Supervision in initial teacher education: A scoping review

Madlen Griffiths, Mandie Shean and Denise Jackson
Edith Cowan University, Western Australia

Supervision in initial teacher education is a pivotal component of professional experience, widely considered to be the most valued aspect of preservice teacher learning. Key to these experiences is the work of the university appointed supervisors who mentor the novices during their in-classroom learning. This is a dichotomous and often under-rated role, fraught with challenges, yet remains under-theorised and under-researched. Situated in a framework of readiness for teaching, this literature review provides a synopsis of the challenges facing the provision of quality teacher education programs and the supervision of preservice teachers and details the myriad of tasks undertaken by these supervisors. The importance of research into the contribution of these experienced teachers to preservice teacher learning will be clarified, as will the need for development of a model for supervision to guide future work in this space.
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Authors: Madlen Griffiths is a Senior Research Assistant at Edith Cowan University. Her research interests include initial teacher education professional experience. She is the Board Chair at Clarkson Primary School. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2712-2767 Email: m.griffiths@ecu.edu.au Dr Mandie Shean (corresponding author) is a lecturer and researcher in the School of Education, Edith Cowan University. Her research interests include resilience, wellbeing interventions, and school culture. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2744-9222 Email: m.shean@ecu.edu.au Professor Denise Jackson is the Director of Work-Integrated Learning in the School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University. Denise is a National Director for the Australian Collaborative Education Network (ACEN), the peak body for WIL in Australia. Her research spans employability, career development learning, and work-integrated learning. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7821-3394 Email: d.jackson@ecu.edu.au Please cite as: Griffiths, M., Shean, M. & Jackson, D. (2021). Supervision in initial teacher education: A scoping review. Issues in Educational Research, 31(2), 476-494. http://www.iier.org.au/iier31/griffiths-m.pdf