"It was either food or petrol": Financial hardship during professional experience for pre-service teachers<

Tammy Green, Christina Gray
Edith Cowan University, Australia
Kirsten Lambert
Murdoch University, Australia

Many pre-service teachers prolong studies or fail to complete teaching degrees due to financial hardship. This attrition exacerbates the teacher shortage in Australian schools. Our research uses critical theory to explore the challenges for pre-service teachers as they complete the compulsory professional experience component of initial teacher education. This phenomenological study, based on interviews with eight pre-service teachers at a university in Western Australia, gives voice to pre-service teachers experiencing placement poverty, revealing the difficulties faced in their quest to become teachers. The findings highlight the importance of addressing the financial barriers that hamper students' abilities to become quality teachers.
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Authors: Ms Tammy Green is the Academic Coordinator of Professional Experience in the School of Education at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia. Tammy's research interests include initial teacher education, drama education, and student wellbeing. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-9152-3705 Email: t.green@ecu.edu.au Dr Christina Gray is the Coordinator of Dance and Drama Education in the School of Education at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia. Christina's research focuses on drama and arts education, teacher trajectories, initial teacher education, and belongingness, through narrative methodologies. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8464-1961 Email: c.gray@ecu.edu.au Dr Kirsten Lambert, currently a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia, is passionate about creative, embodied and equitable approaches to education. She teaches in the areas of English, assessment and education policy. Kirsten's research exists at the intersection of education, power, gender and disability. Central to her approach to education is a passion for equity, creativity and belonging. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7910-2373 Email: kirsten.lambert@murdoch.edu.au Please cite as: Green, T., Gray, C. & Lambert, K. (2025). "It was either food or petrol": Financial hardship during professional experience for pre-service teachers. Issues in Educational Research, 35(4), 1494-1510. http://www.iier.org.au/iier35/green.pdf