What matters for competent teaching? A multinational comparison of teaching practicum assessment rubrics

Practicum assessment rubrics have a backwash effect on preservice teachers' learning through the criteria they transmit. This article presents a documentary analysis of ten rubrics used across six countries: South Africa, India, England, Singapore, Canada, and Sweden. We compare the dispositions, knowledge, outcomes, and reasoning. We use Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) to show how practicum assessments are legitimated differently. Some rubrics emphasise preservice teachers’ dispositions and whether they implement protocols correctly. Others emphasise their capacity for reasoning in context. These positions call for teacher educators and policymakers to interrogate where the emphasis is in their own assessments.