Evidencing the impact of pre-service teachers: shifting the conversation

There are challenges in obtaining robust, valid evidence that identifies the impact of pre-service teachers upon learners. The University of Tasmania is taking a research-based approach to determine the evidence needed to showcase the impact of its pre-service and graduate teachers on student learning. This paper offers a reflection upon thinking and planning in the “impact” space. We discuss our initial attempts to model analysis of evidence collected during our programs and we provide examples of responses prompted by AITSL templates of evidence that drive teacher education providers to capture impact in its multi-layered forms. We discuss the efficacy of collecting various types of impact evidence that can provide an authentic assessment of the impact of pre-service teachers across a range of initial teacher education programs. In coming back into dialogue with the research literature, we conclude with a plea to shift the conversation. Rounded assessment of the impact of pre-service teachers on learners depends on knowledge, capabilities and dispositions developed during university-based training, as well as field-based experience. Verification of ability to have reliable, sustained impact on students’ learning must be based on evidence from both. Evidence from a narrow range of learning episodes is insufficient.