Out-of-field teacher placements: An unresolved global concern influencing teacher quality and improvement strategies?

Abstract

<p>The purpose: Teacher quality is a global concern. The US focuses on academic credentials, the UK provides golden handcuffs, New South Wales in Australia ponders on dress codes and extended study time to improve teacher quality while South Africa acknowledges quality education is impossible without quality teachers. The mounted argument turns focus towards the meaning of out-of-field teaching practices for teacher quality. The paper confronts a taken-for-granted culture and tradition which assigns teachers to positions outside their qualifications or specialisation. The purpose is to develop an in-depth understanding of what out-of-field teaching practices and leaders' understanding mean for quality teaching and learning. The paper offers information from a wide, transnational context including Australia and South Africa. The argument and research question is linked to Vygotsky's social constructivist theory that effective learning develops through the careful guidance of a knowledgeable other in the classroom. Method: The qualitative study's theoretical framework is positioned with Gadamer's hermeneutics philosophy with focus on the lived experiences of participants. Gadamer's theory that in-depth understanding arises through "fusion of horizons" supports a deeper exploration and interpretation of the life-world of participants in relation to the out-of-field teaching situation. The paper offers perceptions from different angles, using the lenses of educational directors, principals, teachers and parents. The reliability of the information is enhanced by the transnational context which includes Australia and South Africa as well as triangulation through interviews, classroom observations and document analysis. The results: The data offer information that highlights out-of-field teachers' dilemma with feelings of belongingness in out-of-field teaching situations and to be the knowledgeable other in out-of-field subjects or year levels. The paper highlights and reveals concerns in relation to out-of-field teaching practices, lack of pedagogical content knowledge and teacher quality. While it unveils the implications educational leaders' decisions have on the development of out-of-field teachers into specialist teachers. The results and discussion stimulate a fuller understanding of the influence educational leaders' perceptions about out-of-field teaching has for quality education and the improvement of teacher quality. Conclusions: Concluding remarks focus on assessment of out-of-field teachers, educational leaders' decisions, targeted professional learning and teacher placement policies. The paper finally highlights an urgent need to pay attention to teachers in out-of-field positions and their professional needs.</p>