Heraclitus has been credited with saying that “change is the only constant in life”. In education, change is definitely constant, but this has many different meanings. Both in the classroom and in the corridors of policy, change is continuous, often under the banner of “education FOR change”. However, the deeper questions revolve around for whom the change is meant and by whom the change is to be implemented. This is particularly the case in the arena of teacher education. Taking examples from the current Australian context, this presentation explores changes in teacher education policy in terms of both teacher candidate selection and programme accreditation. It will be demonstrated how the selection changes being implemented are exclusionary with the potential to perpetuate social injustices. There will also be exploration of the narrowing of curriculum offerings through the new accreditation process, resulting in a more mechanistic education for children in schools. The presentation will conclude by comparing the context in Australia with other international contexts and raising the question as to how best to educate our future teachers for the changes they will be asked to implement in their classrooms.
