The National Embedded Cross-Sector Teacher Education (NECSTEP) is an innovative initial teacher education pilot led by AC, in collaboration with researchers at UNSW and ACU, and in partnership with NSW Department of Education. Currently the program involves 8 unique school clusters (teaching school hubs) and over 60 schools nationally.

AC researchers are undertaking longitudinal research to identify the active ingredients in initial teacher education that lead to classroom, school, and sector-ready teachers.

This research is underpinned by what we see as the fundamental goal of initial teacher education: to ensure that those wishing to enter the teaching profession are ready to do so. Although the concept of readiness is complex and nuanced, our researchers are investigating whether there are identifiable elements foundational to any initial teacher education program, whether embedded or traditional.

Research within the Teaching School Hubs Cluster has four key aims:

• To identify the active ingredients unique to a school-embedded teacher education pathway.
• To explore the influence of these unique active ingredients on the preparedness of initial teacher education students.
• To understand who is best placed to support and guide initial teacher education students in relation to each of these ingredients.
• To develop a model to track and measure the growth and development of initial teacher education students, with the aim of understanding the impact of specific unique active ingredients.

More information about school hubs teacher training at AC can be found here.