Initial Teacher Education In England Research Articles

Dealing with racist incidents: what do beginning teachers learn from schools?

This article focuses on how schools respond to racist incidents, and what new teachers learn from their involvement in those processes. It analyses four incidents involving the pupils of four beginning teachers. The article suggests that in each case, schools either partly or wholly avoided addressing the incident, and that this avoidance can be understood in terms of the colour and power evasive discourse, which is the dominant discourse on race in Western societies, and in most schools. One aspect of this discourse is that racism is defined on the basis of individual intentions, not outcomes. The article argues that it may be possible to adopt a more race cognisant approach with student teachers and staff in schools, building on nascent understandings of institutional racism, which shifts the focus to outcomes rather than intentions. The article demonstrates this approach, analysing each incident in terms of its consequences for the learning of the new teacher, and for the promotion of race equality in the school. While the small number of incidents may initially appear heartening, their negative impact on both teacher confidence and children’s understanding may be significant. The findings suggest that in the changing context of initial teacher education in England, approaches to supporting both schools and new teachers in this often misunderstood area are much needed, and that one way forward may be to give teachers time and support to critically reflect on and discuss their experiences.

Bridging the teacher/researcher divide: Master’s-level work in initial teacher education

There is much current debate about the purpose and usefulness of educational research and the perceived communication gap between teaching professionals and academic researchers. UK government intervention into initial teacher education has in recent decades contributed to this divide by favouring school-based training. The most common route into teaching in England remains, however, the Postgraduate Certificate in Education, provided by higher education institutions and therefore required to comply with the higher education qualifications framework. The majority of initial teacher education in England therefore lies at the cusp of these two worlds, pulled in apparently opposing directions. The ‘teacher-as-researcher’ movement is widely seen as a bridge spanning these tensions, though there is discussion about the quality of practitioner research as well as about the appropriateness of a rigorous academic approach for investigating practice. This article offers examples of the use of small-scale research projects as a valid means of ‘discovery learning’ in pre-service teacher education. It argues that induction into research techniques as a means of exploring practical challenges can lead to knowledge production and ownership.

Reasserting theory in professionally based initial teacher education

Conceptions of theory within initial teacher education in England are adjusting to new conditions where most learning how to teach is school-based. Student teachers on a programme situated primarily in an employing school were monitored within a practitioner enquiry by their university programme tutors according to how they progressively understood theory. The tutors meanwhile also focused on how their own conceptions of theory responded and evolved in relation to their students’ changing perceptions. This resulted in the students retrospectively identifying and developing theoretical and analytical capabilities. University sessions became a reflective platform from which to critically interrogate the emergent story of what it is to be a teacher in a school. There are implications for schools and universities about what it is to learn to be a teacher.

Informal learning and meta-pedagogy in initial teacher education in England

How do student teachers learn to use informal learning and pedagogy in their teaching? Through focusing on Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in England, this paper will explore the possibility of developing a meta-pedagogy which embraces informal learning and pedagogy in music. The paper is in two parts, the first of which examines the background to Informal Learning and Pedagogy (ILP) in English music education and some attendant issues surrounding initial teacher education. The second will report on some approaches to developing a meta-pedagogy for ILP in music, before speculating on future areas for research in music ITE. The concepts of ‘living’ and ‘excavating’ learning will be proposed as important meta-pedagogical tools in the process of student teachers learning how to teach music.

Partnership, policy and politics: initial teacher education in England under New Labour

Over the last 15 years, initial teacher education in England has been established as a national system, closely controlled by the government. One of the consequences of this move is that teacher education is now intimately bound up with changing national politics and policy priorities which reach down into the finest of detail of provision. In this paper, we focus on the way in which politics and policy have impacted on one of the defining features of teacher education provision in England – that of ‘partnership’. In particular we examine the way in which the concept and practice of partnership has been transformed in line with New Labour’s ‘Third Way’ politics. In order to do this, we reflect on our recent evaluation of the National Partnership Project, an initiative established by the Training and Development Agency for Schools to increase the quality and quantity of schools’ involvement in initial teacher education.

Towards a pedagogy of mentor education

This paper is based on findings from an exploratory study carried out during 2004/05 among members of the London Providers Mentoring Group. Qualitative data from nine teacher education partnerships working with a significant proportion of the schools in London was subjected to interpretative analysis. The paper explores how the London Providers Mentoring Group, a community of practice adopting an ‘inquiry as stance’ philosophy, has worked towards a pedagogy of mentor education. The paper outlines tensions the group has faced resulting from the changing nature of provision for initial teacher education in England. The main purpose here is to present an analysis of activities designed by mentor educators to enhance learning in mentors and to begin to describe a pedagogy of mentor education. Findings reveal that there are two main types of activities engaged in by London communities of mentoring practice, which are based on divergent principles. Both are necessary for successful mentor development and lead to different types of knowledge. The paper explores and distils principles relating to the nature of the participatory learning processes within these communities and how they are planned and enabled through increasingly collaborative processes as mentors become more experienced. The nature of these communities of mentoring practice is also discussed.

The gender agenda in secondary ITET in England: forgotten, misconceived or what?

The restructuring of secondary initial teacher education in England has seen a shift in both the focus and location of training, with an emphasis upon tightly defined competences and standards and upon more school‐based work. In this paper, I discuss the impact of such changes on newly qualified teachers’ (NQTs) knowledge of gender issues, through a review of the experiences and understandings of around 100 trainees at the end of their training, and identify grounds for hope and for disquiet. Particularly, I reflect upon the extent to which important issues in the gender debate, relating to gender relational approaches, continuing disadvantage of girls and issues of homophobia, appear to be either forgotten or misconceived in current secondary teacher education, and conclude by suggesting that all teacher educators in England with research interests in gender need to (re)engage with the debate about the desirable threshold knowledges which NQTs should possess about gender issues.

Constructions of professional knowledge among student and practising primary teachers: paradigmatic and narrative orientations

The way in which professional knowledge is presented in initial teacher education (ITE) in England and Wales is significant. Not only is it emblematic of the way teaching itself is conceived, but it is likely to influence the way that students engage with their development. The following analysis therefore describes and critiques the kinds of knowledge presented within the predominant model of primary ITE in England and Wales. Bruner’s concepts of paradigmatic and narrative modes of thought are used to frame this analysis. Firstly, the presentation of professional knowledge within different dimensions of primary ITE is examined: in the curriculum; in higher education institutions; and in school. Next, life history research from the last 20 years is used to explore what practising teachers have seen as significant in the formation of their professional knowledge in order to create a critical perspective on the kind of knowledge evident in ITE. Various tensions between paradigmatic and narrative orientations towards knowledge located within both ITE and within teachers’ lives are explored and ultimately seen as contributing in complex and ambiguous ways to what Clandinin and Connelly refer to as a ‘professional knowledge landscape’ (1998). Ultimately, it is argued that recognizing this notion of a ‘professional knowledge landscape’ is useful in framing the kind of teacher professional knowledge required in ITE. The implications of this for primary ITE programmes are also discussed.

Partnership in English Initial Teacher Education: Changing Times, Changing Definitions – Evidence from the Teacher Training Agency National Partnership Project

This paper draws on findings from a national evaluation of the Teacher Training Agency’s National Partnership Programme (NPP) (2001–2005) to analyse the current practice of partnership in initial teacher education in England. The paper begins by drawing on the MOTE studies (Furlong, et al., 2000) undertaken in the 1990s to describe the practice of partnership during that decade. It goes on to describe the changing policy context of teacher education in England since new Labour came to power in 1997, including the Government’s concern substantially to increase the numbers of new teachers entering the profession; it was this commitment, the authors argue, that was in part behind the development of the NPP which was intended to increase both the quality and capacity of schools to take part in initial teacher education. The authors go on to describe the NPP as it was put into practice in nine Government regions across England and their evaluation of it, which included 127 interviews with a range of stakeholders within each of the government regions. They suggest that, although the programme did probably contribute to increasing the numbers of partnership places in schools during its lifetime, the NPP did not alter the underlying model of partnership; indeed, they suggest that in many cases the practice of partnership in England had changed little since the mid 1990s. However, they conclude that the NPP did have an important impact on provision in that it further undermined the pedagogical and epistemological dimensions of partnership that many teacher educators in the 1990s saw as central to collaborative work between schools and higher education institutions (HEIs). The NPP, they suggest, further encouraged the development of a ‘technical rationalist’ approach to teacher education, an approach that fits well with new Labour’s broader vision for the management of the teaching profession in England.

Making Teachers in Britain: Professional knowledge for initial teacher education in England and Scotland

There is an apparent contradiction between the widespread moves towards a uniform and instrumentalist standards‐based approach to teaching on the one hand and recent research‐based insights into the complexity of effective pedagogies. The former tendency reflects a politically driven agenda, the latter is more professionally driven. Tensions reflecting such a contradiction are evident in the debates over initial teacher education (ITE) policy and practice in many parts of the world. This article examines aspects of ITE policy in two contiguous parts of the United Kingdom, England and Scotland. The authors draw on a comparative study carried out during 2002–2004, particularly on an analysis of key contemporary policy documents, in order to consider some of the similarities and differences that are apparent in these two countries. It is argued that while features of national culture, tradition and institutional politics have a significant role to play in the detail of the approaches taken, there is nevertheless evidence of significant convergence between both countries in one aspect of the determination of initial teacher education, the definition of teaching through the prescription of standards, which set official parameters on professional knowledge required for entry into the profession. This, it is suggested, reflects trends associated with neoliberal ‘globalisation’.

Evidence versus ideology in education policy; the recent history of initial teacher education in England and Wales and the implications for educational researchers as agents of change

The last thirty years have seen a radical revision of the ways in which university graduates have been inducted into the teaching profession in England and Wales. Even within this relatively short time span, it is possible to discern a significant change in the manner in which change in this facet of education has been attempted. The 1980s were characterised by a cautious, piecemeal and gradual evolution towards a system of 'partnership' between schools and universities, with graduates spending an increasing percentage of their training in school rather than in the University. More recently the move towards school based teacher education, and to an imposed 'competence' model of accreditation, has been more precipitate, and less consensual. The contrast with the manner in which earlier changes to the system of initial teacher education in England and Wales were effected is even more striking. The paper outlines the changes in approach to reforming initial teacher education in England and Wales and considers the implications of these changes for those engaged in educational research. The same period has also seen a change in the extent to which the government has directed education policy from the centre. Examination of these changing approaches to the reform of initial teacher education, and to the genesis and means of policymaking, reveals that at different points in time, the comparative influence of evidence and ideology has fluctuated, as has the relationship between policymakers and academics. The implications of these fluctuations for university departments of education and for educational researchers will be considered.

Beyond Concerns with Self: The sophisticated thinking of beginning student teachers

The last 10 years have seen a significant transformation of initial teacher education in England. The establishment of school-based partnerships and increasingly tight government regulation have reduced the autonomy of universities in the professional preparation of teachers. In the context of these changes the Developing Expertise of Beginning Teachers project was established to explore the learning of beginning teachers through the course of their initial training and early years in the profession. This paper, based on post-lesson interview data collected during the first half of the training year, focuses on two aspects of student teachers' thinking: the reasons put forward for their teaching decisions; and their evaluation of that teaching. Analysis of lesson aims and the factors taken into account in seeking to achieve them suggests a high level of concern for pupil learning, echoed in their lesson evaluations, and a surprisingly sophisticated grasp of the complexity of teaching.

In the Public Interest: The Challenge for Initial Teacher Education: A Critical Response to Les Bell

Les Bell makes an important contribution to scholarship on initial teacher education with his chronicle of developments in England from 1960 to 1999. He identifies four phases of policy, the first three of which span periods of roughly a decade or more as governments of different persuasion took an increasingly interventionist role, first Conservative under Prime Ministers Macmillan and Douglas-Home, then Labour under Wilson, Conservative under Heath, Labour under Wilson and Callaghan, and finally Conservative under Thatcher and Major. These phases are labelled Social Democratic (1960-1973), Resource Constrained (1973-1987) and Market (1988-1996). The fourth phase, labelled Excellence, commenced in 1997 with the election of New Labour under Blair. Bell leaves the reader in no doubt as to the integrating theme over these four decades, and to his view that New Labour in no way provides a circuit-breaker. In respect to an integrating theme: The story of initial teacher education in England between 1960 and 1999 is one of increasing government intervention in the structure, content and delivery of an educative process at a time when teacher autonomy and the status of teaching as a profession has been eroded. (p. 200) In respect to the legacy of previous governments and prospects under New Labour, Bell refers to the distinctions between colleges and university departments that remain from earlier times and concludes: This legacy of division within teacher education based on perceived inequalities and different traditions, reinforced by amalgamations in the 1970s and 1980s, has seriously inhibited the capacity of teacher educators to mount an effective challenge to the interventionist governments or develop a coherent and persuasive alternative to the prescriptive and narrow approach to teacher training that is embodied in New Labour education policy. (p. 202) These prospects are daunting, given the political context in England. With the usual caveat on there being no certainties in politics, the size of its majority in parliament and trends in public opinion polls suggest that a second term is assured for New Labour, with a third a reasonable prospect at this point, bringing the country to 2012, by which time there is even greater certainty that the nature of education in general, and schooling in particular, will have changed profoundly. The time frame for Bell's analysis thus spans more than half a century for what is apparently an increasingly embattled profession and a powerless faculty in higher education. The purpose of this response to Bell's analysis is to canvas the possibility that a different strategic analysis and a new approach will yield a different outcome and a more uplifting scenario for the profession and those who play a part in initial teacher education. Critical issues related to `public interest' and `professional' are examined. The Australian experience The starting point is acknowledgement of the resonances with experience in Australia, whether it be the rough alignment of phases in policy in the field of initial teacher education, or the divisions and amalgamations in higher education and their effects in faculties of education, or concerns about the apparent decline in status of teachers, or the tight connection being made by policy makers between outcomes of schooling and the economic needs of the nation in a global economy, or the emergence of a reductionist approach in the specification of standards. There are some important points of difference. While experience in school reform in England and most states in Australia is similar, there has not been the same tight connection to reform in teacher education. While there are similarities in national or state curriculum standards and frameworks, and high levels of decentralisation of authority and responsibility to schools through local management (England) or self-management (Australia), there are differences in regimes of accountability for schools and systems of public education. …

Chronicles of Wasted Time? Initial Teacher Education in England: 1960–1999

Introduction Initial teacher education has been a significant part of education policy in Britain since the late 1940s when emergency training was necessary to enable schools to have sufficient staff to teach the children in the immediate post-war period. Even before the post-war crisis in teacher recruitment was fully recognised, the structure and content of teacher education was subject to government intervention. This paper will examine how government interventions have shaped teacher education from the early 1960s, trace the evolution of policy up to and including the advent of New Labour, and analyse the key features of current government initiatives in this area. In order to understand the major concerns in each of these policy phases, it is necessary to note that the argument about whether or not to train potential teachers, the use of the monitorial system of teacher training where student teachers learn by observing more experienced colleagues at work in the classroom, attempts to involve universities in teacher education, the development of monotechnic colleges of education, the supply of teachers and the attempts of local and national government to determine the extent and nature of training for teachers can all be traced back to the 19th century (Dent, 1977). The framework for teacher education as it now exists, however, has its genesis in the McNair Report (Committee to Consider, 1944) which considered the principles which should inform teacher recruitment, supply and training. As a result of this report, area training organisations (ATOs) were established, based on university departments of education, to encourage university participation in teacher education, to plan the development of teacher training in their areas and to supervise the work of the growing number of training colleges for teachers. The immediate problem confronting the ATOs and their colleges was that of teacher supply. The school population increased rapidly in the 1950s and the annual output of teachers needed to increase to cope. Quantity rather than quality was the dominant factor (Lawton, 1988). Teacher supply was still the major problem facing the initial teacher education system by 1960. It has been argued elsewhere (Bell, 1999) that education policy in Britain, from the 1960s onwards, has developed through a four-stage process: 1 Social democratic phase (1960-1973) characterised by a rapidly increasing school pupil population, expansion and a broad consensus about the nature of the educative process which was shared by politicians, administrators and teacher trainers. 2 Resource constrained phase (1973-1987) in which there was a growing emphasis on management, especially the management of resources including teachers, a debate about the nature and purpose of education, a growing concern about the quality and relevance of teaching and of teacher training, a decline in the morale of teachers as career opportunities became more limited, increasing state intervention in the curriculum, the targeting of funding, the limiting of equality of opportunity and experiments with alternative funding strategies. 3 Market phase (1988-1996) in which opportunities were available for growth as those areas defined as successful were encouraged to expand while schools and colleges branded as failures contracted or closed. Site-based management within a tightly prescribed and monitored National Curriculum framework emerged, responsibility for which was vested in lay governors rather than the educational professionals whose status and autonomy was being eroded. The National Curriculum placed increasing emphasis on science, technology and information technology although many schools had neither the staff nor the equipment to deliver what was required and teacher training could not keep up with the demand for such teachers. The curriculum both in schools and in initial teacher training concentrated far more on basic subjects, formally taught to achieve instrumental outcomes. …

Predicting the Impact of the Implementation of the DfEE Circular 4/98 for Primary Science Initial Teacher Education in England and Wales

The article sets the context in which primary science educators find themselves, following the publication in England and Wales of the two recent DfEE circulars (10/97 and 4/98), Teaching: High Status, High Standards. The implications of trainee teachers demonstrating a wide range of standards, both of teaching ability and personal subject knowledge levels, by the end of their courses, are considered. The research was carried out by questioning staff from 32 teacher training institutions, who attended a conference in the early summer of 1998, where the focus was looking at strategies for auditing and enhancing trainee teachers’ subject knowledge. The results indicated that few institutions had foreseen the changes by previously planning for the introduction of subject auditing of trainees, but that all institutions had plans afoot for introducing it both on entry, and during the course. Techniques were based mainly around student self‐assessment, monitored by tutors, using strategies such as evidence portfolios, concept mapping, etc. Strategies such as multiple‐choice testing and computer assessment were envisaged as being used to a lesser extent.

The Northern Ireland professional growth challenge: towards an integrated model of teacher education

This article describes developments in teacher education in Northern Ireland (NI) which aim to integrate the three preliminary phases of teacher development. The research for the article has been informed by a number of sources of evidence. An evaluation questionnaire was circulated to all Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) (Secondary) student teachers in June 1997 on completion of the new school-based programme. Personal involvement in the induction of newly qualified teachers and in planning for the programme for early professional development has enabled ongoing monitoring and evaluation of development. In NI the new programme of initial teacher education (ITE) was implemented in 1996, and while it shares some of the characteristics of ITE in England and Wales, it is quite different in two major respects. Firstly, no formal system of mentoring exists and secondly, no financial resources are transferred from the higher education institutions to schools. From the outset there was a strong commitment to integrate the three phases of early professional development and this is evidenced in the way the competences have been assigned to the initial, induction and early in-service phases of teacher education. An integral feature of the new arrangements was that all student teachers on 1-year PGCE courses were to receive a career-entry profile (CEP). These have been used during 1997-98 as a basis for setting targets for their professional development during induction. Induction in the future (by January 1999) is to be followed with a structured 2-year programme for early professional development (EPD). This article aims to review these initiatives and to examine them with particular reference to partnership, competences and integration and mentoring practices.

School models of teacher development: two cases for reflection

In this article, the author attempts to show how the introduction of a more school-based approach to initial teacher education in England has highlighted the role played by school mentors in conceptualising teacher development. The article focuses on a problem identified through her work as a university tutor within a cluster of schools involved in the Postgraduate Certificate in Education course with the Crewe School of Education (Manchester Metropolitan University). The problem was that the sequential progression of the training programme was not always mirrored in the development of the student teachers. One point where that progression sometimes broke down was the transfer to a second school. The author examines the significance of school context for two student teachers with reference to students' self-reports, end of school experience reports and interviews with school mentors in two schools. The extent to which the schools make a version of reflective practice explicit in their models of teacher development is discussed. These conceptual models are linked to the ways in which students are mentored in school. The article ends by suggesting that reflection on action in the school context is important if student teachers are to be enabled to practise effectively in school situations which are new to them.

The Role of the Higher Education Tutor in School‐based Initial Teacher Education in England and Wales

Recent changes in teacher education in England and Wales have led to an increased concentration on the role of the school in the process of training teachers. There have been interesting developments in mentorship arrangements, often involving training for teachers who will take more responsibility for the supervision of trainees in school. What has been less discussed is the future role of higher education (HE) in the training of teachers and, more specifically, the role of the higher education tutor. This article presents an analysis of the role of the tutor set in the policy context of initial teacher education in England and Wales. Contrasts are drawn with international developments in teacher education, where the direction of policy is towards the involvement of higher education rather than away from it. The selection, induction, career development and the capabilities of teacher educators are considered. A case study of tutor roles on a secondary Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) course operating under Department for Education (DTE) Circular 9/92 is presented. It is concluded that HE tutors have a distinctive part to play in the initial preparation of teachers. The location of all, or too much, teacher training in schools risks the loss of an important resource in teacher preparation.

The practicalities involved in the introduction of school‐administered initial teacher education in the United Kingdom: some policy issues and implications

In September 1993 a Government initiative to allow consortia of schools to set up one‐year secondary teacher training programmes for graduates became operational in England and Wales. This school consortium‐administered teacher training, provided that it was validated by a higher education institution, led to the recognized postgraduate certification in education, which had previously only been attainable on higher education‐administered courses. The 1993 initiative was one of several Government reforms aimed at shifting control for initial teacher education in England and Wales away from higher education and into schools. This article highlights and discusses the policy implications of some of the practical considerations and issues relating to the initiative which emerged from the findings of the first year of a two‐year research project carried out by the author.

Developing Education and Business Links

The Economics and Business Studies Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) at the University of Warwick has been at the forefront of developing links between initial teacher education and business. The latest stage in this process occurred in January 1996 when 22 PGCE students undertook a three-day residential course established in a partnership between the University of Warwick, Understanding British Industry (UBI) and the UK Post Office. This course was the first of its kind in the UK to be sponsored by an individual company and has been designed to provide a model which can be used in all areas of initial teacher education links between business and initial teacher education. The authors address practical and theoretical issues relating to the development of links between business and initial teacher education. The broader theoretical issues considered include the significance of this type of activity in relation to the changes taking place in initial teacher education in England and Wales, such as the development of competencies, the role of continuing professional development and the appropriateness of the model. The authors also address the practical implications of working with business, and the development of a residential programme in a crowded timetable, and assess some of the curriculum materials produced by students.