A Systematic Review of the Research on the Knowledge and Skills of Australian Preservice Teachers

Oct 15, 2026

A systematic review examines refereed journal research published between 2005 and 2015 on the assessment of knowledge and skills among Australian preservice teachers. Data are extracted from 52 articles covering research context, participants, and the adequacy of preservice teachers’ knowledge and skills. Findings show recurring concern about levels of knowledge and skills, and when both are reported, there are often discrepancies between perceived and actual knowledge.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time45 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Background on Australian teacher education scrutiny

Prior literature survey and knowledge domains

Relevance of knowledge for teaching quality

Shulman’s framework and extension to technology

Policy reforms and accreditation changes

Australian Journal of Teacher Education | Volume 43 | Issue 4 | Article 7 | | --- | --- | 2018 A Systematic Review of the Research on the Knowledge and Skills of Australian Preservice Teachers Jennifer Stephenson Macquarie University, [jennifer.stephenson@mq.edu.au](jennifer.stephenson@mq.edu.au) Recommended Citation Stephenson, J. (2018). A Systematic Review of the Research on the Knowledge and Skills of Australian Preservice Teachers. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 43 (4). Retrieved from [http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol43/iss4/7](http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol43/iss4/7) This Journal Article is posted at Research Online. [http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol43/iss4/7](http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol43/iss4/7) Australian Journal of Teacher Education A Systematic Review of the Research on the Knowledge and Skills of Australian Preservice Teachers Jennifer Stephenson Macquarie University Abstract: Since knowledge and skills related to curriculum content and pedagogy are crucial for teachers, it is of interest to explore the research relating to what preservice teachers know and can do. Refereed journal articles published between 2005 and 2015 that reported on the assessment of the knowledge or skills of Australian preservice teachers are reviewed. Data were extracted from 52 articles relating to the context of the research, participants in the research and the adequacy of the knowledge and skills of preservice teachers. Most authors expressed some concern about the level of knowledge and skills ofpreservice teachers and where both were reported there was often a discrepancy between perceived and actual knowledge. Introduction Australian teacher education may be a “highly scrutinized domain”(Rowan, Mayer, Kline, Kostogriz, & Walker-Gibbs, 2015, p. 274), but the scrutiny appears to have come from enquiries and reports, not from research and systematic reviews of research. Murray, Nuttall, and Mitchell (2008) reported on a survey of the literature on initial teacher education from 1995-2004. They included research published in peer-reviewed journals on teacher preparation and also research on newly qualified teachers. Out of the 215 papers they included, there were 11 papers on subject content knowledge, 19 on general pedagogical knowledge and skills, three on maths pedagogical content knowledge and two on science content knowledge. Since any single paper might address one or more of these areas, it is difficult to determine exactly how many papers overall related to preservice teacher (PST) knowledge and skills. There is also no indication of how many papers reported on formal measures of knowledge and skills. They did report concern about PST knowledge in the areas of maths and science. Content knowledge is important for all teachers, and if preservice primary teachers lack basic knowledge, teacher educators need to be aware of problem areas and education courses need to provide remediation. It appears there have been no relevant reviews since Murray et al. (2008) . Recent commentary articles on teacher education research in Australia, Mayer (2014) and White (2016) did not cite any reviews apart from Murray et al.. The most recent in the long line of reports and enquiries into initial teacher education, charged, among other things, with examining how well preservice teachers (PSTs) understand the content they are to teach (Mayer, 2014) made the unsurprising finding that“Beginning teachers need a solid understanding of subject content, pedagogy, and pedagogical content knowledge”(Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group, 2014, p.18) . This statement reflects one of the more consistent findings of research on factors affecting teacher quality, which is that teachers must have good content knowledge in the Vol 43, 4, April 2018 121 Australian Journal of Teacher Education disciplines they teach, have a generic knowledge of effective pedagogies and more specifically,

FAQs

What is the scope of the systematic review in this article?

It reviews refereed journal articles published between 2005 and 2015 that reported assessments of knowledge or skills of Australian preservice teachers.

How many articles are included and what data are extracted from them?

The review extracts data from 52 articles, focusing on research context, participants, and the adequacy of preservice teachers’ knowledge and skills.

What overall pattern does the review report about preservice teachers’ knowledge and skills?

Most authors express concern about the level of knowledge and skills, and where both are reported, discrepancies often appear between perceived and actual knowledge.

Oct 15, 2026

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