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

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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)