Positioning the technologies curriculum: a snapshot of Australian initial teacher education programs

Globally, technology is now a vital element of the school curriculum. Technology has changed the way children learn, and when teachers integrate technology into pedagogical practices, resources, and assessment it expands the way teachers teach. This paper explores how initial teacher education (ITE) programs across Australia position the Technologies Curriculum. It uses data provided at a symposium of teacher educators who deliver ITE in the use of technologies. The paper maps data from 32 universities, including primary, secondary, undergraduate and postgraduate programs. It also investigates the naming conventions of courses in these programs and exemplifies the student experience by providing three vignettes from three programs in three different states. The findings suggest that Technologies education in Australia is offered in many ways to pre-service teachers, thus the landscape of this teaching area is diverse. This paper contributes to the field in being the first research to explore how Australian universities teach Technologies within their ITE programs. It offers a snapshot of how technologies are positioned in Australian ITE programs.