Can video with professional conversations improve teacher education?

Top of the Class, the recent House of Representatives Report of the Inquiry into Teacher Education has reinforced the importance of good practice and the value of the practical dimension of teaching as part of universities' higher education teacher education programs. At the same time, in Australia and in countries in which off-shore teacher education programs are conducted, there are three other concurrent concerns: 1. the shortage of science, maths and literacy teachers and teacher educators; 2. the integration of ICT into teaching and learning in schools and higher education; and 3. the availability of schools and high quality teachers in which pre-service teachers can undertake their practicum. Underpinning quality teacher education in any subject is the ability of the lecturers to develop in their students, knowledge and understandings of the relationships that exist between curriculum, teaching and learning, assessment and reporting. Demonstrating the links between these respective activities however, is a complex classroom task. Being able to see the links in practice helps to understand the inter-relationships between these concepts. This paper outlines how video case studies of exemplary teaching practice linked with professional conversations could be used to improve the quality of university teacher education.