Connecting clinical teaching practice with instructional leadership

Abstract

There have been persistent concerns over teacher pre-service education for decades. The basic model of university or college coursework plus practice teaching has been found wanting. Despite attempts to rectify this, beginning teachers in Australia rate themselves as not being well prepared when they begin full-time teaching. This article examines these concerns before offering an alternative. There are two aspects to this new model: a clinical approach to teacher pre-service education, coupled with new roles, practices and structures designed to overcome the so-called theory-practice gap and to enable implementation of clinical, interventionist practice. However, the adoption of a clinical ..