Crises and challenges: Teacher education from the vantage point of 2020

Our funded research project examining 2014 reforms of initial teacher education in Australia began in 2018 but was overtaken by the disruptive events of 2020. Recognising that uncertainties associated with the coronavirus pandemic had practical and affective effects on our knowledge building, we asked questions about the ‘bare facts’ that had justified the reforms, which required tight accountabilities to drive teacher education organised through integrated partnerships between schools, universities and school systems. This chapter explains how the disrupted 2020 context framed our historicising research methodology and ‘fair critique’ of teacher education policy and practice, and outlines the separate analyses that interrogated the reforms from the vantage point of 2020. Together, this collected work shows the strengths and limitations of the 2014 reforms, and their potential development in a post-pandemic world.