Preservice Teachers’ Pedagogical Mobility: A Case Study about Classroom Preparedness and Flexibility in a Disrupted Professional Placement Context

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Introduction
The challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic created limitations regarding initial teacher education (ITE) and its preparation of preservice teachers for changing contexts, particularly in regard to their enacted "pedagogical mobility." This paper focuses on specific events that occurred for one graduating preservice teacher and an ITE educator after the sudden shifting education context caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its lockdowns, which eliminated the established plans for the teacher's final practicum.The underlying question guiding this paper is: How do preservice teachers and ITE teacher educators understand the pedagogical mobility of graduating preservice teachers and their innovative pedagogical exploration against the background of teacher performance assessment expectations in the COVID-19 era?The paper conceptualizes pedagogical mobility as a sound knowledge of pedagogical positions and the capacity to adjust, adopt, and enact pedagogies with a context-consciousness (Du Plessis, 2020) to impact students' learning within specific contextual requirements, and this question was explored using case study data.We investigated the way the rapidly changing context of the COVID-19 pandemic influenced (a) a preservice teacher's pedagogical reasoning during professional experience placement, (b) the validation of developing professional identity, as per the action and intention of professional placement, and (c) the impact of the pandemic upon the levels of professional confidence.
The case study is limited to a five-week period (October-November 2020), which was influenced by disruptive COVID-19 contexts of a rapid transformation from face-to-face teaching to online teaching during placement.This shift in pedagogical delivery impacted the preservice teacher's altered practicum while being based off-shore in Malaysia.The online teaching environment and online mentoring/supervising of the practicum created an environment in which disruptive innovation became part of the decision-making process.During this time, the preservice teacher and the ITE educator in Australia kept reflective diaries about observations and experiences.A reflective case study was deemed a suitable model for the study due to its ability to generate knowledge from in-depth descriptions of a specific set of events.The case study comprises two critical self-reflective narratives involving the issues of a contextually shifted practicum and the support needed.A critical self-reflective narrative allows researchers to "reflect both 'in' and 'on' action" (Chambers et al., 2003, p. 406), thus creating more opportunities for knowledge generation (Bashan & Holsblat, 2017;Pratt, 1992).
A context-conscious lens was vital to this investigation, for which the theoretical frame Context-Consciousness Understanding Development was adopted, which enhances its exposition (C-CUD) (Du Plessis, 2020)." [O]ur experiences are rooted in context," as Merriam (1997, p. 31) observes, and case study knowledge "resonates" because it is evocative and palpable.The clear boundaries offered by the C-CUD theory underpin the analysis by situating data within these various concurrent contextual matters: (a) the rapidly changing education context of the C19P; (b) issues of established ITE preparation and assessment, quality assurance, and professionalism; and (c) the connection between pedagogy and practice and the development of teacher confidence and readiness.

The COVID-19 Intersection: Adaptation or Realization?
Ensuring that well-prepared graduate teachers enter the teaching workforce is the core aim of ITE providers; however, the context of the COVID-19 pandemic brought a disruptive innovation, and it has redefined what is known as teacher preparedness and the meaning of "safe" teaching and learning environments.Christensen and Euchner (2011, p. 12) suggest that "…almost the only way to [find the disruptive opportunity] is to just watch how the customers live their lives."Rapidly changing teaching environments change teaching practices and pose significant challenges for both preservice teachers and their educators' pedagogical knowledge and mobility and give new meaning to enacted teacher standards, performance assessments, valid student evidence, and teaching flexibility.The creation of new emotionally and physically safe teaching and learning environments informed by pedagogical reasoning become the focus within rapidly changing education environments.Christensen and Euchner (2011, p. 16) emphasize the foundation of adaptation: "…when you see members standing in the way of what might seem to be an obvious innovation, it's not because they're obstructionists, but because they don't understand how to frame the problem." The increasing shift towards online platforms for teaching and learning has pushed some higher education institutions out of their comfort zone of delivering quality education.There are calls from various stakeholders for novel ways to enable educators' learning using interactive software (Başal & Eryılmaz, 2020) as part of their integral preparation for pedagogical mobility.For the education sector, the COVID-19 pandemic has created challenges for preservice teachers and educators alike to adapt their strategies to ensure graduating teachers develop their pedagogical knowledge, professional experience, confidence, and professional teaching identity as they are intrinsic to their classroom readiness and preparedness for quality education.König et al. (2020) claim that restricted learning opportunities result in restricted skills development.Research by Grossman et al. (2009) and Cho and Clark-Gareca (2020) advocates for specific skill development techniques for preservice teachers, such as making video recordings of their micro-teaching, providing the opportunity for them to engage in a reflective and critical analysis of their teaching performance.This strategy is supported by Cho and Clark-Gareca (2020) and Ruppert and Pisano (2020), who claim that the value of such reflective strategies stimulates necessary professional learning opportunities.Moyo (2020) asserts that preservice teachers cannot graduate without gaining practical experience in a classroom.In the current times of disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic, learning opportunities may be impacted when they involve adjusting pedagogies to accommodate context and learning needs, requiring the concepts of quality teaching to be deeply reflected upon regarding how they may manifest in both online spaces and traditional classrooms.Ruppert and Pisano (2020) propose that engaging in ongoing critical reflection exemplifies the learning scope for preservice teachers through observation, noting their considerable challenges surrounding ongoing professional learning.When students are only reachable in an online space, the viable accessibility of curricula as real-life, socially-engaged learning needs to be reflected upon.Moyo (2020) emphasizes that "the emerging 'new normal' should not compromise the quality assurance mechanisms developed over time" (p.536) and upholds the need to avoid a precedent for a "paradigm shift in teacher education philosophy and practice" (p.538).The notion of teaching as a craft and practice that are refined while engaging with students through reflection on their teaching processes underpins this philosophy.This philosophy entails not only viewing the process of ITE in regard to performance results or marks but also as the structure by which preservice teachers can gain new knowledge, teaching strategies, and professional development on a sustained and supervised platform (Ngara et al., 2013 Furlong et al. (2000, p. 13) state that "strong practical skills understood and justified through an intellectually rigorous process" influence effective pedagogical reasoning.
This paper focuses on concerns regarding upholding and reflecting on the advent of the "new normal" on the levels of professionalism and effective skill development.The paper explores the question of "What constitutes quality teacher performance?"within these contexts.The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) at the Graduate level (AITSL, 2015) set expectations for teacher performance, and these expectations are embedded in the internalization, integration, and application of content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and pedagogical knowledge (Shulman, 1998).During professional experience placements, these pedagogies are supervised teaching experiences integral to the quality of ITE programs.
1.2 What Constitutes Quality Teaching?

Standards and Assessment
In Australia, the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG) (Craven et al., 2015) and the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL, 2015(AITSL, , 2017) ) construct and uphold teacher performance improvement strategies and performance assessment instruments as part of ITE and its improvement.The accreditation of ITE programs in Australia (AITSL, 2019) and the implementation of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) at the graduate level (AITSL, 2015(AITSL, , 2017) ) direct these improvement strategies.TEMAG's (Craven et al., 2015) report emphasized classroom readiness, highlighting areas of potential teacher education improvement.Their report highlights the need for key new directions in ITE to bridge the gap between theory and practice.Craven et al. (2015) argue that there should be a stronger focus on preparing preservice teachers' levels of pedagogical knowledge mobility to suit different contexts in both physical and virtual classrooms.The key principles set in the Program Standards for Accreditation (AITSL, 2019) underpin this investigation on preservice teachers' pedagogical mobility during a period of disruptive innovation.

Development of Pedagogical Mobility as Disruptive Innovation
The concept of preservice teachers' skill development of pedagogical mobility aligns with Schöenfeld (2014) teachers' active, in-the-moment teaching and engagement theory as a function of pedagogical mobility embedded in observing and understanding students' interests, needs, and abilities.Schöenfeld suggests that a focus on student evidence drives the creation of impactful pedagogies and decision-making.Vygotsky's (1978) sociocultural learning theory further underpins the teachers' role to carefully guide student learning.Pedagogically confident and well-prepared teachers are more open to exploring new approaches and demonstrate flexibility to negotiate the epistemological tensions that may occur related to their teaching requirements, such as content knowledge, pedagogical decisions, and the integration of values and beliefs.The concept of pedagogical mobility is embedded in Van Manen's (2016, p. 49) crucial argument of developing "attentive attunement" for teachers to act with confidence as the knowledgeable "other" in teaching and learning spaces.Sadler (1989) underlines that preservice teachers must acquire "superior knowledge" of the content and "deep knowledge" of standards and assessment skills as resources they can use to assess students' work (p.60).Borg (2004) examined preservice teachers' awareness of the limitations of certain teaching models linked to contextual factors and found that preservice teachers often felt "powerless to change because of a lack of alternatives" (p.275).The expectation in the quality assurance-ITE partnership is that professional placements offer preservice teachers the opportunity to enact theories, pedagogical methods, and concepts while exploring and applying pedagogical knowledge in the classroom context (Farrell, 2001;Reese, 2012;Touchon & Gwyn-Paquette, 2003).Preservice teachers' professional experience supports the transformation of internalized professional knowledge toward a structured knowledge base.Weak links between theory and practice, which are often mentioned as a challenge (Hartsuyker, 2007;Turner, 2011), manifest as preservice teachers' struggle to control their performance confidence/anxiety in rapidly changing contexts (Feiman-Nemser, 2001;Korthagen & Kessels, 1999;Spooner-Lane et al., 2009).This research design supports a reflection on lived experiences linked to disruptive innovation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic context and the impact on (a) a preservice teacher's pedagogical reasoning and pedagogical mobility, (b) the validation of their developing professional identities linked to effective action and intention, and (c) their levels of personal and professional confidence, self-esteem, and satisfaction.

Theoretical Frame
The theoretical framework for this critical self-reflective narrative case study is anchored in the C-CUD theory (Du Plessis, 2019, 2020, 2021), which was specifically designed to allow for a deeper understanding of the various contexts, situations, lived experiences, and understanding that intertwine to form the teaching and learning environment.In this study, the impact of the rapidly changing context of the COVID-19 pandemic is added.Central to the C-CUD approach are the concepts of context-consciousness and awareness of specific situations, lived experiences, and understanding (internationalization of knowledge), which influence the depth of teaching and learning.It combines the philosophies of Van Manen (1990Manen ( , 2016)), Lave and Wenger (1991), Vygotsky (1978), and Gadamer (1975, 1976) to form a strong theoretical position from which to investigate challenges in 21st century teaching and learning contexts.
First, Van Manen's (1977, 1990) appreciation of lived experiences provides a lens through which the influence of preservice teachers' professional placement on their pedagogical learning experiences can be analyzed.Van Manen (2016, p. 65) asserts that "a good teacher does not just happen," but rather "a good teacher embodies" both the knowledge they teach and the specific context or climate in which they teach; each of these, and their strength in "attentive attunement," can profoundly influence their confidence in their pedagogical ability (p.49).C-CUD theory thus upholds that teachers' work effectively embodies a context-consciousness understanding (Du Plessis, 2020).
Second, in alignment with an improved level of context-consciousness understanding, the C-CUD frame embraces the social constructivist theory of Vygotsky (1978), which acknowledges the complex learning and teaching environment while emphasizing the guiding role of teachers to carefully and sensitively center teaching decisions on the needs of their students' learning within a specific context.Observing that learning is a situated act (Lave & Wenger, 1991) draws attention to the pedagogical knowledge, strategies, and reasoning teachers enact to ensure students are full participants in the sociocultural practice of learning-even despite a change in context from face-to-face to online learning.
Third, Gadamer's (1975Gadamer's ( , 1976) ) hermeneutic philosophy provides a foundation for a deeper linguistic search for understanding-in this case, through a preservice teacher's reflections on their pedagogical mobility and those of their ITE educator.As the literature has established, the pedagogical knowledge of preservice teachers is developed through lived experiences of applying their professional knowledge (Botha & Reddy, 2011;Olson, 2010;Paulick, et al. 2016) and recognizing that these lived experiences have value for the critical analysis of ITE programs.The C-CUD theory in the context of this research offers a framework in which critical reflections are possible regarding how pedagogical mobility influences the levels of preservice teachers' professional learning experiences and better prepares them as effective and confident graduate preservice teachers.The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the multilayered complexities of pedagogical reasoning, and the C-CUD theoretical framework underpins the context-conscious lens that guides teachers' focus towards the core issues in a rapidly changing professional experience teaching and learning environment.Attention turns to teaching performance assessment expectations and standards that were developed with face-to-face learning and teaching in mind, recognizing the additional cognitive load and physical workload associated with rapid change.The C-CUD theory offers a robust structure for reflecting on graduating teachers' preparedness to apply "pedagogical thoughtfulness" (Van Manen, 1990 p. 43).

Methodology
Stenhouse (1978) argues that case studies are valuable for drawing out the deeper research understandings of contemporary history.A case study's value is to observe the complexity of an education context and the diversity of its individual and organizational participants as a bounded unit (Hamilton & Corbett-Whittier, 2013).This study embraces a descriptive case study design, offering in-depth descriptions embracing "the complete, literal description of the entity being investigated" (Merriam,1997, pp. 29-30).The investigation employs a reflective case study approach that presents rich descriptions while understanding and being aware of the participants' critical, self-reflective, narrative descriptions of their lived experiences (Hamilton & Corbett-Whittier, 2013;Stake, 1995).
The methodology presents a lens on the "vivid, concrete, and sensory" (Merriam, 1997, p. 31) aspects of intimate thoughts and lived experiences of how and why a specific situation impacted the learning experience and life-worlds (the context that influences lived experiences).
The investigation is guided by the research question, How do preservice teachers and ITE teacher educators understand the pedagogical mobility of graduating preservice teachers and innovative pedagogical exploration against the background of teacher performance assessment expectations in the COVID-19 era?The case study methodology allows for an immersive, close inspection of the situation so that participants' experiences may become a tool for knowledge that potentially improves practice (Baron & McNeal, 2019).

Study Context
The investigation period covered five weeks in October and November of 2020.One case study focuses on a preservice teacher who was due to return to Australia from Malaysia to complete her final professional placement in a Year 3 primary school setting when the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted international travel and caused domestic lockdowns.To avoid having her practicum indefinitely delayed, the student was permitted to engage in a face-to-face offshore placement, yet this arrangement rapidly shifted to one of online teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown restrictions.The second case study involves the ITE educator … more explanation needed here The preservice teacher and the ITE educator participant agreed to develop critical narratives of their disruptive innovation process and to share their journeys of learning and lived experiences through a context-conscious lens.
The preservice teacher participant considered teaching decisions and how it related to students' learning experiences (pedagogical reasoning).Participants reflected on the following questions: "How is classroom readiness perceived against the background of online teaching spaces?", "What does quality teaching look like?", "What is effective teaching?","How is evidence of competence applied through the AITSL standards?",and "What does the expectation of concrete APST mean for the constitution of evidence?".The preservice participant composed their narratives during and after their five-week placement, and the researchers coded their phrases, concepts, and key words to finalize the thematic analysis.

Thematic Analysis
The data comprised two critical self-reflective narratives about their lived experiences during placement and the preparation period for their placement that captures the enactment of internalized pedagogical knowledge.Hamilton and Corbett-Whittier (2013) describe the construction and description of a reflective case study; rigor demands the analysis include statements coded according to thematic analysis, as summarized through examples in Table 1.The first phase of analysis involved color codes, while the second phase of analysis involved subthemes.The truths shared through statements were coded with key codes and subcodes, such as PT_th1_subth3 (preservice teacher, theme 1, subtheme 3) and HET_th4_subth5 (Higher Education Teacher, theme 4, subtheme 5).

Results: Data and Data Collection
The narratives were revised for minor mechanics of grammar and typing, and any additional information necessary to clarify the narrative was included in square brackets.Thematic analysis tags appear in superscript.

Reflection 1: The Graduating Preservice Teacher
The objective of assessing preservice teachers' performance is to provide an opportunity for them to demonstrate their ability to engage competently and effectively with teaching practice.A key component of teacher preparation is professional experience during school placement.This means that performance assessments during professional experience become influential in determining a preservice teachers' readiness for the classroom.Comments from the preservice teacher participant included: I was prepared to engage with my supervising/mentor teacher to learn through modelling, observation, and mentorship Th3_subth5 .
In my view, these strategies served as an invaluable opportunity to engage with and show my understanding of performance standards Th2_subth4 (AITSL, 2015).
My preparation in planning for the full cycle of teaching during my final professional experience placement turned my focus to the value of gathering and using my classroom students' data and evidence to make choices pertaining to the curriculum and pedagogical practice Th1_ subth2 .
Amidst the outbreak of COVID-19 at the end of 2019, the world order was disrupted, including education systems (Pokhrel & Chhetri, 2021).The preservice teacher participant shared several concerns, such as should I defer my studies?Would my teacher preparation be positively received by future employers?As the participant was living outside of Australia and was unable to return to Australia to complete the final practicum on time, they opted for the distance education mode in their teaching course.After being granted permission from the regulatory body involved, special arrangements were made with the local Australian international school in Malaysia for the professional experience component to be conducted online.She reported: Aside from preparing myself to teach professionally in an unfamiliar Th6_subth3 environment in the Asia Pacific region under an international schooling system Th3_subth4 , I also had to account for the unpredictable challenges and disturbance (I often reflect on this time as chaotic) that COVID-19 brought with it Th3_subth1 .One such major disruption the pandemic brought to the world was the sense of uncertainty Th3_subth1 .
Flexibility and agility became exponentially important for teachers who had to cope with continual and spontaneous changes Th1_ subth1 .
As her final classroom placement began, she was eager to apply what she had learned during her preparation; however, as a result of the continuous challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, she only participated in one week of real classroom professional experience Th5_subth1 to build rapport and relationships with students Th4_subth3 before the [Malaysian] government declared an emergency and announced an indefinite lockdown Th3_subth1 .This announcement negatively impacted her initial planning, and online home learning had to be planned Th1_subth2 and arranged immediately so that the parents and/or caregivers could continue their children's education from that very afternoon Th1_subth2 .After a staff meeting, the teachers organized home learning packs and activities for students Th5_subth3 and then discussed how teachers would engage in online "job share distribution" within their year level or stage Th4_subth3 .There was no time to attend to any of her preservice teacher questions and uncertainties, and in any case, she felt out-of-place and was not confident enough to ask questions.Her supervising teacher decided to break the mathematics groups into three different cohorts, and she was assigned to mathematics with the standard and lower groups as an area of focus in this online teaching transition.She realized that a challenging period lay ahead that would not only impact her wellbeing Th5_subth1 but also the wellbeing of her students Th5_subth3 (Gore et al., 2020).
With the sudden change in the nature of the teaching environment, teachers needed to be adaptable and flexible.However, teachers across global borders have reported exhaustion, stress Th2_subth2 , uncertainty and confusion because of restricted information and rapid transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic.The uncertainty, changes, additional workload and stress significantly impacted emteachers and preservice teachers' wellbeing during this period (Pokhrel & Chhetri, 2021).The preservice teacher participant witnessed that teachers needed to swiftly upskill their online facilitation techniques to teach more efficiently and effectively via the online medium Th5_subth2 , as highlighted by Cowden et al. (2020).She acknowledged and addressed the anxiety that accompanied this change to the online medium, as most teaching programs predominantly focus on face-to-face pedagogies.When placed in an online mode without the relevant online pedagogical and technical skills Th4_subth1 , a preservice teachers' repertoire of teaching methods can become rather limited (Siwatu, 2011).To add to her existing anxiety regarding whether this sudden change meant that her practicum would still be recognized, she was left to determine a means to conduct online learning Th6_subth1 effectively without any prior training, experience, or face-to-face mentoring from her supervising teacher Th5_subth2 .She was further concerned about how to meet the stringent teacher performance evaluation criteria Th2_subth3 when everything she had learned to teach in a physical environment was to be readjusted for an online environment Th2_subth1 .The stress and concern in addition to the many uncertainties negatively impacted her self-efficacy, teaching confidence, and abilities Th2_subth2 .This manifested in her teaching preparation and performance with concerns about disengaged students, invalid assessments and student evidence/data, and uncertainty regarding high-impact teaching.
The preservice teacher participant was still fully aware that teachers were expected to be creative and to explore approaches to help Th6_subth2 overcome the limitations of virtual teaching Th1_subth4 , as Pokhrel and Chhetri (2021) emphasize; however, concurrently exploring new approaches while one's performance as a classroom ready teacher is being assessed is a nerve-wracking experience.For mathematics, they were given 30 to 45 minutes to conduct each session, despite both teacher and student feeling out-of-place and in need of more time to feel comfortable Th5_subth3 in the new online classroom space Th2_subth4 .A typical lesson began with a warm-up game as a means to engage the students in learning Th5_subth3 , followed by explicit teaching, using the gradual release of responsibility strategy to ensure that the students acquired the skills Th5_subth3 they needed to progressively carry out tasks independently Th4_subth2 .It was challenging to finish the lesson within the limited time allotted.First, the quality of online lessons relies greatly on the quality of the internet connection, as network glitches and delays experienced affect the flow of lessons.Time was lost in the teacher repeating instructions and students' repeated comments as well as sudden internet disconnections among the students Th5_subth3 .There were often other interruptions in the form of background noise from the students' households Th5_subth3 , and some students consistently turned off their video cameras Th5_subth3 .The loss of visual contact between the teacher and student impacted the lesson through the effect it had on confidence and the absence of or limited non-verbal communication cues.
There were limited available resources to create and nurture effective online working spaces Th5_subth2 , and unfamiliarity in online teaching applications aggravated the teachers' difficulty and frustration Th6_subth3 .It was challenging to observe the students' work and learning behavior during the online sessions Th5_subth3 while using instruments and strategies to try to keep students engaged Th6_subth2 and teaching into a space over which one had almost no control Th5_subth3 or very little ownership Th3_subth3 .The preservice teacher participant noticed that students' motivations to study online decreased due to a home with distractions Th5_subth3 , as suggested by Khan et al. (2021).She had to engage in repeated reiterative teaching to ensure that the students understood the lessons taught.While pre-recorded videos were included as part of an asynchronous approach, not all students watched these videos Th3_subth3; Th5_subth3 .Her limited technical capability left the preservice teacher feeling ill-equipped to produce synergistic and motivating online lessons, synchronously and asynchronously.As much as she tried to create interesting, pre-recorded videos and interactive warm-up games, the lessons may have still been monotonous and disengaging for the students Th5_subth3 .With added external pressure from an unpredictable environment Th2_subth2 that directly impacted teaching effectiveness Th5_subth2 , the level of self-efficacy was significantly affected (Barni et al., 2019).
Although the preservice teacher participant had collected some student information and data in the first face-to-face teaching week and had access to prior formal student data, the ongoing data gathering in the online setting to demonstrate her capacity to plan her teaching cycle according to student data became a struggle for several reasons.It was difficult to ascertain whether the students did their work on their own or had additional "outside" help Th5_subth3 .This uncertainty caused confusion in the data gathered when a student could complete the tasks allocated independently but could not understand the lessons in the online session.When formative assessments and timely feedback Th6_subth3 were prioritized to obtain data for planning (Doucet et al., 2020), it became a challenge when the authenticity of the work could not be validated Th1_subth2 , and as such, actual learning could not be verified Th6_subth1 .There were also complexities about the impact of feedback to students, such as when and with whom students listened to the feedback given on their work Th6_subth3 .These situations made it difficult to sufficiently obtain evidence and data as a true reflection of students' learning progress Th6_subth1 .It was important to determine how the teacher impacted student learning progress as part of her teaching decisions for future adjustments of teaching practices Th2_subth1 and engaging in student-centered planning decisions Th1_ subth2 .
There appeared to be a disconnect between the actual learning and the homework submitted, especially by one of the students Th5_subth3 .When the issue was identified and the student questioned, she admitted that she had received help from a parent and siblings to complete her work; however, when she was asked to problem-solve a similar question during class, she demonstrated a lack of understanding of the question and could not provide an answer.It was clear that authentic learning had not taken place Th6_subth1 and that genuine data could not be collected due to the unforeseen disruption in the student's learning process Th5_subth3 .The preservice teacher participant felt responsible for addressing this concern but did not know how to carefully guide this process.Even if timely written and orally recorded feedback were given to the students to ensure their understanding of a subject Th6_subth3 , some students still found it difficult to comprehend such feedback Th6_subth3 in an online space Th5_subth3 .Thus, it was clear why they sought the support of their family members to complete their tasks Th4_subth4 .Of greater concern was that these discrepancies were not evident until the next lesson, where planning and teaching had already taken place based on the data collected from the students' homework Th1_ subth2 .This made it difficult to identify each student's learning point in their zone of proximal development Th6_subth1 to prepare appropriately adjusted learning plans Th2_subth1 in advance and in accordance with the teaching philosophy embedded in the socio-cultural learning and teaching theory (Vygotsky, 1978).
Adjusting the teaching process on an ongoing basis to meet the students' differentiated needs was critical Th2_subth1 to ensure that learning was scaffolded at their level (Tomlinson, 2014); however, the preservice teacher participant's uncertainty regarding online pedagogies increased her stress as a teacher on practicum Th2_subth2 , given that she was expected to produce an outcome that needed to comply with set criteria Th2_subth3 .The participant reflected on how the consistent adjustments and readjustments of her efforts Th6_subth2 to identify the students' learning points Th2_subth1 and the sudden change in pedagogical decisions significantly impacted her teaching confidence Th3_subth6 .The participants' further emulated Gore et al. 's (2020) focus on the significance to recognize and acknowledge the link between students' pace of learning and teachers' self-efficacy.
Time constraints were also a critical concern in fulfilling the performance assessment requirements.With the abrupt switch from a physical to an online teaching environment, the timetable was adjusted to suit the students' needs Th2_subth1 .The lessons were cut short to prevent students from spending long hours online Th5_subth3 and to allow them to do more work independently.This resulted in a significant disadvantage for the preservice teacher participant as she had to fulfill the assessment criteria within a limited time Th2_subth3 .To demonstrate her capacity to identify students' golden thread of learning and to close the gap Th6_subth1 in their zone of proximal development (Vygotsky 1978), time was essential.When time is cut short, teachers' self-efficacy will undoubtedly be affected Th5_subth2 , and this will impact their teaching effectiveness and appraisal skills (Gore et al., 2020).The school used the essential post-assessment, which is a platform for a unique Australian curriculum used by two Australian states, Victoria and New South Wales, involving whole school approaches; however, the truthfulness and validity of student assessment Th5_subth3 data remain questionable due to the possibility of parental intervention.Thus, an informal summative assessment was allocated to the students to fulfill the formal teacher assessment requirement.As classes were held online, these assessments were allocated to students as independent tasks to be completed at home and submitted online.Thus, the authenticity of the assessment outcome was questioned, which left the preservice teacher participant with questions regarding her role in planning appropriate assessment tasks to support valid evidence Th1_subth2 .
The online mode for activities and assessments created another difficulty: most students did not hand in their work on time or at all Th5_subth3 .The lack of parental guidance and support to ensure that the students completed their allocated tasks Th4_subth4 at home became a challenge in online learning (Pokhrel & Chhetri, 2021).The concerns about valid data being collected while teaching online forced the preservice teacher participant to change her planning and the extent to which she built her planning on the "online student evidence and data."As providing high-quality instruction is the teacher's personal responsibility, she had to make these changes at the very last minute Th1_ subth1&2 .Some, not all, of her uncertainties could have been avoided if the preservice teacher programs and teacher performance assessment protocols had embraced the vast differences that take place in an online teaching space in comparison to face-to-face teaching and learning environments Th2_subth4 .

Reflection 2: The ITE Educator
With experience as a teacher for over two decades before the ITE educator moved into the field of teacher education, the teacher educator reflected deeply on how to best prepare preservice teachers for their classrooms.As a constructivist, the ITE educator's teaching philosophy embraces a belief in the careful guidance of preservice teachers to allow them to develop their unique professional identities as teachers Th3_subth1 while preparing them for their classrooms.The ITE educator's teaching journey brought her to a point of critical reflection-a moment of pause-when she realized that her engagement with her preservice teacher students needed to address limitations and gaps and shift from [a] set understanding Th1_subth4 of classroom pedagogies to a deeper understanding of context-consciousness and pedagogical mobility Th4_subth1 .Conversations revealed that the graduating preservice teacher struggled to keep the students engaged in the online lessons Th3_subth3; Th5_subth3 and to engage with parents and her supervising teacher regarding views and suggestions due to confusion regarding professional identity Th3_subth1 and decreasing confidence Th3_subth2&6 as a result of not being able to do her practicum in a face-to-face setting.The ITE educator started to ask [herself] reflective questions regarding how a real classroom would be different Th5_subth1 and how different preparation would support Th4_subth4 confidence in an online setting Th3_subth6 .
The ITE educator argued that preparedness for classrooms should be built on a context-conscious, student-centered pedagogical outlook Th4_subth1 and an appreciation for the value of a deep theoretical framing of teaching decisions and practice Th3_subth5 .This encouraged her to engage in critical self-reflection as a teacher educator on how prepared her preservice students are as teachers Th5_subth3 when they experience a rapid change in circumstances Th3_subth5 .
The ITE educator's professional identity and pedagogical reasoning as a tertiary teacher educator are deeply rooted in her lived experiences as a teacher [who is] involved in various education systems Th4_subth1 .She emphasized the awareness of needs within specific contexts, the value of an intercultural background, diversity, and the internationalization of curricula to make the most of the richness that they bring to the teaching and learning environment Th6_subth1 ; however, this did not prepare her for rapid changes in the teaching and learning environment during the COVID-19 pandemic Th1_subth1 .Her critical self-reflection concerns a preservice teacher who was offshore and had to apply for special permission to complete her professional experience in an international school.This also involved a shift from teaching face-to-face to conducting classes online within the first week of placement.
As the graduating preservice teacher reached out for support Th4_subth4 , she began to question the conceptualization of pedagogical mobility and content knowledge within the online teaching and learning space Th4_subth1 .This raised questions such as, "What do valid teacher performance assessment processes look like in an online teaching and learning environment?"Th6_subth1 , "What does engagement and differentiation look like in an online classroom?",and "Do we offer enough time during teacher education to discuss Th4_subth3 the meaning of teacher standards Th2_subth4 and enacted theories and pedagogies in ever-changing teaching environments?"It also became clear that the online space poses challenges to the preservice teacher in areas such as: • effective planning for online teaching and learning Th1_subth2 , • engaging with and building relationships of trust with students and parents Th2_subth4; Th4_subth3 , • ensuring that assessments maintain integrity Th3_subth5 , • evaluating and giving feedback on student work samples Th3_subth5; Th6_subth3 , • keeping students motivated and engaged Th3_subth2 , and • building a culture of teamwork Th2_subth4 .
Carefully guiding the preservice teacher through the five-week professional experience placement (of which one week involved face-to-face engagements, and the four other weeks took place online) drew her, as a constructivist, into a self-reflective journey of conceptualizing context consciousness, student-centered planning Th1_ subth2 , obtaining authentic and valid student data and evidence, setting expectations, and providing the duty of care for preservice teachers' wellbeing during their professional experience placement Th2_subth2 .
The ITE educator entered a time of careful and critical listening as she read and reflected on the teacher standards Th2_subth4 and expectations that are captured within teacher performance assessments Th2_subth3 .Guiding preservice teachers towards developing a sound theoretical foundation to link theory and practice can offer them a pedagogical knowledge framework for their teaching decisions in various contexts Th4_subth1 .In agreement with Day and Smethem (2010), the teacher educator cautioned against a tips-for-teachers model with restricted theoretical framing in teacher education.Quick-fix teaching models can leave preservice teachers without the in-depth pedagogical and professional knowledge Th4_subth1 they need to inform their teaching decisions in rapidly changing teaching environments Th1_subth3 .Such knowledge also offers them a sound foundation Th1_subth3 from which they can explore their pedagogical mobility Th4_subth1 , flexibility, and adjustability Th2_subth1 .Awareness of and critical reflection on the transformation of teaching strategies Th5_subth4 to accommodate their students' learning needs Th5_subth3 are deeply embedded in pedagogical knowledge mobility Th4_subth1 , which informs the justification of teaching decisions.
The ITE educator began to critically reflect on her understanding of preservice teachers' preparedness for classrooms while focusing on what preparedness is Th3_subth5 and how a "classroom" may look for preservice teachers in the future.
The teacher educator carefully reflected on her lived experiences and those of preservice teachers and reconsidered the ways she guides them.This led her to a strong critical analysis of their personal context-conscious teaching approach and an awareness of the validity of classroom students' work and its authenticity and the validity of preservice teachers' feedback Th6_subth3 , underlining the CANNAS-leadership model and the impact of the C-CUD theory to support and ensure a "classroom" Th4_subth4 (face-to-face or online) presence (Du Plessis, 2017, 2018).This model builds on a constructivist teaching philosophy to guide preservice teachers to develop and enact knowledge in their individual teaching and learning contexts Th1_ subth3 .This involves an ongoing critical and personal awareness of needs within the teaching and learning space Th6_subth1 to enhance the understanding of what a "classroom" space is Th2_subth4 .This reflection can enhance teachers' awareness of the cognitive, emotional, cultural, physical, and ethical needs within a teaching and learning space Th2_subth4 , which may look very different from what was originally anticipated.Understanding what a flexible teacher may do in different contexts brought about a deep layer of learning to teacher education Th6_subth1 .

Thematic Analysis of Results
The thematic analyses of these narratives were conducted by both authors in two phases.During the first phase, each engaged in searching and color coding key concepts, phrases, and key words.In the second phase, the coded and categorized key phrases and concepts were compiled into subthemes (see Table 1, Appendix A).The results highlight the impact of pedagogical mobility on a graduating preservice teacher's confidence and feelings of preparedness, while it prompted the ITE educator to reflect on the course content and how it is taught in terms of improving teaching flexibility and ongoing critical reflective practice as part of preservice teachers' growth and performance based on self-assessments in teacher preparation programs.

Analysis and Discussion
The stated research intention to critically reflect on the pedagogical mobility of graduating preservice teachers and innovative pedagogical exploration stands against the background of teacher performance assessment expectations grounded in face-to-face classroom experience.As such, the results of both case studies stimulate an awareness of how the COVID-19 pandemic influences teaching and learning.As Merriam (1997) observes, "case study knowledge resonates with our own experience because it is more vivid, concrete, and sensory than abstract.…[O]ur experiences are rooted in context [emphasis added] …" (p.31).Preservice teachers now need to engage in both online and face-to-face professional experience placement opportunities during their teacher education preparation.The participants also became aware that undertaking professional experience placements within the COVID-19 pandemic brought teacher educators and graduating teachers to a turning point, prompting a call for a critical reflection on what quality teacher preparation looks like in the current teaching landscape.As the data show, the rapidly changing context of the practicum posed significant challenges for both preservice teachers and supervising/mentor teachers.
Situating the case within the various concurrent contextual matters facilitates the establishment of its clear boundaries: (a) the rapidly changing education context of the COVID-19 pandemic; (b) issues of established graduating preservice teacher preparation and assessment, quality assurance, and professionalism (e.g., "the work could not be validated PT_Th1_ subth2 "); and (c) the connection between pedagogy and practice and the development of teacher confidence and readiness (e.g., it was "difficult to identify each student's learning point in their zone of proximal development PT_Th6_subth1 ").Within this framework, the paper reflects on the research question, How do preservice teachers and ITE teacher educators understand the pedagogical mobility of graduating preservice teachers and innovative pedagogical exploration against the background of teacher performance assessment expectations in the COVID-19 era?

Rapidly Changing Classroom Contexts
The study results show that context plays a vital role in decisions for pedagogical mobility and teacher confidence, as the preservice teacher's remarks indicate: "I was left to determine a means to conduct online learning PT_Th6_subth1 effectively without any prior training, experience, or face-to-face mentoring from my supervising teacher" PT_Th5_subth2 .As such, the preservice teacher participant displayed a clear understanding of the depth of the content focus needed and the need for her pedagogical decisions (PT_Th3_subth6) to reflect that awareness; this required her to align theory and practice, which became a particular concern in the rapidly changing teaching and learning space.As such, the context revealed how preservice teachers' embrace the influential role they have as knowledgeable others (Vygotsky, 1978) who guide students' cognitive development, which is through social participation (Rogoff, 1991), to "to build a rapport and relationships with my students" PT_Th4_subth3 .This process involves awareness of their professional identities and the identities of their students as learners (Lave & Wenger, 1991).The results indicate that the preservice teacher participant had limited time to build relationships with the students, either before or during the practicum; this limited knowledge impacted her struggle to link pedagogical decisions, theory, and practice in the online context.The ITE educator clearly identified gaps regarding the pedagogical mobility of the preservice teacher.

Organization and System Level Expectations
The inherent expectation that preservice teachers demonstrate an "at standard" capacity to teach while major changes are taking place in their teaching contexts effectively emerged, albeit through the need for the preservice teacher participant to complete her tertiary education in a timely manner; however, in tangent with these unaltered industry expectations of preservice teachers' preparedness, the ITE educator observed her "duty of care for preservice teachers' wellbeing during their professional experience placement" HET_Th2_subth2 .
The teacher performance assessment is deeply ingrained in the underlying conceptions of teaching; as such "expectations that are captured within teacher performance assessments" HET_Th2_subth3 are bound to various contexts.As a reasoning skill for graduating preservice teachers, the conceptualization of pedagogical mobility is grounded in effective enactment of the existing planning, teaching, and assessing processes.As such, the results suggest that this effective enactment requires the support of a preservice teaching program that fosters blended and online teaching approaches, both to better prepare preservice teachers (Bonello et al., 2021) and to allow them to develop a stronger sense of efficacy and to gain better context consciousness to adapt to changing teaching and learning environments in the future.Their readiness and preparedness to undertake online placement is crucial to them being able to deliver teaching effectiveness, and this rests with ITE.
The tertiary preparation and assessment for this final teaching placement involved pedagogies that were grounded in face-to-face teaching.In addition, student-centered practices were upheld in ITE, and these are valued for developing effective and quality teaching cycles; teachers are taught pedagogy that is embedded in face-to-face strategies.As such, "placed in an online mode without the relevant online pedagogical and technical skills PT_Th4_subth1 , preservice teachers' repertoire of teaching methods became rather limited".The results underline the entanglement between teaching cycles, processes, and practices, and in practice, these are deeply embedded in teachers' context consciousness; however, preservice teachers' knowledge of their students and the home/family context is closely connected to skill development embedded in a context-consciousness.This skill development is often overlooked in preservice teachers' preparation.Issues of the preservice teacher's confidence surfaced in her discussion of relationships with parents.She stated that she did not feel confident enough to engage with parents who seemed themselves critical of the school/teachers/her own work.The reflective narratives highlight that the COVID-19 pandemic prompts a critical rethinking of the alignment between theory and practice and the integration of teacher preparation and performance evaluation processes as well as how teaching standards can accommodate the forced changes in teaching and learning spaces.It stimulates "…an awareness of the validity of classroom students' work and its authenticity and the validity of preservice teachers' feedback" HET_Th6_subth3 .Considering the core body of knowledge and skill expected from preservice teachers, the thematic analysis identifies the following dilemmas: (a) the quality of teaching being assessed by teacher performance assessment processes that are developed to assess face-to-face teaching capacities when these are used, even though the teaching and learning context has changed; (b) the absence of and requirement for a deeper understanding of the APST standards and what they mean in different teaching and learning contexts; (c) the pressing need to prepare graduating preservice teachers for contextual challenges; and (d) the absence of much-needed interim support.

Challenges for Preservice Teachers
The results identify the various challenges the COVID-19 pandemic created for preservice teachers when undertaking their practicum placements in schools.These include: their exclusion from classrooms and practicums; the stress of coping with adaptation to an unfamiliar online context without pedagogical foundation (e.g., "for the unpredictable challenges and disturbance [I often reflect on this time as chaotic] that COVID-19 brought with it" PT_Th3_subth1 ); the struggle to keep students engaged in the lessons; and the absence of available support.The preservice teacher's narrative indicates that the supervising/mentor teacher at the international school was herself overwhelmed by the events of the lockdown and the demand on the education sector to adapt.The preservice teacher's uncertainty about her preparedness, undeveloped teaching confidence, and subsequent increased anxiety are highlighted in remarks such as "[the] major disruption the pandemic brought to the world was the sense of uncertainty" PT_Th3_subth1 .The "classroom" of the practicum was clearly very different from what was covered during ITE or teacher preparation, and the teacher expressed concern about whether her practicum and ITE would be valid for employers or indeed in a face-to-face teaching context.
The results highlight gaps in the specific support that was provided during the teacher's placement and offer new insights regarding a model of placement support for improvement.Targeted support is embedded in ongoing critical reflection on alternative online assessment approaches that will accommodate the challenges of the validity of assessments during a period of rapid transition.Support informed by ongoing critical reflection on teaching and learning outcomes, preservice teachers' wellbeing and student uncertainty (Day & Gu, 2010) demonstrate awareness of challenges through the preservice teacher's response, "…a challenging period lay ahead that would not only impact my wellbeing PT_Th5_subth1 but also the wellbeing of my students" PT_Th5_subth3 .

Understanding the Value and Purpose of Professional Placements
In 2014, TEMAG highlighted the importance of rigorous and well-structured professional experience placements in addition to program accreditation.The expectation is that teacher education programs will impact and offer evidence of classroom readiness, while integrated teacher education initiatives will be closely aligned to the teaching workforce at various system levels (Craven et al. 2014).The value and purpose of a professional experience program relates to the opportunities to confidently apply theoretical knowledge in practice.The focus then shifts to preservice teachers' pedagogical knowledge mobility when they find themselves in different contexts.Effective reflection significantly influences their capacity to engage in proactive adjustments of their teaching decisions that accommodate both change and students' learning needs (Rushton et al., 2021).The value and purpose of professional placements are vested in opportunities to critically reflect on strengths and limitations, and the skills they need in becoming and being a teacher; however, significant challenges influence confidence and perceptions of self, professional identity, and a sense of efficacy.The findings show that the abrupt changes in the professional experience placement space created difficulties for the preservice teacher.A lack of sound pedagogy and pedagogical content knowledge influenced her confidence to explore and experiment with various teaching strategies.Ongoing critical reflection about experiences and what was learned from these experiences emphasized limited knowledge, e.g., how to establish a rapport with students and parents in an online space and what it meant for the preservice teachers' level of self-efficacy.It is highlighted that ongoing critical reflection stimulates strong teacher identity that can boost the sense of efficacy (Rushton et al., 2021).This is especially true in teaching literacy and numeracy, where preservice teachers must feel competent to carry out instructional practices and demonstrate teaching effectiveness that are reflected in students' academic achievements (Grasby et al., 2020).
The flexibility of preservice teachers' teaching decisions, strategies, and pedagogical practices reflects their mindfulness of the learning needs of the entire class, its small groups, and individual students in a context of rapid change.As the results demonstrate, this involves rethinking how to accommodate student learning equality, equity, and diversity in an online space through pedagogical reasoning and awareness.Pedagogical mobility demonstrates a consideration and awareness of the challenges present in the changing teaching and learning space, both for the teacher and for the students, e.g., internet interruptions and the un/availability of parental help.The teacher observed the value of healthy professional relationships in such a time of rapid change but also highlighted challenges, such as the difficulty of "engaging with and building relationships of trust with students and parents" HET_Th2_subth4; HET_Th4_subth3 within an online space.Strategies to adapt the purpose of the practicum to the COVID-19 conditions meant reaching out to the ITE educator, who in turn observed her realization of the many contexts that bind pedagogical knowledge to the traditional classroom-such as a quality teaching mandate and its associated imperatives for teacher education.Existing assessment structures are scaffolded by the assumption of traditional classrooms, and as Moyo (2020) upholds, preservice teachers' professional learning requires a link between theory and practice that happens in practicum.

Strategies to Adapt to the COVID-19 Conditions
An awareness of the mis/alignment between what was learned during preparation and what was needed in the actual teaching and learning space was underlined by the preservice teacher, "[while using] instruments and strategies to [try to] keep students engaged PT_Th6_subth2 and teaching into a space over which you almost have no control PT_Th5_subth3 or very little ownership" PT_Th3_subth3 .While it seems clear that preservice teachers now need to engage in online teaching professional experience placement and face-to-face professional experience placements opportunities during their teacher education preparation, the findings of this research show that in this sense, the pandemic has highlighted a turning point for ITE.A thorough, critical reflection is needed regarding several weighty matters, such as what quality teacher preparation looks like in the current teaching landscape.A careful examination is also required of the link between teacher performance assessments and APST standards/expectations.In terms of adapting to conditions, areas for attention include: (a) preservice teachers' pedagogical reasoning, (b) the validation of their developing professional identity, as per the action and intention of professional placement, and (c) the development of their confidence.A sense of connectedness to the profession/school/classroom and their own teaching philosophy drives teachers to assert their individuality in prescriptive tasks.When the school hosted its regular staff meetings online and the teachers formed a group chat to discuss students' matters, the preservice teacher focused on prescriptive activities rather than asserting her professional needs/identity due to the obvious issue of limited time and resources.

Reflection on the Link Between Context, Pedagogical Knowledge, and Pedagogical Mobility
This theme relates to issues regarding the preservice teacher's awareness, understanding, recognition, and efforts to become familiar with the context and demonstrate an understanding of students' learning needs.The progressive risk-taking/constructivist conceptualization of teaching, which involves sociocultural learning theories (Bredo, 1994;Lave, 1988;Lave & Wenger, 1991;Rogoff, 1991;Vygotsky, 1978), recognizes the contextual and spatial underpinnings of teaching and learning; however, the in-depth recognition of value and sound pedagogical frameworks add to applied pedagogies are visible in circumstances where pedagogical mobility as an enacted skill is required.The ITE educator's narrative offered a critical reflection on the challenges that were shared during the period of placement: I struggled to keep the students engaged in the online lessons HET_Th3_subth3; HETTh5_subth3 and to engage with parents and my supervising teacher regarding views and suggestions because of confusion regarding professional identity HET_Th3_subth1 and decreasing confidence Th3_subth2&6 as a result of not being able to do my practicum in a face-to-face setting.I started to ask reflective question about how a real classroom would be different Th5_subth1 and how different preparation would support Th4_subth4 confidence in an online setting Th3_subth6 .
Pedagogical mobility is conceptualized in this paper as the confidence to enact and apply pedagogical knowledge and content knowledge effectively in unfamiliar situations to accommodate learning needs in a specific context.Conceptualizing pedagogical mobility turns focus to the conceptualization of teaching, teaching beliefs, and teaching philosophies, as explained by Pratt (1992), regarding specific meanings that "mediate our response to situations" (p.204).As such, addressing the gap between context, theory, and practice to improve the management of potential incidents of rapid contextual change is a step towards developing an understanding of an alignment between enacted theory and practice that enables the practicum to act as per its design, perhaps avoiding the situation in the case study: "the sudden change in pedagogical decisions impacted my teaching confidence significantly" PT_Th3_subth6 .Pedagogical mobility embraces careful guidance of learning and teaching as an apprenticeship, which takes time to master and focuses on modelling ways of being while developmentally cultivating cognitive and pedagogical reasoning, but "without the relevant online pedagogical and technical skills," PT_Th4_subth1 this is a challenge.The results showed that the preservice teacher lacked confidence to engage in and to demonstrate careful guidance and the nurturing process of scaffolded teaching that focuses on facilitating students' personal agency.This occurred due to the "shift from a set understanding HET_Th1_subth4 of classroom pedagogies."International reports (Caena, 2014;Furlong 2015;Kane, 2005) have mapped concerns regarding the responsibility and success of ITE in preparing the next generation of teachers.Australian reports (AITSL, 2015;Craven et al., 2014;Weldon, 2015) include discussions on concerns related to the gap between theory and practice and the quality of teachers' impact on student learning.It is noteworthy that the results showed that the preservice teacher became fixated on the teacher performance expectations and how to address these expectations, while the actual strength of the graduating preservice teacher was an awareness of teaching as a means of social reform, which is captured this comment: "…awareness of and critical reflection on the transformation of teaching strategies HET_Th5_subth4 to accommodate their students' learning needs" HET_Th5_subth3 are deeply embedded in pedagogical knowledge mobility, which informs the justification of teaching decisions while focusing on the development of a better society.

Conclusion
Shulman (1998) defines the connections between theory and practice in terms of teachers' service, understanding, practice, judgement, participation in a professional community, and learning from experience.Teaching and learning, as sociocultural processes (Vygotsky, 1978), are supported by a detailed understanding of the meaning of being (Gadamer, 1975(Gadamer, , 1976)), which includes the lifeworld of beginner teachers and their truths within a specific context.Pedagogical mobility and disruptive innovation need to be emphasized in teacher education.The art of teaching is not how prepared graduating teachers are to follow "the recipe" but how well-prepared preservice teachers are to be pedagogically mobile and innovative in periods of disruption.Preservice teachers are well-prepared when they feel confident enough to teach a quality lesson in a well-equipped classroom in Australia or under a mulberry tree in Africa.