Teacher Training Agency Research Articles

The role of central government and its agencies in the continuing professional development of teachers: an evaluation of recent changes in its financing in England

The introduction in November 1997, by the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) of a competitive bidding process for the funding of in-service education and training for teachers (INSET) in England is, in the judgement of the authors, likely to have a significant impact, not only in terms of the quality and quantity of in-service education and training available to teachers, but also in raising fundamental questions about the role of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in that provision. The authors consider the growth and development of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) since the passage of the 1988 Reform Act and argue that the creation of the TTA in 1995 signalled a paradigm shift in relationships between HEIs, local education authorities and central government. Concern is raised that recent changes in the funding process have been to the detriment of the balance of supply and demand at the local level and in the longer term will bring about a reassessment of the role of Higher Education in both the initial training and the continuing professional development of teachers.

The recruitment and selection of new teachers of mathematics: the needs of secondary schools versus the teacher training agenda

The appointment of good new teachers is a significant feature in the maintenance and enhancement of teaching quality in schools. In the United Kingdom the selection of new teachers of mathematics is particularly critical given the shortage of recruits and the reportedly low standards currently achieved by pupils. But what is a ‘good new teacher'? This paper analyses recruitment and selection policy in the professions generally and within education in particular. A number of general trends across all employment sectors are identified. Reported attitudes and practices in the schools' sector are also highlighted. These are then compared with the expressed needs of employing schools, as indicated by a sample of job descriptions sent to university tutors acting as candidate referees, and a list of the most commonly cited selection criteria is proposed. Most significantly, employing schools appear to place greatest stress on candidates' personal qualities and attitudes, an approach which is mirrored by the professions more generally. Teacher education in the United Kingdom is overseen by the Teacher Training Agency (TTA), effected by the higher education institutions in partnership with schools, and inspected by the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED). Documentation from these sources suggests a lack of consensus on the training agenda. Whilst the TTA and OFSTED focus on the acquisition of a relatively narrow range of subject knowledge and practical skills, schools emphasize the importance of personal qualities and attitudes, and higher education is more concerned to lay down the foundation for long‐term learning and professional development. Possible explanations for this mismatch are discussed, and their implications considered.

Teaching Reading: Lessons from the Experts

There have been several investigations into the effective teaching of reading, but very few into the qualities of teachers who are effective practitioners in this area. In this article, the authors report some of the findings of a project commissioned by the Teacher Training Agency to investigate the characteristics of effective teachers of literacy. The effective teachers studied had a number of features in common, including a coherent set of beliefs about the importance of meaning in literacy teaching and an ability to help their pupils to make connections between language at the text, sentence and word levels.

Early experience of middle management assessment: lessons from the NEAC scheme

This article focuses on the findings of an evaluation of the pilot phase of the National Educational Assessment Centre (NEAC) Middle Manager Scheme launched in 1996. The scheme, aimed at enabling the assessment of generic managerial competencies, is discussed within the context of the ‘standards and competence movement’ of the 1990s, including the recent Teacher Training Agency (TTA) initiative on National Standards. There follows an overview of the key findings of the NEAC scheme, which highlights the considerable benefits that participants derived from the process of having been listened to by an empathetic and experienced professional in a one-to-one situation, and from the opportunity to engage in real reflection on personal and professional goals. The need for schools to build on this positive experience through entitlement to a system of on-going mentor support is discussed, and the implications for school management of continuing professional development are explored. Finally, it is suggested that if, as intended by the TTA, the newly launched National Standards are to become useful tools to stimulate teachers' professional growth through the processes of reflection, review and action planning, the NEAC experience indicates that this is most likely to occur within a positive Continuous Professional Development (CPD) school culture that ensures entitlement to individual mentor support.

Managing continuing professional development to support school-based target setting

In this article the author attempts to make more problematic the sensible and rational DfEE model of school review, planning and action; and to argue the case for more continuous professional development (CPD) and mentoring support for schools, if target setting is to become the valuation ‘management tool’ which DfEE wish headteachers and governing bodies to use in their development planning. However, an historical review of CPD provision and support for the INSET revolution in England and Wales from the 1980s onwards, presents instead a picture of a lack of continuity and coherence in managing and supporting systematic school-based INSET. Instead, the dominant Government model of the late 1990s appears to be one of centrally designed and externally delivered off-site courses, as can be seen in the Teacher Training Agency's ‘TTA's’ National Professional Qualification of Headship ‘NPQH’ programme. The article ends with a brief description of the establishment of an inter-LEA Target Setting Research Network which incorporates the values of long-term action research and continuous mentoring support.

The Deracialisation of Initial Teacher Training: implications for social justice

The Labour Government came into office committed to raising educational standards for ‘all’. With such a commitment it was hoped that their White Paper ‘Excellence in Schools’ and the new criteria for teacher training ‘Teaching: High Status, High Standards, Requirements for Courses of Initial Teacher Training’ (Circular 10/97), would amongst other things address the deracialisation of education brought about by 18 years of Conservative Government. This paper is concerned specifically with the deracialisation of initial teacher training and an analysis in this respect, of Circular 10/97 together with the implications for social justice. It will be argued that in spite of the Goverment's concern for achieving ‘education for all’ and the Teacher Training Agency's concern with the low level of recruitment of black and ethnic minority student teachers, Circular 10/97 is not only a lost opportunity in terms of re‐addressing ‘race’ and racism in teacher education, but its failure to do so is in itself counterproductive for social justice.

Standards for Specialists? A Review of the Proposals for Teacher Training for SEN Specialists

Carol Miller and Jill Porter, of the School of Education, The University of Birmingham, provide a penetrating critical response to the Teacher Training Agency’s two consultation documents on SEN specialist teachers, which it is hoped will stimulate a wide‐ranging debate.

The Changing Nature of Training for Teaching in Primary Schools in England: Contexts and Curriculum

Initial Teacher Education (ITE) has long been a site of contestation between diverse academic and professional interests and national and local governmental influences. ITE's place as a ‘gatekeeper’ to the teaching profession means that it has had a pivotal role in determining the nature of teachers and consequently of schooling. When the education system as a whole has been under scrutiny, ITE has been subject to changes, often radical or rapid. At certain points in the history of ITE such changes have involved the state taking control of key aspects of teacher education. At the present time state intervention in determining the nature and structure of ITE has reached unprecedented levels. ITE has undergone radical changes, driven by six major circulars specifically on ITE since 19841, and by a series of equally radical changes to the school sector. In 1999 teacher education departments have to follow mandatory curricula for ITE, imposed through Circulars 10/97 and 4/98 (DfEE, 1997, 1998). In an area which has traditionally had an ill‐defined knowledge base, there are now defined curricula which specify the core knowledge areas to be addressed in teacher preparation. The funding and much of the structure of ITE is controlled by the Teacher Training Agency (TTA), established in 1994 as a government quango to oversee teacher education. ITE, like schooling, is inspected by the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) under similar frameworks to those used for school inspections. 1DES, 1984, 1989; DfE, 1992, 993; DfEE, 1997, 1998.

Standardising Teachers: Attitudes Towards National Standards for Those Working with Children with Learning Difficultie*

In 1998 the Teacher Training Agency sought responses on a set of National Standards for SEN Specialist Teachers. Their principal aim was improving the achievement of pupils and the quality of their education. In this paper the views of a group of teachers are reported on four aspects of such a ‘standardised’ approach: their participation in the ‘Standards’ consultation, the relevance and appropriateness of a set of nationally applicable standards for those working in designated areas of SEN, the content matter of the proposed standards and their likely impact on practice in schools. The data, obtained by a series of interviews with 20 teachers from mainstream and special schools, suggest that, whilst controversial in terms both of a perception that creativity and flair in teaching might be a casualty, a set of national standards for SEN specialist teachers may prove to be an effective means of teacher and pupil development. *Paper to the Annual Conference of the British Educational Research Association. University of Sussex, September, 1999.

New Labour and Teacher Education in England and Wales: The first 500 days

This paper examines the policies and practices of the previous government's so-called 'reform' of initial teacher education and the way in which one creation of these reforms, the Teacher Training Agency, has now begun adversely to affect provision for in-service education. The Agency's simplistic approach to teachers' professional development is identified, with the recommendation that the new Labour government should urgently review the effectiveness of the Teacher Training Agency.

Calls for more men in primary teaching: problematizing the issues

The Teacher Training Agency has identified a need for more men to be recruited into primary teaching. This reflects wider calls to address social concerns expressed about boys from single‐parent families needing male teachers to deal with increasingly negative behaviour and underachievement. The calls for more men tend to centre on ideas of the role model they can present and, to a lesser extent, of their potential in raising the status of the teaching profession. The aim of this paper is to show that the issues are complex and generally need further analysis in informing policy and guidance for teachers in training. One group for whom the discussion is significant is male students preparing to become primary teachers. Interview data gathered from sixteen male teacher training students is used here to reflect the complexities faced by them in practice.

The National Professional Qualification for Headship: The key to effective school leadership?

Preparation for school leadership and management has become one of the major educational issues of the late 1990s. The Teacher Training Agency's National Professional Qualification for Headship is arguably the most important initiative because it leads to a threshold qualification for headship which is intended to become mandatory. This paper will examine NPQH and contrast it with both the recent history of school management provision in England and Wales and with international practice. The paper concludes that NPQH is likely to make an important contribution to the preparation of the next generation of school leaders but requires modification to address certain weaknesses.

Training Aspiring Heads on NPQH: Issues and progress

The paper explores the political and historical origins of the new qualification for headteachers, the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH). The distinctive features of the NPQH training programme are explored to draw attention to the strengths and weaknesses: conceptual pluralism, the separation of leadership from management, the emphasis on process and practical application and the downplaying of theory, the separation of the training and assessment processes and the inevitable pressure to cover content. Attention is drawn to the issues which need resolution to achieve the Teacher Training Agency's goal of ensuring excellent leadership in schools: the conflict between central direction and the importance of situational leadership and the political imperative for programme outcomes. Existing difficulties in professional development for teachers have not been resolved by the NPQH: differentiation, funding, taking account of prior learning, pressures on professionals' lives and on their schools and appropriate diversity among aspiring headteachers.

Social justice and the reconstruction of teaching

In this paper we argue that conceptions of what constitutes the ‘effective teacher’ and what counts as career progression are being reshaped by the Teacher Training Agency. One initiative which is central to this is the National Professional Qualification framework. We argue that the framework neglects teachers’ responsibilities in relation to social justice and that the teaching profession is being increasingly differentiated in ways which may disadvantage particular groups of children and teachers. Issues of governance, representation and accountability in teacher education cannot be ignored and connect with wider debates in the public sector both in the UK and elsewhere.

Primary school headteachers' attempts to maintain a person-centred managerial style: the evidence from their appraisals

Teacher appraisal in England and Wales has sometimes been represented as a further step for primary heads in the inexorable shift from educational leadership to a managerial bureaucratic role. This study reports the findings of a recent survey of the views of 26 primary headteachers on their experience of headteacher appraisal. In our research, headteachers show that they remain convinced of the continuing importance of their educational leadership roles in their schools, and they identify strongly with their schools as communities of educators; where the best chance of achieving excellence lies in their development of the teaching and support staff. They believe they have found an unexpectedly effective route to better headship in the process of their own appraisal and that of fellow heads. In conclusion, the study looks forward to the rather different perspectives of new plans for headteacher training and appraisal contained in proposals by the Teacher Training Agency and the Labour Government. In contrast to the views of the heads we interviewed, these proposals suggest a continuing official emphasis on the managerial expertise and accountability of headteachers as part of the school improvement programme.

The Reflective Teacher and the Teacher Training Agency

abstract In February 1997 the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) published consultation documents on the Training Curriculum and Standards for New Teachers. Amongst other things their proposals for teacher training entail a switch from emphasis on competences to concentration on standards to be realised within a context of classroom practice. The article argues that this context appears to be quite narrowly conceived and that it would in consequence lead to an undesirably restricted view of the nature of teacher training. Specifically the discussion deals with the implications of the proposals for the notion of teaching as a reflective activity. An approach to reflective practice indicated by the proposals is examined and implications for professional knowledge and values investigated. This article acknowledges the central importance of critical reflection on classroom practice for training but maintains that it is likely to be more effective if based on a broader conception of knowledge and educational values than appears to be held by the TTA.

A national curriculum for the education and training of teachers: an english perspective

This article presents a review of the development and potential impact of National Curricula for Initial Teacher Training (ITT) and draws parallels with the implementation of the National Curriculum for schools. It reviews changes in ITT arising from the development of ITT partnerships between schools and higher education and suggests that some of the collaborative initiatives that have been emerging from joint research and development, partly led by previous government requirements, may not be fully evaluated before they are inhibited by central definition of course content. Specific concerns about the ITT National Curricula requirements for subject specialist teaching in primary schools are discussed in terms of the Teacher Training Agency's (TTA) assumption that greater subject knowledge per se will lead to improved standards of teaching and learning, without taking sufficient account of other pedagogy and management factors. the article suggests that if the quality of ITT is to improve, there needs to be a continued dialogue about the nature of teaching and learning, and the curricula for training to meet the national standards, between school and HEI partners locally, regionally and nationally

Development needs of middle managers: the views of senior managers

A questionnaire survey of the role of the Professional Development Coordinator within one Local Education Authority's high schools and middle schools revealed widespread concerns about the professional development needs of school middle managers. This paper sets out the needs identified and argues that in addition to training needs concerned with managing the department or faculty (which have long been recognised but which are still not being addressed satisfactorily) training needs relating to the middle manger's contribution to whole-school planning and development are increasing rapidly. As the role of the middle manager is becoming more complex, the need to ensure that such managers possess the knowledge and skills to perform effectively takes on an even greater urgency. The Teacher Training Agency's initiative on 'A National Professional Qualification for Subject Leaders' hold out hope that these needs will at last begin to be addressed

Une question de writing?

A research project commissioned by the Teacher Training Agency as part of the Teacher Research Grant Scheme 1996/97

From new right to new deal: nationalism, globalisation and the regulation of teacher professionalism

Economic rationalist arguments continue to be used to justify educational reforms. Within such a paradigm, this paper argues that the educational reforms of the New Right were based on neo-Fordist principles, establishing a low wage – low skill economy; polarising the workforce and exacerbating social inequality. By continuing Tory policies, Labour's New Deal has so far failed to make the transformations necessary to creation of a post-Fordist, high wage, high skill magnet economy advocated by left modernisers. Flexible, highly skilled workers are not produced by a rigid education system, delivered by teachers whose professionalism is dysfunctionally over-regulated by prescriptive national qualification structures. National curricula do not prepare learners adequately for the competitive international knowledge market. The logic of Labour's own economic rationalism suggests more decision-making devolved to teachers, not less. We need to transcend the limitations of national regulating bodies such as the Teacher Training Agency to achieve a more internationalised professionalism. The status of teachers in the global market for skilled knowledge workers is a key factor in ensuring the supply of motivated and effective professionals