There is considerable empirical evidence that teachers make a difference for learners, (e.g. Alton-Lee, 2003;  Hattie, 2003). The nature of the impact on learners, whether positive or negative, relates in part to the level of teacher action competence and culturally responsive praxis. In particular, it is evident that schools with high concentrations of effective teachers accelerate student learning in ways that help close achievement gaps.

In Europe, there is a perceived challenge for educators in the preparation of teachers who are responsive to learner needs in contexts of population mobility and cultural diversity, which is reflected in calls for the development of intercultural and multilingual competencies and culturally responsive practice in initial teacher education (ITE) (see, for example, Caena & Margiotta, 2010; Pecek, Macura-Milovanovic & Vujisic-Živkovic, 2014). In Aotearoa New Zealand, there are similar calls for changes in teacher preparation programmes to better support culturally diverse learners, albeit in a particular national and cultural context. The gap between the high and the low achieving students in Aotearoa New Zealand is one of the largest among OECD nations and outcomes differentials for students from particular cultural backgrounds remains a persistent problem of practice for schools and teachers (Ministry of Education, 2008). There are community-based and political drivers for ITE to better reflect and address the aspirations of Māori as tangata whenua (first people of the land) and to be more responsive to diverse learners, including Pasifika, linguistically diverse students and and students with special educational needs. The research reported in this paper is grounded in the Aoteroa New Zealand context, but it speaks to an interest in the preparation of quality, action competent and culturally responsive teachers that is held in common with European educators.

Central to notion of quality teaching is the concept of ‘action competence’ (Fontes, 2004). Drawn from the field of environmental education, this concept speaks broadly to ideas of social sustainability and justice in education. In the context of initial teacher education, action competence includes having a repertoire of effective pedagogical tools. More than this, though, it denotes having knowledge about learners, society and teaching (knowing about), combined with know-how and knowledge of how to act (knowledge in action), and the will to act to bring about educational change (values for action). Action competence for teachers implies a vision for social and cultural sustainability in education, a sense of moral purpose to address educational inequities and injustices, a commitment to individual and collective action, and capacity to critically reflect and respond to practice challenges in support of diverse learners; that is, to engage in culturally responsive praxis.

Theoretically, this study is grounded within a socio-cultural constructivist framework of learning and knowledge in relation to initial teacher education. This theoretical perspective assumes that “human beings do not find or discover knowledge so much as we construct or make it” (Schwandt, 2000, p. 197). Moreover, the construction of knowledge and understandings takes place within a social context where new learning is shaped by prior knowledge and cultural perspectives, and learning, motivation and personal identity are inextricably intertwined (Shepard, 2000). Knowledge, therefore, can be understood as co-constructed and distributed among individuals as they “interact with one another and with cultural artifacts, such as pictures, texts, discourse, and gestures” (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 90). This interaction results not in a personal form of learning and sense making, but rather, a shared, public understanding of the object, problem, or event. The development of teacher action competence takes place through social interaction and critical engagement with artifacts, problems of practice and different discourses.

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