What does it mean for early career teachers to be classroom ready?

This chapter discusses how teacher perceptions about early career teacher (ECT) qualities reflect conflicting attitudes towards the competencies and capacities needed for them to be ‘classroom ready’ at the start of their careers. Data collected from a small sample of participants as part of the second phase of the Delphi process implemented in the What’s the Evidence study is used to demonstrate the lack of agreement on what being classroom ready might mean for ECTs in Australia. Responses to a survey that portray contrasting opinions about indicators deemed ‘least essential’ for ECTs were open, axial, and selectively coded into themes related to teacher career development, the cerebral or crafted nature of teaching, and the interrelated nature of indicators of teacher quality. Although only seven qualities were discussed by the respondents, the comments made about the indicators of creativity, analytical, advocacy, agency, leadership, influence, and self-confidence raised broad issues related to the attributes, capacities, and behaviours required of ECTs. The results raise interesting questions about the impact on teacher identity as ECTs negotiate divergent conceptions of classroom readiness.