The notion of classroom readiness and graduating new teachers from initial teacher education programs is often linked with the highly charged rhetoric of the effectiveness and utility of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programs and teacher quality (Darling-Hammond et al., 2005). In Australia, this has resulted in a series of ongoing reviews of the Initial Teacher Education sector (e.g. TEMAG, 2014; Paul, 2021; Productivity Commission, 2022), which have policy implications for national professional standards and the accreditation of programs. Australian ITE providers are required to include a final Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) as evidence of pre-service teachers (PSTs) meeting the Australian Professional Standards for Graduate Teachers (AITSL, 2015). In the first part of this paper, we locate TPAs in the current policy context and discuss the development of the Assessment for Graduate Teaching (AfGT) as a case study of TPAs. The AfGT comprises four elements, designed to provide a robust and comprehensive assessment of a PST’s ‘readiness to teach’ and is currently implemented by a consortium of fifteen Australian ITE providers. In order to be classroom-ready, PSTs are expected to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the impact of culture, cultural identity, and linguistic background on the education of students from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds, understanding of and respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures, and languages, understanding of legislative requirements and teaching strategies that support participation and learning of students with disability and knowledge of practical approaches to manage challenging behaviour in diverse school contexts. We then present data that tracks the progress of PSTs from selection through to the assessment of classroom readiness for a cohort of PSTs undertaking the AfGT. We discuss the relationship between the PSTs’ individual dispositions, expectations and beliefs and their ability to judge authentic and recognisable situations and dilemmas faced in school settings. We argue that when PSTs have a deep understanding and a repertoire of strategies that cater for the diversity of students represented in classrooms, they are better equipped to mitigate issues associated with disadvantage and access to quality education and curriculum (Villegas, 2007). Finally, we consider the implications of these findings beyond the Australian context and reflect on the work completed in Finland across two Master of Teaching programs from two universities in order to discuss the predictive relationships between teacher dispositions and successful classroom readiness for national and international education research and policy reform.

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