ABSTRACT
This chapter from Australia explores the problem of resisting the dominant policy discourses that favour standardised accreditation and teacher education curriculum. It sees the trends of ‘standards’ and certain kinds of ‘evidence’ in so-called clinical evidence-based practice approaches as elements of global colonisation of education. Philpott’s writing within the teacher education system is suggested as a form of ‘slow activism’ (Robins, 2014), providing directions for practice for teachers and pre-service teachers to comply creatively, while building their own judgement and repertoire of practice. His work provides different orientations to ‘evidence’ about practice priorities and articulates a careful minimisation of attention to large-scale studies and their relevance. An initiative to expand pre-service teacher willingness to consider rural teaching – where most schools are defined as ‘hard to staff’ for their remoteness – is explored as another approach to ‘slow activism’, building partnerships among a teacher education programme, employer authorities, and rural community agencies, including schools. Promoting teaching as an act of ethical citizenship offers a different understanding of ‘resistance’ to policy which, if alliances are built with community groups, has the potential to shift public discourse about education.
