Teaching out-of-field internationally

This chapter presents vignettes from six countries regarding the phenomenon of teaching across specialisations (TAS) or as it is often known teaching out-of-field. The vignettes provide an overview of the education system and policies and practices relating to teacher education, certification, recruitment and assignment to subjects or year levels. They provide insights into how teaching out-of-field is conceptualised, of or how it is officially reported, its extent and importantly, any local, state or national responses to teaching out-of-field. The six countries included are: Australia, Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, the USA and Indonesia. These countries have been selected because they have the most available published research relating to teaching out-of-field. The vignettes have been written by researchers and academics from each country who is working in the field. The vignettes highlight the need for a nuanced understanding of the phenomenon as it occurs in different contexts including both commonalities and differences. The chapter concludes with an overview of the occurrence of teaching out-of-field from an international perspective and provides a synthesis of the key insights gleaned from the vignettes. These insights are further elaborated in subsequent chapters to facilitate deeper understanding of the phenomenon.