research on teacher educators: past & future possibilities bera, lrsn and tell event, institute...
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Research on teacher educators: past & future possibilities
BERA, LRSN and TELL Event, Institute of Education, University of London
Teacher Educators in the Lifelong Learning Sector: roles and research possibilities
12th July 2013Professor Jean Murray, Research Leader
The Sir John Cass School of Education & Communities
Analytical frameworks for teacher education in the LLS
Model of teacher education: evolving landscape of
teacher/trainer qualifications for LLS and the
resulting teacher education system:
Levels of state control and provider autonomy
Teacher selection: professional roles of teachers /
lecturers / trainers
Curriculum and pedagogies of teacher education
The worlds of teaching & teachers
in LLS
Values and moral and social purposes of the LLS sector
Knowledge bases of teaching – vocational, professional
Visions of teacher professionalism & its educational and social functions
Lifelong learning across a teaching career – what? how and why?
Who takes responsibility for that learning?
Teachers as first order practitioners (Murray, 2002)
1st order practitioners: working in the 1st order
field of LLS institutions
Possess 1st order knowledge of the Lifelong
Learning sector - reproduces knowledge with /
for students
Possess 1st order pedagogical skills for working
with students
Teacher educators as second order practitioners (Murray, 2002)
2nd order practitioners: working in 2nd
order field of teacher education
Possess both 1st order knowledge of LLS &
2nd order knowledge of teacher education
to reproduce required knowledge for/with
students & teachers
Possess 2nd order pedagogical skills for
working with adult professional learners
Who is a teacher educator? (1)
Ill-defined & heterogeneous occupational group
But essential to know who does what, where, when, how and why
Data locked up within Higher Education & LLS institutions?
Lack of demographic diversity within Higher Education workforces? (Noel, 2006; RATE stats) In LLS institutions?
College-based teacher educators = mentors?
Often an unknown / ill-defined group within and
across LLS – a hidden profession?
Who is a teacher educator? (2)
Debates about definitions and exclusion / inclusion from occupational group -
all in Higher Education and LLS Is working with intending LLS teachers?
Ownership of the definition
Core groups: 1) teacher educators in Higher Education & in LLS
Is2) ‘mentors’ / supervisors / line managers &
colleagues in LLS Is.
Co-ordination between them and periphery roles
Definitions of teacher educator knowledge and pedagogy
What knowledge and pedagogical skills do
teacher educators need in the turbulence of
the LLS teacher education system?
At which stages of their careers do they need
this knowledge and pedagogy?
How and where does learning take place?
Who provides it?
Whose responsibility is it to ensure that it
occurs?
Quality and qualifications of teacher educators
Solid practical teaching experience (in LLS? Other sectors?)
Good teaching competences (in Higher Education? & / or in LLS?)
High level of academic qualification
EU (2009) Improving the Quality of Teacher Education
Teacher educators in Higher Education, as a sub-group of LLS
teacher educators
The Higher Education Institutions - cultural &
academic imperatives
Imperatives in HE teacher educators’ work,
identities & professional learning?
& framing the occupational imperatives of
LLS, schooling and teacher education to
which teacher educators must respond
Teacher educators in LLS Institutions – educating, mentoring and beyond
Worlds of LLS & imperatives for educating students
Modes of communication & collaboration with Higher Education
‘Shifting the lens’ to work with teacher learners too – recognition of the value of that work
What are the attributes of a good LLS-based teacher educator and why?
Distributive models of ‘mentoring’?
Recruitment of teacher educators
Provider criteria for selection? What is known?
Evidence of serendipity and localism in recruitment - to both Higher Education and to the LLS-based roles
Recruitment in LLS – best possible teacher educators or needs driven selection?
Good teacher = good teacher educator?Preparation for entry into the teacher education
profession?
What has been under-valued or over-looked in teacher educators’
work and why (1) Distinctiveness of knowledge & pedagogies
specifically for teacher education
2nd order knowledge – knowledge of teacher learners - adult learning and professional induction / further development
Becoming pedagogic experts in teacher learning processes
Shifting the pedagogic lens – 2nd order pedagogy
What has been under-valued or over-looked in teacher educators’
work and why (2)
The distinctiveness of professional learning
contexts for teacher education in LLS / Higher
Education
Crossing & re-crossing boundaries – e.g.
relationship maintenance across and between
LLS institutions and Higher Education; switching
roles / changing spaces?
Transversal competences (to achieve ‘border
crossing’) e.g. adopting a ‘pedagogy of
guidance’ with teachers
Research in and on teacher education
‘What is a profession without a knowledge base informed by reflection and research?’ Korthagen (2010)
‘What is the role of teacher educators as both consumers and producers of knowledge?’
Korthagen, Loughran & Lunenberg (2005)
‘Teacher education research is often conducted by its practitioners ... research on teacher education is therefore also about research in teacher education.’
Menter et al (2009)
What has been under-valued or over-looked in teacher educators’
work and why (3) The distinctiveness of scholarship and research for
teacher education
Practical theorising skills with students & teachers – reflection in & on practice
Modes of pedagogical & general research
Lack of congruence between some teacher education research & research performativity agendas in universities
Research induction & development – implications for research capacity building
What are the implications for teacher educators’ professional
development?
‘In order to meet the demands placed on the profession, all teacher educators – including mentors at schools – should be given the opportunity to undertake proper lifelong learning of their own.’
European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE), 2008.
Induction Needs
Learning how adult learners become / develop as teachers – acquiring 2nd order knowledge base
Shifting the pedagogic lens – developing 2nd order pedagogy
Developing as a practitioner – researcher (including meta-reflection on personal practice)
Transversal competences
Sometimes new organisational competences (where workplace changes)
Becoming a Teacher Educator: Guidelines for Induction
Workplace learning frameworks
1 Role design
2 Organisational learning
3 Pedagogies for teacher education
4 Working with schools and mentors
5 Qualifications and formal courses
6 Scholarship and research
Boyd, Harris & Murray (2011))
1919
http//escalate.ac.uk/8508
Continuing Professional Learning
For those in HE, keep knowledge of LLS up to date (e.g. evolving models of provision, growing student diversity, new modes of pedagogy)
Develop 2nd order pedagogy & knowledge (reflective practice)
Increase level of academic qualifications, where necessary
Engage further in pedagogical or general research
Develop personal profile as teacher educator
Where does research / scholarship fit in? For those in HE where does ‘big R’ research fit in?
What about dissemination and impact of research work? Back to values and purposes
Responsibilities for the education of teacher educators
All involved in teacher education systemStakeholder voices & imperatives - differing
interests mediated.Broad imperatives & tailoring to specific needs of
sub-groupsVoices of teacher educators – individually &
communally
Individual & communal agency & purposes
Workplace learning & teacher educators
Constraints & opportunities in teacher educators’
workplaces
Space for learning to take place in busy
workplaces
Effective structures to enable learning
‘Somos más’ (together we are more) – team
expertise & communal learning
Articulation of informal & formal learning modes?
Learning articulated with or accredited for
professional progression
LLS institutions as learning workplaces
Imperatives around educating students
Learning from experience: rhetoric & realities
The dangers of ‘the hegemony of habit’ in teaching
Strengths and weaknesses of ‘local professionalism’
& ‘local practices’
Supporting the teacher learning continuum – co-
ordination & communication with Higher
Education
Successful policy & practice initiatives
Space for all stakeholder voices to be heardDiffering interests & ideas mediated
Imperatives around teacher educator quality & competence agreed
Communication & collaboration maintainedProfessional ownership & strong roles in the
initiative Funding from stakeholders including the state
The potential for the future?
Improvements in teacher education & therefore in
the LLS by strengthening the teacher educator
profession
Centrality in coherent & continuous teacher
education
Teacher educators as public professionals (Cochran-
Smith, 2005)
Teacher educators standing at the foreground of
their disciplines or subjects (Furlong, 2007)