THE FUTURE OF TEACHER EDUCATION: REFLECTIONS ON AN INNOVATION

Abstract

This article is about teacher education reform. At the time of writing, teacher education (which is predominately the domain of universities in Australia), has undergone numerous critical reviews with little change effect. The teaching profession's struggles to cope with a changing world has been documented and an increasing push from Australian governments, at both the state and federal level for improved school outcomes are regular pieces in the national Australian press. A cadre of teacher education commentators call for a rethink on teacher education. This article showcases a disruptive model in teacher education and answers some of the ponderings around what teacher education could be and how it could be organised differently for the different world in which teachers now have to operate. More specifically, the article examines the Bachelor of Learning Management (BLM) which was developed at CentralQueenslandUniversityin2000andisstillinoperationtoday. TheBLMwas the first major revision and redevelopment of teacher education in Australia in twenty five years: this fact alone makes the BLM an interesting case study.