**4. Analysing the case studies**

*Teacher Education in the 21st Century - Emerging Skills for a Changing World*

**3.2 Adapting to a new space in remote and flexible placements**

rather than academic qualifications alone [12].

capabilities of pre-service teachers on placements due to the measurement via the Australian Graduate Professional Standards for Teachers [4]. Intrinsic or less apparent are the non-academic or non-cognitive [11] attributes or capabilities. These capabilities are often seen as the personal or 'soft' applications that encompass "motivation, attitudes, dispositions and personality" [11]. In relation to the types of attributes that constitute teacher quality, measurement and evaluation are problematic and no one set of behaviours can be linked to overall teacher effectiveness for all students [12]. The discussion and subsequent analysis of these capabilities does not [13]. On the contrary, the juxtaposition of these capabilities to a teacher's academic qualifications is an essential combination when discussing teacher effectiveness

Post-placement discussions centred on the reflective journals and were constructed with discussions around *noticing*. As pre-service teachers in a new and often unfamiliar context, the professional practice of noticing may not come as second nature. This approach to reflective practice, noticing, allows the professional to make informed choices and considered approaches to how to act in different situations [10, 14]. Naturally, noticing for even the most seasoned professional requires disciplined application. Underpinning professional practices, but when applied systematically, noticing can develop into "the Discipline of Noticing" [10]. Explicit noticing is critical for change in individuals as the lack of noticing can result in perpetuating practice [15]. While completing placement in a remote and flexible context, it is evident that the pre-service teachers were able to continue to reflect on their academic and non-academic capabilities. This noticing of strategies enabled Anabelle, Tatainia and Jessica to adapt to either adapt to the needs of their students in the moment, or to reflect and consider a variant approach in future contexts.

Amongst the varied opportunities practical placements present for pre-service teachers, one major benefit is that they allow for authentic applications of teaching experiences in classroom contexts [16]. In traditional contexts, this would allow for theory that was learned within the higher education contexts units to then be observed or applied once the pre-service teachers entered the classroom. As the nature of what constituted the classroom had evolved in remote and flexible contexts, often referred to as online learning [13], both in-service teacher mentors and pre-service teachers were applying adaptive teaching approaches and strategies to an unfamiliar teaching environment. Adaptive teaching research takes into account the classroom environments that are ever changing and dynamic [14]. Arguably, the change in teaching contexts that can be seen within this chapter are displaying what Gibson and Ross [14] refer to as microadaptive teaching approaches. This is apparent while Tatainia, Anabelle and Jessica were moving between remote and flexible contexts and then back to traditional face-to-face classroom contexts. These microadaptive approaches are informal and responsive to teaching in order to "overcome impediments to learning" [14]. The impediments in relation to the evidence in the case studies were the new pedagogies of teaching in an online mode, in addition to engaging learners in this new environment. Additionally, all three pre-service teachers conducted microadaptations to their teaching in "direct *observation*" [14] of the responses of their students and looked at these teaching strategies as an oppor-

Within traditional practicum placements, the mentors of pre-service teachers play an important role and guide for the pre-service teacher during the placement journey [17]. Mentors and pre-service teachers work closely together to develop the skills, strategies and capabilities that emergent professionals will require to graduate

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tunity and growth [14].

This section of the chapter provides each individual pre-service teacher's reflection within the form of case studies. All of the case studies were constructed from the outline of Tatainia, Anabelle and Jessica's experiences as noted in their reflective journals. The contexts of the case studies include remote and flexible placements and then the experiences of moving back to traditional forms of face-to-face teaching.

#### **4.1 Tatainia's experiences**

During her final practicum Tatainia's approach to pivoting in this space took many forms. Remote placements hindered the provision of feedback from teachers to students. As written feedback was commonplace, it often targeted certain areas of learning for students in a personalised way. Although provided for each student, it was often not read. This was obvious from the follow-on lessons. Tatainia was aware of the changes in the students during remote and flexible contexts. Tatainia juxtaposed this with the face-to-face context where providing feedback allowed for a follow-up conversations and clarifications. As remote and flexible teaching and learning continued, discussions stemming from probing questions and other ICT games like Kahoot were beginning to be less engaged with. The mindset of going back to school overtook the drive to participate online. Tatainia noticed that students who had usually engaged were no longer taking part in their usual way. Student owned checklists were being ticked but the work was not getting done. Tatainia felt disappointed by this and grappled with how to analyse and interpret the reasoning behind these occurrences. Rather than fixate on the negative feelings around this occurance, she compartmentalised this in order to follow-up once back into the face-to-face setting. Although much of the time teaching remotely without seeing the student's faces, "You could tell" how the students were feeling. Tatainia use the notion of inference and deduction when moving through this process of planning for the students in her care. Voice and choice were emphasised throughout the remote and flexible teaching. Selections of resources to inject fun and engagement elicited engagement and discussion. These were often digital games and fun activities accessed through digital sources. Tatainia felt a sense of pride with the selections of these activities. This was in addition to considerations around the health and wellbeing of the students once they returned to face-to-face contexts.

Once back in face-to-face contexts, the students discussed and socialised more than in the remote and flexible contexts. Tatainia was experiencing the first time in the classroom with the students face-to-face since remote and flexible learning. The teaching schedule became "less structured than what it would normally have been" and a focus was placed on wellbeing for the students and. From the stories and experiences that Tatainia heard from the students, she empathised with how each of them were feeling now that they were together in the classroom again. She returned to approaches of modelling responses and examples from her own experiences. This compelled others in the room to also support the peers needed it in the classroom.

### **4.2 Anabelle's experiences**

Anabelle had experienced most of her placement during 2020 in a remote and flexible context. Upon returning to face-to-face teaching Anabelle had learned a lot about herself. She had learned that teaching could be successful in a structured and supportive way when in remote and flexible contexts. She started to consider how this style of teaching could be embedded more regularly in a face-to-face context, as it seemed viable for "real learning opportunities". Some challenges within the remote and flexible context stemmed from the teaching of specific subject content that was impeded by not being face-to-face. This was evident when teaching a novel with "intense themes". Anabelle noted that when teaching this novel in the physical classroom, the ways in which the students responded were "written all over their face". Online, it was less noticeable due to the lack of "videos on" and other documents open at once. In remote and flexible contexts, it was more difficult for her to "read the room" and notice when students were feeling uncomfortable around the content. This was mitigated through the use of chat functions and more surface level engagement, but the richness in discussion was lacking due to not being physically with the students. Being aware of the content herself enabled to enhance her understanding of whether the students might be feeling certain emotions around the text. This "feeling the sense" that others will feel the same way which Anabelle termed as empathy as you would in an approach that was applied in this context. Working with her mentor and the teaching team in remote and flexible contexts was a highlight for Anabelle. Overall, the relationships that she had forged with the teaching team were positive. She felt a level of comfort in both the face-to-face and remote and flexible contexts. Contributing to planning was not as easy remotely as it was in face-to-face contexts. Anabelle was aware that her supportive teachers had faced a large challenge of transitioning back to face-to-face contexts. Knowing this, Anabelle was "reading the vibe" and conscious of the feelings of the other teachers and her mentor before she would suggest any changes or provide insights to the planning that was already in progress. Once back to face-to-face contexts, Anabelle noticed that certain remote and flexible aspects had remained. School assemblies were conducted online and the team of teachers that she had worked with welcomed this. Anabelle had noted that there were enduring elements of remote and flexible learning and identified that this flexibility in design and delivery on-site was something that many of the teachers wanted to keep.

#### **4.3 Jessica's experiences**

Jessica's context was the only secondary sector and she taught in the English method. Her teaching context held many students from challenging backgrounds. Already being faced with dynamic demographics, in remote and flexible contexts, engaging students with the content was a real challenge. Jessica took on a lot of personal responsibility to engage her students effectively in the remote and flexible

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**5. Findings**

capabilities.

*5.1.1 Inference*

**5.1 Case study analysis**

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

context. The challenges in engaging students in discussions from remote and flexible contexts included that the students have the agency to disengage. Jessica found that this was significantly different to the face-to-face context in relation to how she could engage them once they were dis-engaged. As a result, Jessica was conscious of the health and wellbeing of her students. This pastoral approach was emphasised through Jessica's reflections. As her method area was English, she also added a layer of relevance to their contexts and lining to real-world applications. A percentage of students in Jessica's class came from multi-cultural backgrounds. She chose to view this as a positive aspect as her students were bringing their life experiences and background journeys into the classroom. She celebrated the fact that her students were from varying backgrounds and honoured this in her approach to designing and delivering content. Jessica had a community approach to creating the culture in her classroom both remote and flexible and face-to-face. This included a sense of agency providing students with voice, opportunities to share and compelling them to engage with the content. Jessica found this experience as being an opportunity to "re-invent herself". With each placement and each cohort that she was teaching, she had to adapt and become "tech savvy" fluid with technology and quickly pick up things in relation to knowing her students. When back in a face-to-face context, this required change again to "thinking like a professional teacher" and begin to get to know the students in a professional manner. She learned many approaches to engaging with specific contexts from her mentor including the ways to speak to parents in a sensitive and empathetic way. When reflecting on the remote and flexible experience, Jessica thought that if a blended approach to teaching was to continue, she would set her expectations, norms and culture earlier and foster the community aspect of the context more efficiently and effectively. Jessica noted that she felt that impacts on health and wellbeing might be an enduring issue for her students once returning from remote and flexible teaching and learning. She noted that the break of consistency had affected more students than others, but she was concerned about some enduring disengagement while getting back into the "art of school" again.

As stated in previous sections of this chapter, detailed discussions around themes that were identified within each reflective journal and subsequent case study highlighted non-academic capabilities. This was supported not so much around a theory of reflection, but more so on applying the notion of noticing. The non-academic capabilities that were identified when analysed included inference, empathy, creativity, deduction, adaptability and pivoting (see **Table 1**). As each capability was outlined, it is important to note that as they may work independently of one another within this chapter. The authors acknowledge that the capabilities also intertwine and in practice, can emerge as occurring in parallel to other

Observable commonalities and differences across the three reflections were revealed when discussing the pattern of experiences regarding social disengagement in remote and flexible learning. Within Tatainia's reflections, despite the distance between herself and the students, there was an awareness of the disengagement of her students where she notes: "you could tell" when they were a disconnect in the teaching

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

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

context. The challenges in engaging students in discussions from remote and flexible contexts included that the students have the agency to disengage. Jessica found that this was significantly different to the face-to-face context in relation to how she could engage them once they were dis-engaged. As a result, Jessica was conscious of the health and wellbeing of her students. This pastoral approach was emphasised through Jessica's reflections. As her method area was English, she also added a layer of relevance to their contexts and lining to real-world applications. A percentage of students in Jessica's class came from multi-cultural backgrounds. She chose to view this as a positive aspect as her students were bringing their life experiences and background journeys into the classroom. She celebrated the fact that her students were from varying backgrounds and honoured this in her approach to designing and delivering content. Jessica had a community approach to creating the culture in her classroom both remote and flexible and face-to-face. This included a sense of agency providing students with voice, opportunities to share and compelling them to engage with the content. Jessica found this experience as being an opportunity to "re-invent herself". With each placement and each cohort that she was teaching, she had to adapt and become "tech savvy" fluid with technology and quickly pick up things in relation to knowing her students. When back in a face-to-face context, this required change again to "thinking like a professional teacher" and begin to get to know the students in a professional manner. She learned many approaches to engaging with specific contexts from her mentor including the ways to speak to parents in a sensitive and empathetic way. When reflecting on the remote and flexible experience, Jessica thought that if a blended approach to teaching was to continue, she would set her expectations, norms and culture earlier and foster the community aspect of the context more efficiently and effectively. Jessica noted that she felt that impacts on health and wellbeing might be an enduring issue for her students once returning from remote and flexible teaching and learning. She noted that the break of consistency had affected more students than others, but she was concerned about some enduring disengagement while getting back into the "art of school" again.
