This article examines the accounts of actions undertaken by Early Career Teachers (ECTs) recently graduated from a social justice-oriented Initial Teacher Education (ITE) program and employed in complex school settings with high levels of student diversity, disadvantage, and poverty. The study drew on theories of teacher agency and agency more…

Teachers with a high sense of self-efficacy are more resilient to difficulties, experience greater job satisfaction and have higher expectations of their students. This study investigated teacher self-efficacy in high performing teachers at two points in their development: 1) as preservice teachers, halfway through their undergraduate degree using…

Improving teacher quality has become the hallmark of Australian education reform with a plethora of measures introduced in teacher education to improve future teachers' instructional competencies. This policy focus has also changed the discussion of strategies for addressing disadvantages in schools; improving teacher quality, as opposed to…

Improving the quality of education for young people growing up in high poverty and culturally diverse communities is an escalating problem in affluent nations with increasing gaps between the wealthy and the poor. Improving the quality of teachers and improving the quality of teaching are amongst the prominent solutions offered to redress the…

Preparing pre-service teachers to address the disparities in educational attainment that occur in settings with complex demographics such as high poverty and super diversity (Vertovec, 2007) require a theoretically driven contextual and spacial (Soja, 1996) understanding of disadvantage. This understanding highlights the structural and systemic…

This paper explores the work of "becoming exceptional" amongst a group of preservice teachers taking part in the National Exceptional Teaching for Disadvantaged Schools program (NETDS). The NETDS program is directed towards mentoring and supporting outstanding preservice teachers to transition into the schools where they can make a…

Policies toward fostering a more balanced distribution of teacher quality have garnered considerable attention from researchers and policymakers around the world. This attention has been motivated largely by the widely acknowledged educational goal of providing quality education for all children. Equipped with similar policy concerns, this study…

Classroom teacher quality can significantly impact student learning outcomes. Increased access to skilled teachers in low socioeconomic status (SES) schools could substantially improve the learning outcomes and engagement levels of young people. The National Exceptional Teaching for Disadvantaged Schools (NETDS) programme is a university based…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the FRIENDS for Life program on students' and teachers' emotional outcomes in a school serving a high-poverty population. The focus of the intervention was to train/coach teachers with strategies to develop social and emotional skills for students. A single group, pre/post-test design was used…

Development of pedagogies within schools that inform adolescent learning has been an ongoing struggle within education systems. A novel approach to this issue was taken by the Non Government Organisation (NGO) "Evolve" based in Victoria, Australia, who worked in partnership with disadvantaged secondary schools to develop a multi-faceted…

The Science and Mathematics Alliance for Recruiting and Retaining Teachers (SMARRT) is a collaborative partnership pursuing aggressive strategies to recruit high quality minority teachers to teach in high-need schools in urban school districts. This partnership is dedicated to recruiting, preparing, and retaining high quality teachers with strong…