ABSTRACT

Early career teachers are increasingly required to be ‘classroom ready’ upon graduation and to demonstrate capabilities that match their more experienced colleagues. They are also joining a profession that is characterised by increased scrutiny and accountability driven by standards that seek to identify the hallmarks of good teaching. This agenda, constructed around a discourse of ‘quality’, has created dilemmas for early career teachers. However, little is known about how early career teachers navigate these pressures as they begin their careers. This article reports on a study that sought high-achieving graduate teachers’ perceptions of teacher quality and how they assessed their own practices within a ‘quality’ framework. The study found that high-achieving early career teachers wrestle with their perceptions of what a ‘good’ teacher might be and do, and how this contrasts with official representations of a ‘quality teacher’, and that they frequently ‘govern’ themselves using the regulations and discourses related to ‘the quality teacher’. We argue that broader conceptualisations of teacher quality are needed to enable early career teachers to develop as agentic professionals.

摘要

越来越早地要求早期职业教师在毕业后“上课准备”，并展示与他们经验更为丰富的同事相匹配的能力。他们也加入了一个以标准为基础的行业，其特点是要通过严格的审查和问责制来确定良好教学的标志。这个围绕“质量”话语构建的议程为早期职业教师带来了困境。但是，对于早期职业教师在开始职业生涯时如何应对这些压力知之甚少。本文报道了一项研究，该研究旨在寻求高水平的研究生教师对教师素质的理解，以及他们如何在“质量”框架内评估自己的实践。这项研究发现，成就卓越的早期职业教师对“好”老师的角色和行为的看法w之以鼻，这与“优质老师”的官方代表形成鲜明对比，并且他们经常使用“好老师”来“管理”自己。有关“素质老师”的法规和课程。我们认为，需要对教师素质进行更广泛的概念化，以使早期职业教师能够发展为代理专业人员。