Rethinking initial teacher education: preparing teachers for schools in low socio-economic communities in New Zealand

Differential student achievement has particular significance in New Zealand as it has one of the largest gaps between high and low achievers among all OECD countries. Students from low socio-economic status (SES) communities, who are often Māori and Pasifika, are heavily over-represented in the low...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of education for teaching : JET 2016-08, Vol.42 (4), p.451-467
Main Authors: Grudnoff, Lexie, Haigh, Mavis, Hill, Mary, Cochran-Smith, Marilyn, Ell, Fiona, Ludlow, Larry
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Achievement Gap
Children
disadvantaged learners
Disproportionate Representation
Equal Education
Equity
Ethnic Groups
Foreign Countries
Initial teacher education
International economic organizations
Learning
Learning Processes
Low Achievement
Pacific Islanders
Polynesian languages
Poverty
Practicums
Preservice Teacher Education
Preservice Teachers
primary school teaching
Program Effectiveness
Qualitative Research
Schools
Socioeconomic factors
Socioeconomic Status
Student attitudes
Student Surveys
Student Teacher Attitudes
Student teachers
Students
Teacher attitudes
Teacher education
Teacher Education Programs
Teachers
Teaching
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Summary:Differential student achievement has particular significance in New Zealand as it has one of the largest gaps between high and low achievers among all OECD countries. Students from low socio-economic status (SES) communities, who are often Māori and Pasifika, are heavily over-represented in the low achieving group, while students from wealthier communities, mainly European and Asian, are over-represented in the high achieving group. This article reports a predominately qualitative study, which investigated student teacher perceptions of how their programme, specifically designed to put equity front and centre, prepared them for teaching in low SES communities. Overall, the findings indicated that the student teachers perceived their programme did prepare them to work in such contexts. However, the study also highlighted ways in which the programme could be strengthened, including the need for a more direct focus on the effects of poverty on children's learning, and the implications of this for teaching.
ISSN:0260-7476
1360-0540
DOI:10.1080/02607476.2016.1215552