Chapter 10: Reflections on the Development of a Professional Learning Capstone: Why It Matters

The world has experienced significant interruptions over the past four years, and this has created challenges for education. One impact has been teacher attrition rates, with the United Nations identifying the need for a significant number of teaching professionals globally in the coming five years. In concert with this, initial teacher education courses are facing challenges in preparing pre-service teachers who feel sufficiently confident moving into the education profession. This chapter reflects on the design and development of a professional learning capstone subject in a master's level initial teacher education (ITE) course and discusses why a capstone of this kind matters. The capstone discussed in this chapter involves ITE students enacting a personal teacher self-study research inquiry, which includes engaging in critical collaborative inquiry and participation in a professional learning conference. The aim of this focus on professional learning in pre-service teacher education is to develop future teachers who have the confidence, knowledge, and skills to become reflective, inquiring, and flexible teaching practitioners.