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The Out-of-Field Teacher in Context: The Impact of the School Context and Environment

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Examining the Phenomenon of “Teaching Out-of-field”

Abstract

School environments impact student behaviours and share specific goals, and they develop shared understandings through perceptions and experiences which demonstrate a specific culture in a school community (Shields 2002). Teacher support needs vary, but the adequacy of the support according to teacher needs will strongly influence whether teachers simply cope or manage their out-of-field teaching load. The challenge for out-of-field teachers, then, is how to manage to develop in-depth knowledge of the specific curriculum and how to contribute to planning and evaluating the fit-for-context/fit-for-purpose aspects of the curriculum and the school context. Supporting out-of-field teachers entails an in-depth look at the meaning of out-of-field teaching for enacting a specific curriculum and of the in-school context as a whole, with a specific focus on communication, collaboration and cooperation within the wider school community.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Out-of-field teachers are teachers who teach subjects or year levels that do not match their specialisations. It is also referred to as non-specialist teaching, or teaching across specialisations (TAS).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education, Brisbane, Australia

    Anna  E. du Plessis

  2. Deakin University, Geelong, Australia

    Linda Hobbs

  3. Department of Mathematics and Science Education, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA

    Julie  A. Luft

  4. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

    Colleen Vale

Authors
  1. Anna  E. du Plessis
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  2. Linda Hobbs
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  3. Julie  A. Luft
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  4. Colleen Vale
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anna  E. du Plessis .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Deakin University , Waurn Ponds, VIC, Australia

    Linda Hobbs

  2. University of Duisburg-Essen , Duisburg, Germany

    Günter Törner

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du Plessis, A.E., Hobbs, L., Luft, J.A., Vale, C. (2019). The Out-of-Field Teacher in Context: The Impact of the School Context and Environment. In: Hobbs, L., Törner, G. (eds) Examining the Phenomenon of “Teaching Out-of-field”. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3366-8_9

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