Tracking Graduate Teacher Preparedness Through A National Capstone Assessment

There is increasing pressure on higher education to ensure graduates are work-ready, with Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) broadly acknowledged as playing an important role in the achievement of work-readiness. In Initial Teacher Education (ITE), such Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) is known as teacher placement and is highly valued. However, there have been recent concerns that current graduates are not equipped with the practical skills needed for the classroom, with particular attention focused on the theory-practice divide. Recently, national regulatory authorities in Australia have mandated a Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) for all graduates of teaching programs as evidence of work-readiness. The authors in this chapter examine the effectiveness of a Teaching Performance Assessment as a work-readiness tool for graduating teachers. The study consisted of focus groups and interviews with pre-service teachers to establish perceptions about the effectiveness of the three elements (assessments) in the TPA. The findings suggest that pre-service teachers had varying views about the coursework preparation for each of the three elements of the tasks, and had varied views of their relevance, providing evidence of the need for future comparative studies.