**1. Introduction**

Online learning is a commonly used term within some higher education providers, this was not a commonly used term in most Government schools in Australia. Before 2020, remote and flexible learning for Australian schools [1] was a notion that was not as commonly applied. The traditional form of face-to-face teaching was more the norm, particularly for Australian pre-service teachers that have analysed their practice within this chapter. The emergence of COVID-19 saw the closure of many Australian and global schooling face-to-face contexts. This closure had an impact on the higher education setting as pre-service teacher placements were often postponed or cancelled [2]. In many schooling contexts, and for Australian pre-service teachers, placements transformed into an online mode of instruction. Within this chapter, the

online mode will be referred to as remote and flexible teaching, remote and flexible approach or remote and flexible contexts. For the three Australian pre-service teachers that have co-authored this chapter, the remote and flexible approach to their final placement was to be part of a new norm. The classes that they were a part of were delivered via remote and flexible contexts on an array of learning management system platforms in various modes. This included WebEx and Zoom digital platforms. The students that the pre-service teachers taught within their remote and flexible contexts had irregular attendance and they often were not able to 'see' the students due to their video cameras being switched off. Participating in a practical placement within this radically different way displayed to the pre-service teachers that there was a necessity for a change in their approach to teaching. They observed this not only for themselves but also in what they saw modelled by the in-service teachers who were their mentors. The nature of practical placements, including remote and flexible placements, allows for pre-service teachers to develop their application of theory in a practical mode. This opportunity in a remote and flexible placement also highlighted the emergent capabilities, teaching skills and strategies that were a by-product of this unfamiliar context for all three pre-service teachers.

Known by a number of terms, capabilities, attributes, dispositions; the notion of what makes good, quality teachers has been widely contested across policy and theoretical constructs [3]. These capabilities can also be interpreted as being attributed to academic-based or non-academic capabilities. Recent recommendations around the selection of entrants into Initial Teaching Education courses from the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership [4] included a non-exhaustive list of non-academic capabilities (see **Table 1**) drawn from various educational literature. For the purpose of this chapter, the emergent attributes identified in the reflective journals and subsequent case studies will be referred to as 'non-academic capabilities'.

This chapter does not seek out to measure these non-academic capabilities in relation to teacher effectiveness, nor does this chapter provide a non-negotiable list of preferred non-academic capabilities. Rather, this chapter seeks to highlight one set of identified capabilities and the formative, non-static nature of pre-service teacher capabilities that have been identified through this research. Additionally, we discuss how these capabilities can evolve in a significantly different way within the experience of remote and flexible contexts. We argue that teacher capabilities are continually building and that are influenced by a myriad of experiences. This has never been as true as in the current context where teachers have emerged as first adopters of new pedagogical approaches and modes of teaching and learning. Through this research we also highlight the importance of pre-service teachers developing their reflective practice, in particular, their ability to notice in action. The research question that has guided the data analysis in this chapter is: What


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**3. Literature outline**

**through reflection and noticing**

*Building Pre-Service Teacher Capabilities through Remote and Flexible Placement - A New…*

emergent 21st Century capabilities were evident for pre-service teachers in times

The intent of qualitative studies such as this is to allow for the emergence of rich, 'thick' descriptions of the phenomena being experienced [5]. Case study methodology was applied in order to represent the experiences throughout remote and flexible placements of three pre-service teachers: Tatainia, Anabelle and Jessica. Reflective journals were kept throughout their placement and contained first–hand accounts from each pre-service teacher. This was a regular practice for all three preservice teachers during placement and for the purpose of this research, was a way to record perceptions and actions in their individual settings [6]. Qualitative research is applicable in this study as written language in the form of reflective journaling forms the base of the data. The data drawing from journaling will be about the researchers themselves and the events that have influenced and affected them. Tatainia, Anabelle and Jessica kept reflective journals from the beginning through to the end of their placement, dated all entries and used themes from their journal

Although there were many pages of journal entries, only certain excerpts will be drawn upon that highlight the themes that link back to the research question. The journal entries were then analysed as a whole document where an inductive approach was applied to uncover the emergent themes. An inductive approach includes the aspects of language; meanings, worldviews and perspectives are taken into consideration and culminate in the theoretical understanding of the people(s) that are being studied. These perspectives create the pre-service teachers' social world and will allow for the "theoretical ideas to emerge" [8] out of the data. The data collection also included un-structured reflective conversations during and after the placement concluded. The combination of the journals and the unstructured conversations were then analysed in order to construct three separate detailed examinations of the author's experiences in the form of case studies. All four authors were involved in the discussions around the reflective journals. Group and paired conversations focusing on themes and patterns in their reflections in order to construct the three case studies. The case studies were written and then reviewed by each of the pre-service teachers in order to provide feedback around content accuracy. Contributions were then made to the analysis and identification of broad themes and sub-themes within the data. A thematic analysis approach provided a framework for thinking about the emergent themes in a data set and has been applied to the analysis of a variety of qualitative data [8]. Broader themes were identified and recorded in the style of a word table [9]. These themes were analysed

and recorded by all authors and directed by the research question.

**3.1 Practical placement experiences – identifying non-academic capabilities** 

The complexity of teaching cannot be underestimated and within a range of educational research, there is not a single agreed upon set of attributes, capabilities or behaviours that is universally agreed upon in relation to what makes a quality teacher [9–11]. There are often overt considerations related to the academic

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96468*

to provide a "final account of the research" [7].

of change?

**2. Research design**

**Table 1.** *Non-academic capabilities.* *Building Pre-Service Teacher Capabilities through Remote and Flexible Placement - A New… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96468*

emergent 21st Century capabilities were evident for pre-service teachers in times of change?
