Motivation to learn about teaching and learning materials: And their use during teacher education in Australia

Most research on teacher education has not considered the situated learning contexts and identities of pre-service teachers as they learn in different school and university settings in Australia. Especially problematic are the conflicting discourses that shape learning in these varied contexts. This paper explores aspects of motivation about the learning of teaching practices and pedagogy in the different learning environments of teacher education and school practicum; specifically the development of pedagogy and teaching practices around the use of textbooks and teaching and learning materials and the area of providing resources for student learning by teachers. Using Nolen’s concept of motivational filters that student teachers develop to select and reject teaching practices, the paper undertakes a qualitative research project to explore such filters in the area of developing pedagogy in the use of teaching and learning materials. The research presented in this paper demonstrates that the experiences student teachers are being provided with in relation to pedagogies related to teaching and learning materials are unstructured, fragmented and contested. The motivation to learn about teaching and learning materials and their role in learning and development is dependent on the utility filters developed in school fieldwork and reflects the socio-cultural context of the school. The critical questions for teacher educators is how do new and developing teachers learn how to mediate teaching and learning materials for their students, and in what form and learning context will this mediation learning take place.