverse, culturally-responsive learning environments that best facilitate enhanced learning for a variety of learners...