ABSTRACT

Teaching performance assessments (TPA) are a trending feature of initial teacher education. Founded in the United States of America, TPAs have emerged in the Australian context as a capstone assessment of preservice teacher competence. However, the inclusion of the TPA in initial teacher education places additional pressure on tertiary institutions to prepare their graduates for the rigour of the test alongside the rigour of the classroom. This paper examines the ways in which preservice teachers may best be prepared for both the test and the teaching profession, exploring notions of the TPA and teacher quality, and the tensions between theory and practice. It does so in the context of part-time and distance initial teacher education, where the gap between university and the classroom, theory and practice is magnified. PrExConnex is introduced as one way in which preservice teachers can be appropriately scaffolded in learning how to negotiate the TPA during professional experience, whilst also being supported in becoming professionals, engaging in professional dialogue and reflective practice. Here, we leverage the metaphor of the classroom as a “black box;” the complex space in which connections occur between teacher and school inputs and student educational output.

摘要

教学绩效评估（TPA）是初级教师教育的一个趋势特征。TPA 成立于美利坚合众国，在澳大利亚背景下已成为职前教师能力的顶点评估。然而，将 TPA 纳入初始教师教育给高等教育机构带来了额外的压力，要求其毕业生为严格的考试和课堂的严格性做好准备。本文探讨了职前教师为考试和教学职业做好最佳准备的方式，探讨了 TPA 和教师素质的概念，以及理论与实践之间的紧张关系。它是在兼职和远程初级教师教育的背景下这样做的，在这种情况下，大学与课堂、理论与实践之间的差距被放大了。引入PrExConnex是一种方式，可以适当地为职前教师提供学习如何在专业经验期间协商 TPA 的支架，同时也支持他们成为专业人士，参与专业对话和反思实践。在这里，我们将教室比喻为“黑匣子”；教师和学校输入与学生教育输出之间发生联系的复杂空间。