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Developing Knowledge and Leadership in Pre-Service Teacher Education Systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2015

Jo-Anne Ferreira ,
Lisa Ryan  and
Julie Davis
Jo-Anne Ferreira*
Affiliation:
Griffith School of Environment, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Lisa Ryan
Affiliation:
Sustainability Education, Faculty of Arts and Business, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Queensland, Australia
Julie Davis
Affiliation:
Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: Jo-Anne Ferreira, Griffith School of Environment, Nathan Campus, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan QLD 4111, Australia. Email: j.ferreira@griffith.edu.au
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Abstract

Pre-service teacher education institutions are large and complex organisations that are notoriously difficult to change. One factor is that many change efforts focus largely on individual pre-service teacher educators altering their practice. We report here on our experience using a model for effecting change, which views pre-service teacher education institutions and educators as a part of a much broader system. We identified numerous possibilities for, and constraints on, embedding change, but focus only on two in this article: participants’ knowledge of change strategies and their leadership capacities. As a result of our study findings and researcher reflections, we argue that being a leader in an academic area within pre-service teacher education does not equate to leadership knowledge or skills to initiate and enact systems-wide change. Furthermore, such leadership capacities must be explicitly developed if education for sustainability is to become embedded in pre-service teacher education.

Keywords

teacher educationsystem changeleadershipsustainability
Type
Feature Articles
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , December 2015 , pp. 194 - 207
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2015 

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