Factors in instructional decision-making, ratings of evidence and intended instructional practices of Australian final year teacher education students

There has been increasing interest in an evidence-based approach to education in Australia, but relatively little research has provided relevant data on knowledge of the evidence base for instructional practices among teachers preparing to enter the profession. Final year teacher education students (N = 290) in 15 Australian tertiary institutions were surveyed on their understanding of the strength of evidence for 14 instructional strategies and their intended frequency of use of the strategies following graduation. They were also asked to rate the importance of factors they considered in instructional decision-making. Empirical evidence was important in selection of instructional practices but personal preference and, in particular, practicum experiences were considered more important. Students were very confident in their ability to make judgements regarding the evidence base for a range of instructional strategies and tended to rate all strategies as relatively effective. Their judgements, however, did not correlate strongly with available evidence. Intended use of strategies correlated highly with strength of evidence ratings. Implications of these findings for teacher preparation and future research are considered.