Before the Australian Teacher Education Association (ATEA) was established, teacher educators were connected through the South Pacific Association of Teacher Education (SPATE), which grew from the National Association of Teacher Education (NATE) in 1971.

Claiming a voice: The first thirty-five years of the Australian Teacher Education Association – prepared by Josephine May, Allyson Hollbrook, Alison Brown, Greg Preston, and Bob Bessant – is a commissioned book that details the association’s history. First launched at the 2009 annual conference, co-author Josephine May describes ATEA’s impact towards teacher education:

ATEA continues to provide an “active and ongoing status as the peak representative body for teacher educators, and the word ‘voice’ suggests not only a collective and democratic emphasis that this association particularly has sought to achieve, but also a ‘speaking out’ to one another, to other practitioners and researchers, to governments, and to the wider society.”