Empowering future teachers to shape healthier, more engaged classrooms
Associate Professor Natalie Lander is on a mission to transform pre-service teacher education programs to create confident, capable, and classroom-ready graduates who drive positive learning and health outcomes for students.
In an education landscape reshaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, Associate Professor Lander sees a unique opportunity to rethink how we prepare future teachers.
In partnership with five Australian universities, she is leading the innovative TransformUs Higher Ed project, designed to empower future teachers with the confidence and skills they need to improve the learning, wellbeing, and physical activity outcomes of primary school students they go on to teach.
“This is our chance to inspire the next generation of teachers and equip them with the tools to foster dynamic, engaging, positive and supportive learning environments,” she said.
Funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant, this initiative consists of three key studies.
The first study explores the impact of the TransformUs Higher Ed program, which is delivered by education lecturers to first-year undergraduate teachers at two universities. It investigates how participation in the program shapes teaching readiness in the later years of their degree.
The second study assesses how undergraduate teachers use the program to demonstrate their practical teaching skills in alignment with the Australian Professional Standards for Graduate Teachers in their final year.
The third study follows participants into their graduate year of teaching and evaluates the program’s influence on primary school students’ engagement, wellbeing, and physical activity.
By comparing outcomes at intervention universities with a control university, this research will provide valuable insights into the program’s effectiveness.
“With the nation facing teacher burnout and an unprecedented teacher shortage, this project couldn’t come at a more critical time,” Associate Professor Lander said.
“Our findings will inform future teacher training practices, simultaneously improving teacher readiness and competence as well as improving health and learning outcomes for all Australian children—and potentially for children around the world.”
