Teaching in the 21st century

Abstract

Teaching is complex work that often appears simple, and becoming a teacher in the twenty-first century is arguably more challenging than ever before. In this book, we provide a positive, futures-oriented approach to assist you to build on your knowledge, skills, strengths and abilities so that you are prepared for teaching in the current era and able to embrace the many rewards associated with working in the educational sphere. Cognisant of the standardised and high-stakes accountability contexts within which teachers now work, the book will assist in preparing you to understand, and to begin to address, the mandatory accreditation requirements of teaching in Australia. From the outset, you will also be encouraged to develop and reflect on your own personal and professional philosophies of teaching. In this chapter you will be introduced to some of the literature, research and practices that will help you learn about and reflect on teaching and the teaching profession in the twenty-first century. You will also be introduced to relevant information about Australia's school communities and school structures so that you can best understand the complex and diverse nature of the work involved in teaching students across the full learning spectrum from early years to senior secondary. One of our goals in this opening chapter, and throughout the entire book, is to challenge your thinking about the range of issues involved in learning to teach in the twenty-first century. Therefore, we invite you to engage with and question the concepts and ideas presented in the coming pages, rather than accept them at face value. In many cases, we will prompt you to do so, particularly by examining key issues through social and ideological lenses. Adopting a critical inquiry stance is crucial in learning to become a teacher it will help you to discover what it is that really matters in teaching in the twenty-first century.