Teacher Training Agency Research Articles

Incorporating information literacy in the Croatian school environment

Despite the relevance, potential and impact of IL activities on the wider social and pedagogical context, libraries in Croatia are lagging far behind the emerging global information literacy movement. Due to the general lack of written and widely published educational programs, mission statements or policies of Information Literacy on a national level, the majority of school libraries in Croatia are forced to provide only simple and most fundamental forms oriented more towards library and not information literacy. Diagnosing the emerging problem and trying to find a solution to the problem presented an idea for a pilot project. Educating the educators i.e. school librarians was set as a starting point in implementing information literacy in the educational environment.
 Results of the pilot project carried out with the Education and Teacher Training Agency in advocating information literacy in the school environment are presented in this paper. Research on the theory of current education problems together with research on best case scenarios was used as a foundation for creating learning materials and organizing a series of workshops for educating school librarians. Future plans for expanding the project with all participants of the educational process (principals, teachers and school librarians) are discussed and key elements of possible information literacy program are defined.

Research Paper When Home is No Longer a Safe Place – Symptoms of Anxiety, Depression and Post-Traumatic Stress in Children Exposed to Earthquakes in Zagreb During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: The capital of Croatia was hit by several earthquakes during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, simultaneously introducing two sources of stressors to the same cohort. This study aimed to determine the individual and joint effects on children’s mental health.Methods: The study comprised a web-based survey for parents (N = 22,202), deployed in February 2021. Exposure to COVID-19 and earthquake related stressors were assessed using scales constructed for this study and symptoms of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTS) and anxiety/depression were assessed using the CATS-C and RCADS-25-P. Demographic data were used to assess the effects of gender and age. Regression analyses were conducted to identify and evaluate predictors of PTS and anxiety/depression and test for possible interactions between pandemic-related and earthquake-related factors.Findings: Results indicate that impaired mental health is more likely among girls, children who were affected by earthquake and suffered more home damage, and those who are at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19 or have a family member at risk. Further, anxiety/depression symptoms were higher among children whose family member was self-isolated and whose homes were more damaged.Interpretation: Our findings link earthquake exposure and pandemic related stressors to symptoms of PTS, anxiety, and depression. It demonstrated limited interactions of both stressors on children’s mental health. The risk was higher for girls and no age differences were found. Future studies should expand the aspects of both resilience and risk factors, allowing for development of effective intervention strategies.Funding: The study was self-funded by the authors.Declaration of Interest: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.Ethical Approval: The study design was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Zagreb Child and Youth Protection Centre, Ministry of Education and Croatian Education and Teacher Training Agency

Managing Teacher Development: The Changing Role of the Head of Department in England

Teacher development is not something to be done solely in private behind closed doors, at least not if it is to be effective in changing teachers’ practice ( Joyce & Showers, 1988). The skills and knowledge required for effective teaching develop and grow in a range of settings and are constrained by a wide variety of factors ranging from personal circumstances to systemwide features such as the curriculum or assessment policies. In England, which has undergone substantial education reform, particularly since the mid-1980s, there have been many attempts to provide professional development opportunities for individuals, for groups of teachers, and for the whole teaching cohort. One feature that characterizes the climate in which teachers work is the focus on standards and outcomes rather than on processes. A governmentfunded body, the Teacher Training Agency, has produced a normative set of standards that are meant to guide teachers and professional development “deliverers.” These standards are already the subject of interest of a range of countries around the world.

Continuing Professional Development: nurturing the expert within

ABSTRACTMajor educational reform initiatives in England since 1988 have been based on a technicist view of curriculum and teaching which assumes that change can be ‘delivered’ in a linear way from the ‘centre’ to teachers for implementation in classrooms. ‘Expertise’ in judgement and decision-making is seen to reside outside schools, to be conferred in a hierarchical way to those inside schools. There is no account in such models of teachers’ own expertise, understanding and judgement at the heart of reform or ‘good practice’. Will current initiatives from the Teacher Training Agency on a national framework for continuing professional development address this anomaly? This paper critiques the notion of ‘delivery’ or ‘teacher as technician’ as a deficient and dangerous model for educational reform. It argues for a model of continuing professional development which attends to the development of teachers’ understanding of learning, to their sense of voice, their judgement and their confidence to cultivate inner expertise as a basis for teaching and for judging outsider initiatives. In particular, it argues that the expertise of the well-educated teacher must lie at the heart of continuing professional development if the best of educational reform initiatives are to be implemented in the pursuit of educational improvement and social justice. The paper draws upon material from case stories of teachers undergoing profound changes of understanding as a result of enquiry-based continuing professional development

TEACHERS’ (DIS)SATISFACTION WITH CONTINUING EDUCATION

S u m m a r y Teachers’ satisfaction with continuing education is one of the key components for a better development and harmonization of continuing education in accordance with contemporary demands and changes in educational systems. The goal of the research was to determine the level of teachers’ satisfaction with continuing education. The research comprised 153 participants, teachers in primary education, from different regions (six counties: 1. Split-Dalmatia, 2. Sibenik Knin, 3. Zadar, 4. Istria, 5. Zagreb and 6. Brod-Posavina). Evaluating the satisfaction with the quality of continuing education, most of the participants (44.4%) are both satisfied and dissatisfied with continuing education. It is interesting that, when analyzed by regions, there is no statistically significant difference in evaluations of education provided by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports and education provided by the Education and Teacher Training Agency, but there are differences in evaluations of non-government associations. Teachers want the contents of continuing education to be in accordance with contemporary educational topics and applicable in practice. One of the most influential factors (54.4%) affecting the selection of continuing education of teachers is the personal professional development plan. Nearly 30% of primary education teachers consider themselves not to be competent enough to develop and monitor basic competences in students. Although most of the participants consider themselves highly competent in development and monitoring of competences that are set by the European Council, it is interesting that there are competences that none of the participants has listed as those that he or she develops most with his or her students (technological knowledge and digital competence).

우리나라의 중등학교 체육교사 양성과 임용에 대한 고찰

After analysing the appointment of pre-service physical education teacher and the training course at the physical education teacher training agency as well as acquiring license and the appointment procedure based on the procedure of becoming secondary physical education teacher, the result is as follows.
 There needs to be a change in the method of screening where, when selecting teachers greater importance should be put on the teaching profession aptitude as well as humanity as a means of employment, rather than on highschool records and practical test. Moreover the curriculum of physical education teacher training university and the administration should put greater emphasis on the subject related pedagogy rather than the subject itself. The change in the recognition of the importance on the early field experience and 16 weeks(at least) of early field experience corresponding to the developed nations, is required.
 The second degree license of physical education teacher is attained without examination concurrently with graduation. However attaining license through examination, separate from graduation and introduction to validity existing license renewal system should be considered. On the teacher appointment examination, in the case of theory, the subject pedagogy should be given more weight. On the assessment procedure of appointment examination, the third exam which assesses the disposition of the teacher should come before the first appointment examination thus inspecting the ability and quality of the teacher in prior to everything.

Action research as a tool of professional development of advisers and teachers in Croatia

Whilst educational action research is not unknown in Croatia, its use is not widespread. In part, this might be because action research assumes a high level of autonomy for practitioner–researchers, and a constructivist view of knowledge, neither of which are traditional characteristics of the Croatian system. This article reports on a capacity building programme in which 18 senior advisers from the Education and Teacher Training Agency developed action research projects in Croatian schools. The article outlines the context of the programme, describes the programme itself, and presents an analysis of the advisers’ action research projects. This shows that action research was used by advisers, supporting teachers, to effect change in schools. The principles of action research were generally understood, and produced evidence of practical change, collaboration and mutual understanding. Although action research is generally understood as a ‘grassroots movement’ this article suggests that action research can lead to desirable change, even when imported from elsewhere. Thus action research holds one answer to the question, how to promote beneficial life‐long learning among education professionals.

Reforming further education teacher training: a policy communities and policy networks analysis

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s teacher preparation for the schools sector in the United Kingdom was subject to a series of reforms and innovations including the establishment of new institutional arrangements to oversee the sector, namely the Teacher Training Agency (TTA – now the Training and Development Agency, TDA). Since 2002 the arrangements for training teachers in the broadly defined learning and skills sector have also been subject to scrutiny and a wide‐ranging reform agenda has been put forward by the Government. This paper examines the key reforms using a three stage model to analyse the policy development process and discusses the functions and status of the sector skills council, Learning UK (LLUK), in order to examine its relationships with external stakeholders. Contrasts are made with the approach adopted by the TTA during the reform of teacher training for school. The paper concludes with a tentative assessment of the progress of the reform agenda and the identification of a number of salient issues that warrant further research.

`Does knowing stuff like PSHE and citizenship make me a better teacher?': Student teachers in the teacher training figuration

One of the key elements of figurational sociology is the emphasis on understanding complex networks of interdependencies in which people are involved. The focal point of this paper is the process of initial teacher training (ITT) and the relationships of which student teachers are part during their ITT course. The paper does not look at what student teachers ought to think; rather, it is an exploration of why student teachers may think the way they do. The paper uses data which were collected as part of a larger project funded by a Teacher Training Agency small research grant. Results suggest that student teachers value aspects of their course differently. In particular, student teachers value university practical sessions and school-based experiences over university-based theory sessions, which are considered irrelevant to the actual practice of teaching. Despite attempts by university tutors to engage student teachers in academic discourses about the nature of physical education (PE), student teachers' perceptions of PE did not change during their course. Further, student teachers perceived conflict between the university-based theoretical elements and the school-based elements of the course.

Developing a characterisation of citizenship education: issues arising from work undertaken in a higher education network

In order to understand better the way in which the emerging field of citizenship education is being characterised we reflect on work emerging from a higher education network (citizED) for citizenship education. Three of the four authors of this article are closely involved in that network. CitizED was established with funding from the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) (now the Training and Development Agency for Schools, TDA) in order to establish a network and provide resources to support the initial training of citizenship teachers. We analysed download data from the network's website, a sample of the resources produced by the network, and interviewed a sample of users and developers. In this article we identify who is using the resources, how they are using them and what form of citizenship education is developing as a result. We argue that there is now a clear citizenship teacher education community that uses common resources for a variety of purposes. We suggest that there is some consensus in relation to the official characterisation of citizenship, but that ‘turf wars’ still exist in this contested field.

Reforming Teachers and Uncompromising 'Standards': implications for social justice in schools

As a major consumer of public funds education has become one of the most highly surveilled and accountable professions in the United Kingdom. In this article the authors chart the changes and reforms to teacher training and in particular the impact of the ‘standards’ agenda on the teaching profession. They analyse the impact that the Teacher Development Agency (formally the Teacher Training Agency) and the Every Child Matters agenda has had on the promotion of an agenda for social justice and equality in schools.

Who succeeds in teacher training?

This article describes part of the findings of a study requested by the (then) Teacher Training Agency (TTA) into the factors that support high quality initial teacher training (ITT) provision in England. The study had two chief aims. The first was to characterise successful trainees in terms of data already known about them using a dataset of all 72,881 postgraduate trainees from 1998 to 2001. The second was to relate these findings to potential determinants of the effectiveness of different kinds of institutions and routes in their training of teachers. There was little variation in the success rates of trainees with different entry qualifications, backgrounds or areas of subject specialism. Almost 90% of trainees were successful in achieving qualified teacher status and 95% of these were able to secure a teaching post within six months of finishing training. This varied little according to the type of institution that was attended, its level of research activity, or its quality as determined by Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) inspections. This leads us to conclude that there is no evidence, on these existing data, of a differential institutional effect in determining the success rates of trainees in ITT.

Sustainability and teacher education

Sustainability is now a key concept in both government policy and wider global concerns. Issues of climate change and global warming can no longer be ignored in teacher education programmes in the post‐compulsory education and training sector. Government policy‐makers, notably the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), Learning Skills Council (LSC) and the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) are all looking to educators to take the lead. This article proposes that sustainability needs to be embedded in a notion of professionalism that has a professional values framework at its heart. This framework should underpin all teacher education programmes and energise professional practice. A college in the south‐west of England is used as an example of how post‐16 institutions can embed sustainability, not only in teacher education programmes but the whole ethos of the college.

The evaluation of the National Partnership Project in England: processes, issues and dilemmas in commissioned evaluation research

This article reviews the processes, issues and dilemmas involved in evaluation research undertaken in the context of changing and evolving government policy in education. The article is grounded in an evaluation of the National Partnership Project (NPP), the team conducted on behalf of England's Teacher Training Agency (TTA) in 2004–2005. It will not present a critique of partnership in England, but will draw on perspectives of partnership to provide some background information to the project. It will also discuss the processes of evaluation research in the context of frameworks from recent and relevant research and will raise issues for future commissioned evaluation research to address.

Standards or communities of practice? Competing models of workplace learning and development

Drawing on interview data derived from two case studies of teachers in their first year in the profession, this article examines the difficulties that confront new teachers as they move from a Postgraduate Certificate in Education course into their first teaching post. It questions the value of those discursive practices, promulgated by the Teacher Training Agency through Qualifying to teach, that construct teaching as a set of discrete competences or standards, and argues that Lave and Wenger's (1991) concepts of legitimate peripheral participation and communities of practice are useful tools with which to analyse the sociocultural complexity of the new teachers' experiences.

Fantasies of teaching: handling the paradoxes inherent in models of practice

This article seeks to contrast two constructions of teachers and teaching in England. The first construction is to be found in government documentation, which privileges a technical‐rational approach. The second is to be found in film and advertising for the profession, where the teacher is represented as an altruistic and charismatic subject. In their contrasting ways, both these constructions can be regarded as fantasies for teaching held by the government and wider society, which the teacher has to deal with. The article examines both constructions and the tensions that have been created by their presence in Teacher Training Agency ‘texts’, by drawing on data from trainee interviews as well as examples from the media which give rise to these disparate fantasies. Employing psychoanalytic theory, the article seeks to examine the ways in which teachers and trainees are faced with the paradox of fulfilling both seemingly contrasting fantasies while in the meantime the Government works to annex personally felt fantasies into its codes. It is suggested that trainees need to be educated into these tensions and that practitioners overall need to maintain their fantasies for teaching as well as accommodating these codes.

Promoting group talk and higher‐order thinking in pupils by ‘coaching’ secondary English trainee teachers

AbstractOne hundred and eighty British secondary school pupils aged 11–12 and their six trainee teachers in five schools participated in an action research project, designed to improve the quality of children's group talk in English lessons, particularly their engagement in higher‐order thinking through ‘exploratory’ talk. The programme, supported by the Teacher Training Agency (TTA), now Training and Development Agency, was devised by a team of mentors and an Initial Teacher Educator from Sussex University. It aimed to develop the trainees' skills both in planning challenging tasks for, and sustaining effective group talk, using ‘ground rules’ and varied teacher discourse strategies. The data include qualitative comparative analysis of discourse audiotaped before and after the intervention, taken from 66 pupils. Findings indicate a clear improvement in the quality of talk, in terms of pupils' collaborative engagement in higher‐order thinking. Further evidence from observations and interviews with all participants suggests confirmation of the programme's effectiveness in improving trainees' and pupils' skills in, and understanding of how to use group talk to reason.

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.

The experience of black African religious education trainee teachers training in England

This study addresses issues surrounding the recruitment and training of black African religious education teachers within the context of the government’s intention to make the teaching profession more representative of the wider community. In relation to this there is a strong emphasis in the Teacher Training Agency’s Qualifying to Teach on selection procedures which promote equality of opportunity and the recognition of individual training needs. The study is informed by the work of Sikes and Everington who have highlighted the place of religion and culture within the personal histories of religious education teachers. Black African members of two successive cohorts of PGCE students are tracked to identify their training needs in relation to their cultural and religious backgrounds. The data identifies four cultural and religious factors which impact on their training to teach religious education in the UK. Finally, as advised by the Carrington Report, recommendations are made for the practice of teacher educators.

The ‘right kind of man’: the ambiguities of regendering the key stage one environment

This article considers the issue of recruitment of men into primary teaching, with particular reference to key stage one (for five to seven year olds) in England. The latest UK statistics reveal that there are 26,200 male primary teachers and 141,000 females. However, there are disproportionately greater numbers of male headteachers. The presence of men in this environment is perceived as crucial. The public discourse, then, calls for more men to function as role models, and this article examines the different voices within this discourse. It also surveys the initiatives taken by the UK Government and Teacher Training Agency as part of the recruitment drive to secure more men in the primary sector. The second part of the article presents research undertaken with female teachers. It explores their perceptions and experiences of male teachers at key stage one. Women suggest that rather than recruiting men as a group, what is needed is the ‘right kind of man’. This article considers this notion and concludes that there needs to be greater clarity within the public discourse as to the meaning of male role models and the need for more men working with young children. The voice of female teachers is currently absent from the public discourse. Given their knowledge and experience, women can offer a significant contribution to policy and should have the opportunity to be heard.