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Dealing with the Demands of the Deakin University-Teach for Australia Program: Four Perspectives Issues in Educational Research, 29(2), 2019 427 Dealing with the demands of the Deakin University-Teach For Australia program: Four perspectives Angela Evangelinou-Yiannakis The University of Western Australia This paper sets out to explain the Deakin University-Teach For Australia (DU-TFA) program for preparing teachers Australia-wide, with a focus on Western Australia (WA), and to offer insight into how the DU-TFA beginning teachers, known as Associates, ‘dealt with’ the demands of the program. It is not an evaluation of the DU-TFA program; rather, through qualitative research methods, it offers the perspectives of four Associates on how they ‘dealt with’ the demands of the program, and the suggestions they make for modifications to the program to alleviate some of these demands. The suggestions may prove useful to TFA and its new partner university, as well as to other initial teacher education (ITE) programs. The paper provides the background to the TFA program, inclusive of its purpose, its operations, and the mentoring approach it employs with its partner university to support the Associates. The qualitative research methodology used to gather the data, and the limitations of the study, are also explained. Background Teach For Australia (TFA) has been operating in Australia since 2008 and in Western Australia since 2015 (Teach For Australia, 2019). A derivative of the original collaborative network called ‘Teach for All’, the longest running of which is Teach For America, founded in 1990, the ‘Teach For…’ concept has spread across the world to more than 40 countries. O’Donoghue (2017, pp. 212-213) provided a brief outline of the humble beginnings of the movement; a movement which began in 1989 when an American student, Wendy Kopp, initiated the concept of ‘Teach for America’. O’Donoghue (2017) explained its significant growth and expansion world-wide since that time, now spanning five continents. He also outlined key concerns held by education stakeholders regarding the ‘Teach For’ approach to teacher preparation, but balanced these with a number of declared benefits. Ledger and Vidovich (2018) highlighted concerns about the retention of TFA candidates and their outcomes, and the expense involved per Associate in comparison to other ITE programs on offer. Specifically, they focused on stakeholder influences on education policy and the commodification of education (p. 22). In Australia, the program began in Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory in 2008. With the support of Shell Australia, the program spread to include Western Australia in 2015 and Tasmania in 2017. Supported also by The Ian Potter Foundation, one of Australia’s major philanthropic foundations, the program receives grants which help to sustain it in this way. In particular, the Foundation has helped to include the remote community of Kalgoorlie, WA, where a significant proportion of students fall in the bottom half of the Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA) (Teach For Australia, 2019). 428 Dealing with the demands of the Deakin University-Teach For Australia program: Four perspectives According to the official TFA website (2019) the vision of TFA is of “an Australia where all children, regardless of background, attain an excellent education”. TFA seeks to confront educational disadvantage through two key levers that impact student outcomes, teacher quality and teacher leadership. The program aims to change the lives of children by selecting very high calibre candidates, and developing them to become outstandingly effective teachers and leaders within schools. In a draft paper, WA State Manager, John Inverarity (2017) further explained that the focus of TFA is to select very able and well qualified people who have a suitable skill set for teaching in demanding circumstances. The skill set must include emotional intelligence, communication skills and leadership capacity “with its imbedded necessity of superior judgement and decision-making ability” (p. 1). The TFA website (Teach For Australia, 2018) has provided following statistics for 2018: 9 cohorts of Associates; 156 partner schools; 674 placements; 8,900 classrooms; 9,400 applications to join the program; and 175,000 students affected by the program (similar data is available for 2017 and 2016, see Teach For Australia, 2017). Inverarity (2017, p. 2) presented the following figures for WA, 2015-17: 13 Associates were placed in 5 schools in 2015; 32 Associates were placed in 14 schools in 2016, including 5 in Kalgoorlie; and 32 Associates were placed in 16 schools in 2017, including 2 in Kalgoorlie. TFA first began its alliance with Melbourne University, from 2010 to 2014 inclusive, after which, Deakin University (DU) won the tender for the contract, commencing its journey with TFA from the start of 2015. The contract between DU and TFA ended in 2018 with Cohort 2017 Associates. A new partner university, Australian Catholic University (ACU) provided the following statistics for Cohort 2018: 125 Associates enrolled in the Master of Teaching (Secondary) (Professional Practice) in 76 secondary schools across Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory, Western Australia, and Tasmania. The ACU-TFA target for 2019 was for 180 Associates (The Faculty of Education and Arts Newsletter, Issue 3, 2018, p. 7); there are 153 currently in the program. In WA, Cohort 2018 involved 42 Associates in 24 secondary schools, and Cohort 2019 involved 48 Associates in 24 schools. At the conclusion of TFA’s selection process, the candidates selected become ‘Associates’ who are then required to commit to teaching in a disadvantaged school for a period of at least two years. During this time, the Associates complete their Master of Teaching (Secondary) degree with DU. The journey begins with a six-week in-residence program taught at the University’s Warrnambool Campus. This is the Associates’ first experience of the theory and practical basis of what is required for teaching in a low socio-economic community. It includes lectures, workshops, group and individual assessments, and a two- week teaching practicum at one of the local primary or secondary schools in Warrnambool. At the end of the six weeks, the Associates will have completed one quarter (4 of 16 units) of their Master of Teaching degree (Deakin University, 2016). Associates are then offered a two-year placement in hard-to-staff, low socio-economic schools where they are employed under the ‘Limited Registration’ category. Their teaching Evangelinou-Yiannakis 429 load is 80% of a full-time load, with the remaining 20% being dedicated to their Master of Teaching degree. Together with intensive study blocks and online distance learning, as well as TFA training sessions throughout the two-year period, the Associates complete their DU-TFA requirements for full teacher registration in their respective jurisdictions. However, in order to meet the registration requirements, Associates need to have met the ‘Proficient stage’ of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership Standards (AITSL, 2017). Their progress along the Graduate to Proficient continuum is mapped and assessed during the two-year period with interim reports, starting with their first report being completed after the initial two-week practicum in Warrnambool and ending with their final portfolio assessment around the end of Term Three of their second year in their respective schools. The evidence sets produced by the Associates for this assessment, along with the completion of the Master of Teaching degree from DU, as well as their enhanced teaching and leadership skills after their two-year placement in schools make them eligible for full registration. The Master of Teaching degree at DU is a rigorous course that is spread over three trimesters. Associates undertake four units in Trimester 3, two units in Trimester 1, and two units in Trimester 2. They then take four units again in Trimester 3 of their first school placement year, leading them thus into the final year of their studies. It is in the second year that Associates can choose from a selection of pathways for their final units of work, helping them to specialise in a particular field. The Deakin Master of Teaching (Secondary) is accredited by the Victorian Institute of Teaching and is recognised Australia-wide and also internationally. Graduates of the degree can then teach in secondary schools from junior to senior levels, both in Australia and overseas (Deakin University-Teach For Australia Mentor Workshop, 2017). In order for Associates to succeed in their two-year journey, a support system has been set up between Teach For Australia and Deakin University. The ‘nested support’ structure includes, in ascending order, the Associate, the School Learning Mentor (in-school mentor teacher/leader, SLM), the school wherein the Associate is placed, the TFA Teaching and Leadership Advisor (TLA), the Deakin University School Academic Mentor (SAM), the TFA/DU Support Services, including free counselling/psychology services, and the Teach For All Network. Specifically, however, the key personnel to be involved regularly in the two-year journey undertaken by the Associates are the SLM, the TLA and the SAM. These three roles form a pyramidal base that supports the Associate on his/her daily journey through the teaching and academic aspects of their two-year experience. Each of these roles has a specific focus although some overlap does exist. For example, the SLM is the daily mentor available to the Associate whilst the TLA is a fortnightly visitor to the school, coaching the Associate in the practical aspects of being a teacher. Both the SLM and TLA observe lessons and provide constructive feedback, following a specific guide for such observations, as provided by TFA. Meanwhile, the SAM visits the schools wherein the Associates are placed twice a year, or more times if necessary, and provides guidance and advice specifically with regard to the Master of Teaching degree and the Associate’s progression from the Graduate to Proficient stages of the AITSL Standards.
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