Teaching Out-of-Field as a Phenomenon and Research Problem

Teacher specialisations ensure that teachers have the specialised knowledge to teach in that subject, or year level. They provide a sense of identity, and help to organise teachers around common commitments and expertise. What happens for teachers who find themselves teaching a subject or level or which they are not specialised? While we know about teaching out-of-field from practice and research, there is a need to share and learn from each other in a way that respects international differences in how this phenomenon is understood and manifested. This chapter has three intentions: to highlight the significance of teaching out-of-field as a phenomenon and a research problem; summarise the dimensions and issues associated with out-of-field teaching; and provide a rationale for taking an international perspective on examining the out-of-field phenomenon.