A shifting notion in the field of early childhood education (ECE) is what it is to be a ‘professional’. This paper examines third-year early childhood undergraduate pre-service teachers (PSTs) developing understandings of notions of ‘professionalism’ as expressed through identity texts. PSTs develop knowledge of standards, frameworks and policies that impact on their professional work and undertake a review of legislative requirements. As a counterpart, the intent of this teaching unit and its associated research was to move PSTs beyond regulatory requirements to assist them to develop a critical awareness of the notion of ‘professionalism’. To gather evidence of PSTs own dynamic perceptions of what ‘professionalism’ entails, insights were gleaned from the ways they responded to an identity text workshop activity that asked them to represent ‘professionalism’ through visual imagery and text. These insights are discussed in terms of ‘sedimented identities’ and three sites of meaning of an image. The findings suggest that developing conceptions of professionalism in ECE are sedimented over time through engagement with generic principles from the workplace and official government documents that regulate the profession of early childhood education.

This case study explores the development of a community of practice (CoP) of early childhood (EC) teachers following the introduction of a screening process for pre-school children. Empirical insights arising from a project show how EC teachers engaged with Allied Health Professionals to undertake inter-professional work to address the potential impacts of disadvantage on young learners. The inter-professional project aimed to create opportunities for program enhancement for the participating kindergartens in an identified vulnerable community. The lens of Wenger’s Communities of Practice was used for data analysis of the interview and focus group data collected to inform this discussion. A number of benefits arose during the course of this case study, as the development of the CoP had flow-on effects to individual and collective practice, including engagement with stakeholders, such as parents. Another benefit, and second focal point of this paper, was how the development of a CoP impacted on the professional identity of the teachers involved.

The complexity inherent in the TESOL field can present challenges for Language Teacher Associations (LTAs) in undertaking internal‐facing roles such as professional learning including networking, conferences and publications, as well as external‐facing roles such as advocacy work with stakeholders, and curriculum reform, among other issues (e.g., Elsheikh & Effiong, 2018b; Lamb, 2012; Paran, 2016). LTAs must be cognizant of and responsive to changing socio‐political, policy, funding factors influencing TESOL provision, as well as the changing pedagogical needs of educators working across sectors. This study investigates the factors which influence and shape English as an Additional Language (EAL) education across a local (state based) EAL context and considers how these findings can inform the activities and practices of LTAs. Q methodology, which combines the use of qualitative and quantitative data, is employed to provide insights into current, deeply held perspectives of educators in relation to EAL provision. Findings provide insights into contextual variables which impact on EAL provision in adult education and school‐based contexts, including intensive English education for refugee and migrant children. This in turn provides an opportunity to consider implications of these findings for LTA activities and practices, in particular, in relation to professional learning, leadership and advocacy.

It has been widely recognised that plurilingual pedagogy offers many benefits both for language learning and learning in general. However, in contexts where the linguistic profile of students is diverse, it can still be challenging for teachers to view working with the language resources of their students as feasible. In this article, we discuss how engaging students in digital multimodal composing (DMC) can support teachers’ uptake of plurilingual pedagogy. We draw on data collected from a design-based qualitative study that investigated the implementation of plurilingual pedagogy in primary classrooms in Australia. In this study, teachers engaged in professional learning on plurilingual strategies alongside digital multimodal composing. The study identified a number of affordances of digital multimodal composing that were particularly beneficial for inclusion of students’ varying knowledge of language. They included (1) an aural mode of meaning-making, (2) a playful composing process and (3) a flexible interplay of languages and modes in digital texts. The article concludes by discussing approaches to the use of digital multimodal composing for plurilingual strategies in linguistically diverse settings.

This paper examines school principal responses to the policy discourse of widening participation in higher education. As a critical analysis of how policy is produced, read and responded to by principals [Bacchi, C., 2009. Analysing policy: what's the problem represented to be? New York: Pearson], the paper questions the assumptions underpinning policies aiming to widen participation of young people in schools where families have traditionally not viewed higher education as a possible or desirable option [e.g. Bok, J., 2010. The capacity to aspire to higher education: ‘It's like making them do a play without a script’. Critical studies in education, 51 (2), 163–178]. Policy is adopted, adapted, ignored or countered by principals and teachers due to ‘situated necessity’ resulting from the history, location, pupil and parental social mix, staffing, material and economic conditions of the school and community infrastructure [Braun, A., et al., 2011. Taking context seriously: towards explaining policy enactments in the secondary school. Discourse: studies in the cultural politics of education, 32 (4), 585–596]. The data are drawn from principal interviews undertaken when researching a Year 8 Mentoring and Tutoring programme, one component of a three-year Access Express programme, a federally funded Higher Education and Partnership and Participation Programme, developed by a collaboration between a Victorian university and 7 secondary schools. Access Express’ focus on university-school partnerships captured the trend in Australia, the UK and USA during the 2000s to facilitate transitioning out-of-school through long-term university-school partnerships [Armstrong, D. and Cairnduff, A., 2011. Building university-school partnerships. In: D. Bottrell and S. Goodwin, eds. Schools, communities and social inclusion. South Yarra: Palgrave Macmillan, 268–279].