Developing teacher expertise at work: in‐service trainee teachers in colleges of further education in England

Abstract

This paper presents findings from a study of the experiences of in‐service trainee teachers in colleges of further education in England on programmes run under the auspices of and through franchise arrangements with universities. It argues that there is a significant gap between the rhetoric of gaining teaching qualifications through a work‐based route and the reality experienced by many in‐service trainees. Consideration of the role of the workplace as the context for teacher training and professional development is currently absent from the reform process. The research findings comprise data from a questionnaire survey of 195 trainee teachers (drawn from colleges throughout England), the responses of 21 of them who agreed to be interviewed about the extent to which their colleges supported them during their training period, and the ‘learning logs’ of six of the interviewees. Using the ‘expansive‐restrictive’ framework to analyse the findings, the paper argues that college managers need to conceptualise learning as something that is central to the practices of their employees as much as it is for their students and to help colleges become more expansive‐learning oriented. Initial teacher education needs to be much more closely integrated within colleges' broader workforce development strategies. Much greater attention needs to be paid by policymakers and the agencies responsible for teacher training to the way in which workplace practices and the organisation of teachers' roles and responsibilities might need to change in order to accommodate their professional development.