Teaching is becoming a more demanding and complex undertaking and assessing learning that takes place even more so.

In the midst of all the developments taking place within the profession, locally and internationally, teacher educators play a critical role. What teachers, school leaders, LSAs do, or do not do, affects the well-being of many, and educators constantly make many unscripted decisions in class every single day. In this context of unprecedented change, educators have to grapple with understanding how to adapt to a changing and fluid landscape.

This is the landscape a teacher education institution has to be sensitive to. An awareness of educators’ needs and engagement with our context is essential for the Faculty of Education to remain relevant and provide relevance for teacher educators. The more we engage with the realities facing educators, the more we can adequately review and develop meaningful courses.

There is no room for complacency. Whereas in the past the Faculty of Education was practically the sole provider for prospective teachers and for their Continuing Professional Development, this is no longer the case. This is not a negative development, as competition is useful to develop different perspectives and to face challenges that lie ahead. It may also help to raise standards.

Our main intent, through this article, is to present the rationale for the faculty’s move to raise Initial Teacher Education to Master level, as opposed to a first-cycle Bachelor degree and the one-year PGCE.

Driven by the principle that teachers deserve to be well-prepared and adequately qualified to address the needs of the learners under their care, we have decided to embark on a review that will take us from teaching faculty students ‘about’ teaching to ‘how to’ teach, what world-renowned teacher-educator Linda Darling-Hammond described as “learning about practice in practice” at the recent Teacher Education Policy in Europe Network conference organized by the faculty last May.

The shift is towards a model where student-teachers learn by working alongside skilled practitioners

While courses offered by the faculty have always been directed towards the combination of theory and practice, the format of the existing programme allowed limited time for school-based initiatives. Now this is going to change. In fact, the Master in Teaching and Learning (MTL), to commence next October, revolves around the placement students will carry out in schools, which will include two days of observations and reflection throughout the whole year, as well as a five-week block practicum session.

The MTL thereby mirrors what takes place in other caring professions that have a clinical or practicum component. For example, medical students learn how to practise medicine by working regularly alongside skilled doctors. Educational or clinical psychologists undertake internships in the field as part of their preparation. As DeMonte (2016) argues, as “these professions require practitioners to work directly with clients, as does teaching, so it seems reasonable that an improved programme for preparing teachers would resemble what takes place in these professional schools” (p. 67).

The shift is towards a model where student teachers learn by working alongside and with skilled practitioners. The MTL places field placement at the core of the two-year professional Master course, with student-teachers having ongoing and meaningful experiences in schools and other learning settings. Student-teachers will therefore be placed in schools from the beginning of the academic year and their observation sessions will be mainly based on tasks which will be completed through the support and guidance of school-based teacher mentors.

Research on teacher preparation supports these changes. Various colleagues from well-established and leading universities in teacher education have moved towards a Master degree with a more ‘clinical’ slant, more professionally oriented given its focus on application and on direct engagement in the field. Emerging findings suggest that having student-teachers spend more time in schools raises new teachers’ effectiveness. The MTL also was developed following extensive discussions with the Ministry for Education and Employment and with all local stakeholders. The proposed course has been evaluated rigorously, both externally and internally, by the University’s Academic Programme Quality and Resource Unit.

Through more school-based activities student-teachers learn about, observe and practise specific skills. They will learn to appreciate the school within the community in which it is set, as well as school life and what it entails. The preparation, as envisaged through the MTL, rather than simply regarding arguments about what teachers ought to be able to do, places them at the heart of our schools, within structures aimed to challenge, provoke and engage in critical discourse as student- teachers map their way forward. They will discuss school culture, explore inclusion policies and practices; ways schools address multicultural issues, plan lessons, reflect on the tasks they set, learn the difficult task of affecting the physical, emotional and cognitive development of human beings.

This is our belief, our commitment. While confident that this Master programme in Initial Teacher Education represents the way forward, the faculty will review the different components of the programme once it is launched, in order to ensure that nothing but the best experiences are provided to those who want to join a demanding but fruitful profession.

Christopher Bezzina is professor in educational leadership and head of the Department of Leadership for Learning and Innovation, Faculty of Education, University of Malta. Sandro Caruana is is professor of language education and dean, Faculty of Education, University of Malta.