General elections provide candidates with opportunities to debate broad education policy and particularly teacher education policy. The ways in which the nation’s teachers are prepared raises questions about the aims and purposes of schooling, as represented in curriculum and pedagogy, teachers’ work, and more. At the same time, debates about teacher education policy are sometimes notably disconnected from schools and from teachers. Priorities such as teacher educators’ own autonomy, their right to research, and the personal challenge of bridging the worlds of the school classroom and the university lecture hall come to the forefront. Questions about the kind of society schools and teachers are working to shape are often disconnected from the focus of teacher education policy-makers.

In celebration of Education Week, this election special public panel session at Monash Education promises to be a lively and topical discussion featuring our facilitator, veteran news anchor and accomplished journalist Mimi Kwa, along with  a stellar line-up of presenters addressing these key questions:

• What kinds of teacher education should there be for the schools we need?
• And right now, days after the federal general election, what opportunities are there for us to achieve our goals?

Important Information regarding COVID-19: This event is currently scheduled to be a hybrid event, with a limited number of attendees joining us on-campus at Monash University, Clayton Campus. If we are unable to host the event in person due to COVID -19 restrictions, the event will take place exclusively online. We will provide attendees with further updates in due course. You must not attend the in-person event if you are not fully vaccinated, have a medical exemption and/or are unwell. Get tested for COVID-19 if you have any of the following symptoms, however mild – fever, chills or sweats, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, runny nose, loss of sense of taste or smell – and stay home until you’ve received a negative result. For information about testing, visit the Department of Health website. We will continue to follow our COVID Safe plan to ensure we meet the latest health and safety requirements set out by the Victorian Government. We're committed to adapting our event experiences and operations to ensure the health and safety of our community and we will keep the community informed as the situation continues to evolve. For the latest COVID-19 information and updates to Monash University operations, please visit our COVID-19 updates website.