Navigating through distance teacher education: taking comparative bearings in Australia and China

Abstract

This paper compares the approaches to course design and implementation for distance education students in two faculties of teacher education: one in an Australian regional university, the other in a Chinese metropolitan university. The comparison is predicated on the need for navigational tools to be deployed by staff members in both faculties to steer through the ‘sea’ of distance teacher education. The paper elaborates three fundamental influences on how those tools are selected and implemented: globalisation, de-differentiation and marketisation. The authors argue that international comparisons and research collaborations of this kind can facilitate effective navigation that promotes both student and staff satisfaction with distance teacher education. This is crucial if the professional and collegial agency of individuals and groups involved at all levels of distance teacher education is to receive the appropriate analytical recognition and political validation necessary for productive and mutually beneficial relationships between ‘producers’ and ‘consumers’ in this dynamic and sometimes turbulent ‘sea’.