Building pre-service teacher capabilities through remote and flexible placement - a new narrative

Within practical placements, Australian pre-service teachers acquire a range of skills and strategies. This is in addition to linking the theory that they acquire at university to that in the classroom context. In 2020, to ensure that the pre-service teachers in education courses continue this practical component of their degree, remote and flexible placements were negotiated between the schools and the university. These changes were embedded in order for pre-service teachers to work with schools, students and mentors and they did so from within their homes. This chapter focuses on the experiences from three pre-service teachers during their time on practicum in remote and flexible contexts. A case study approach was applied to analyse each individual’s experiences. The case studies highlight the commonalities in experiences for each individual pre-service teacher. Upon analysis of these case studies, these commonalities included implications around how these capabilities were being formed and developed throughout the placement. These capabilities included inference, deduction, pivoting and empathy. These common capabilities across the pre-service teacher’s experiences, during their remote and flexible placement, highlight the need for a new narrative around the emerging skills, strategies and capabilities for teacher education in the 21st Century.