Early childhood pre-service teachers engage in collegial dialogue

In this chapter, the authors design an assessment task for 47 Australian Pre-Service Teachers (PSTs) that required them to interview their supervising teachers about the implementation of Education for Sustainability as a cross-curricular subject in the national curriculum. The PSTs then had to write a reflective account of the interview process. Analysis of these reflective accounts highlights what enables and constrains professional dialogue and learning. PSTs also felt that adequate rapport had not yet been developed with their School Based Teacher Educators (SBTEs) to comfortably engage in open and honest professional dialogue about teacher perceptions and classroom practices. A number of PSTs reflected on enhanced confidence in fulfilling the requirements of the task through careful planning for the interview and efforts to establish a friendly environment. The authors focus on research in educational practice and its exploration of factors that promote collegial conversations.