The MYSA Position Paper and pre-service middle years teacher education: Surprisingly serendipitous synergies

Since 2007, there has been a flurry of activity at the national level by the Rudd Labor government in Australia to introduce significant changes to education policy for the nation. The redevelopment of the National Curriculum is underpinned by questions as to the phases/stages of schooling which will support the curriculum, bringing into focus unresolved questions about inclusion of a middle phase/stage in what has historically been a two phase model. At a national level the Middle Years of Schooling Association has worked to connect the various definitions, explanations and ideas of middle schooling through the Middle Schooling: People, Practices and Places Position Paper (2008). Further, longitudinal research of a middle years' teacher training program in an Australian university has sought to understand the concepts of 'middle years' and 'the middle years of schooling' from the perspective of pre-service teachers about to become middle years' teacher specialists. This longitudinal study has sought to provide much needed research data in the area of middle schooling. This paper looks at data from two cohorts in the teacher training program. An open content analysis was conducted in formulating themes that emerged from the participants' responses to the research questions, using a grounded theory approach. This small sample of the overall data set was used to develop and test the usefulness of the categories, enabling a complete analysis of the data from all cohorts to be conducted. Unexpectedly and serendipitously, the data revealed direct parallels between the thinking of the pre-service teachers and the concepts in the MYSA Position Paper (2008). This paper outlines these synergies.