ahds annual conference 2014 - workshop; edinburgh university

AHDS Partnership Workshop:

University of Edinburgh Teacher Education

PartnershipsDeirdre Torrance: Co-Director of Teacher

Education PartnershipsAnn Rae: Programme Director for the MA

Primary Education ‘with’ suite

UofE Teacher Education Partnership

City of Edinburgh

East Lothian

Fife

Midlothian

Scottish Borders

West Lothian

Extended Partnership

Clackmannanshire

Stirling

Educational Institute of Scotland

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Education Scotland

General Teaching Council

Scottish Council of Independent Schools

Reflect on your own experiences in partnership relationships in relation to

each of the following levels:

What is your experience

of partnership?

Partnership

Level 3 - Genuinely collaborative development from outset of proposed (new?) practice. Concept of what is envisaged may be in place but development of this and what it will mean in practice is genuinely open to significant adaption - Genuinely collaborative evaluation for further development and decisions about next steps; where possible involving partners in design and/or analysis as well as in collective decisions about next stepsProject leader role: probably adopting an initiator / organiser role BUT…maintaining a genuine openness to group suggestions , with power of democratic decision making and steering of direction regularly performed as being very similar to those of other members of working group. Partners believe they are/ have been/will be as fully involved as they wished to be and that they were involved in a process of co-creation

Level 2Genuinely consultative development but present ‘partners’ with an existing/ pre-determined model in which, to date, they have had minimal/no opportunity for involvement or co-creation at a conceptual level. Response and feedback on how to implement/improve is openly invited Although they believe that, to date, they have been, for the most part, recipients of the University ideas and related materials/practices, partners are confident that they now have a realistic opportunity to be actively involved in co-development and a real say in what happens next. They believe they now have the opportunity to be as fully involved as they wish to be.

Level 1Co-opting partners (probably out of necessity at this stage of the process) to implement /provide feedback/evaluate a document/ set of practices in which they, themselves, have been offered minimal or no realistic opportunity for their involvement at a conceptual level to date. Participation invited is predominantly at an operational level and is often task orientated rather than process-focused. Changes sought are at a fairly superficial level e.g. tweaking /responding with simple feedback.Partners believe it to be tokenistic consultation in that they perceive that their responses are sought as a matter of protocol rather than in the spirit and practice of genuine consultation or truly collaborative working. They do not believe they have had the opportunity to be as involved in the development as they may wish to be/ have wished to have been.

Our Partnership has focused on all four of the Scottish Government development areas for Teacher Education Partnership:

• Initial Teacher Education• Early Phase Professional Learning• Career-Long Professional Learning• Educational Leadership

4 Distinct Areas for Partnership

The original national principles for partnership:

• Quality of Student Learning Experience• Clarity• Reciprocity• University Academic Standards• Professional Standards • Continuity• Collaborative engagement• Joint assessment • Training and support• Need for clear and consistent documentation

Our partnership, like other partnerships, added:• Career-long professional learning, including leadership development

Leadership has been firmly positioned within the role of every Scottish teacher:• Donaldson (2010/11) Review of Teacher Education • McCormac (2011) Review of Teacher Employment • GTCS (2012) revised suite of Professional Standards • GTCS (2012) five yearly cycle of Professional Update • GTCS/Educ Scotland (2012) Leadership Framework• Scottish College for Educational Leadership

UofE Teacher Education Partnership

Scottish Government funding to support:

•Early Phase professional learning inc. ITE•enhanced understandings of developing CLPL at Masters level •an increase in Masters level learning•engagement with teachers

4 SG Grants for Partnership

One Example of ITE Initiatives

UofE Teacher Education Partnership

The five ITE programmes are:•MA in Primary Education ‘with’ Earth Sciences, History, Mathematics, Modern Languages (German), Religious Studies, or Scottish Studies•MA in Gaelic and Primary Education•MA in Physical Education•PGDE (Primary)•PGDE (Secondary)

MA Hons in Primary Education with …

6 programmes•Earth sciences•History•Mathematics•Modern languages - German•Religious studies•Scottish studies

MA Primary education programmes – structure:

4 strands•With

•Primary studies•Educational studies•Professional experience and practice

Professional experience and practice (PEP)

Moving to work together on the MA in Primary education:Year 2 Professional Experience and Practice (PEP)

Year 2 PEP8 serial days•4 in mainstream•4 in non-mainstream education setting, for example a community group or a third sector organisation

Moving to work together on the MA in Primary education:Year 3 Professional Experience and Practice (PEP)

Year 3 PEPYear long placement

Discuss:

What are some of the opportunities and challenges in working more

closely in partnership for the initial education of teachers?

National Developments Informing the Masters Level Learning Initiatives

UofE Teacher Education Partnership

Professional Enquiry

Adapted from Reeves et al. (2002)

Practitioner Enquiry

Accomplished and enquiring professionals demonstrating a range of skills and qualities as:•adaptive experts•knowledge creators•curriculum developers•practitioner enquirers•critical thinkers•collaborative practitioners•leading learners

Robertson and Robinson (2012)

Leadership – Global Perspective

School leadership is second only to classroom teaching as an influence on pupil learning. … Leadership acts as a catalyst without which other good things are quite unlikely to happen.

Leithwood et al. (2008: 28)

Moreover, the improvement of leadership capacity has been identified as ‘a top priority and an area where more has to be done’.

(Barber et al., 2010: 5)

Leadership – Scottish Perspective

School leadership has been recognised as a national priority in the:

•Review of Teacher Education (Donaldson, 2011)

•Review of Teacher Employment (McCormac, 2011)

•Revised Professional Standards (GTCS, 2012)

Masters Level CLPL

Teaching Scotland’s Future (Donaldson, 2011) identified an aspiration that Scotland would move towards teaching as a Masters profession with the intention of improving national standards of education.

International comparisons have led the Scottish Government to conclude that countries with a Masters teaching profession perform better.

Masters Level Learning

• 5 characteristics comprising Level 11

• High quality professional dialogue

• Critical and informed reflection on practice

• Comprehensive introduction to different aspects of practitioner enquiry/teacher leadership

Discuss:

What are some of the opportunities and challenges that you are encountering in

relation to engaging teachers in leadership in your school context?

• The public partnership webpages - accessible through the main MH page or through:

http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/education/about-us/partnerships

• Plus restricted access to group documents

The UoE Teacher Education Partnership

- Website:

Any other aspects for further clarification or discussion?