This book provides an evidentiary basis for policy decisions regarding
initial teacher education and beginning teaching and informs the design
and delivery of teacher preparation programs. Based on a rigorous
analysis of international literature and the policy context for teacher
education globally, and assessing data generated through a longitudinal
study conducted in Australia, it investigates the effectiveness of
teacher education in preparing teachers for the variety of school
settings in which they begin their teaching careers.
Over four years, the Studying the Effectiveness of Teacher Education
(SETE) project tracked roughly 5,000 recently graduated teachers and
1,000 school principals in Australia to capture workforce data and gauge
graduate teachers' and principals' perceptions of their initial teacher
education programs. This book offers a synthesis of the research
findings and uses the SETE as a catalyst for innovative theorization of
the effectiveness of teacher education.