1.What is the role of research within initial teacher education (ITE) and how does it contribute to programmes of continuing professional development.

UCET Management Forum

Research and teacher education in the UK (but mainly

England) – where next?

Ian Menter

www.bera.ac.uk

1. What is the role of research within initial teacher education (ITE) and how does it contribute to programmes of continuing professional development and learning (CPDL)?

2. What is the impact of research-informed teacher education on the quality of teaching and how far does research-based teaching improve learning outcomes for students?

3. How far does current provision across the UK meet the requirements of research-informed teacher education and research-based teaching? What are the barriers to creating research-rich environments at a school and system level and how may these be overcome?

BERA-RSA Inquiry Questions

A. Mapping provision: Review of UK policy and practice – Prof Gary Beauchamp, Prof Linda Clarke, Dr Moira Hulme, Prof

Jean Murray

Review of international policy and practice – Dr Maria Teresa Tatto

B. Philosophical reflections: Philosophical reflections on the contribution of research to teachers’ professional knowledge – Prof

Chris Winch, Dr Alis Oancea, Dr Janet Orchard

C. Review of the evidence: Review of ‘research-informed clinical practice’ in initial teacher education – Dr Katharine Burn,

Trevor Mutton

Review of the role of research in teacher quality and school improvement – Dr Monica Mincu

Review of teachers’ continuing professional development and learning (CPDL) and the continuum of professional learning – Philippa Cordingley

(May 2014) Teachers’ Views: perspectives in research engagement. Prof. David Leat, Rachel Lofthouse and Anna Reid

Commissioned Papers

Final Report May 2014

Research and the Teaching Profession

Building the capacity for a self-improving education system

www.bera.ac.uk

Summary findings

– Internationally, enquiry-based (or ‘research-rich’) school and college environments are the hallmark of high performing education systems.

– To be at their most effective, teachers and teacher educators need to engage

with research and enquiry - this means keeping up to date with the latest developments in their academic subject or subjects and with developments in the discipline of education;

– Teachers and teacher educators need to be equipped to engage in enquiry-

oriented practice. This means having the capacity, motivation, confidence and opportunity to do so;

– A focus on enquiry-based practice needs to be sustained during initial teacher

education programmes and throughout teachers’ professional careers, .... embedded within the lives of schools or colleges and become the normal way of teaching and learning, rather than the exception – ‘Research Literacy’

Recommendations

In building a research-rich culture, practitioners and policymakers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland face different challenges and begin from different starting points. For this reason, the inquiry’s recommendations are jurisdiction-specific. These cover a range of issues, including: initial teacher education; continuing professional development; research leadership and capacity; practitioner engagement.

With regard to both initial teacher education and teachers’ continuing professional development,

there are pockets of excellent practice across the UK but good practice is inconsistent and insufficiently shared. Drawing on the evidence, the inquiry concludes that amongst policymakers and practitioners there is considerable potential for greater dialogue than currently takes place, as there is between teachers, teacher-researchers and the wider research community.

It also concludes that everybody in a leadership position – in the policy community, in university

departments of education, at school or college level or in key agencies within the educational infrastructure – has a responsibility to support the creation of the sort of research-rich organisational cultures in which these outcomes, for both learners and teachers, can be achieved.

The four nations plus...

– England: The Carter Review– Northern Ireland: current review– Scotland: Donaldson implementation– Wales: Furlong > Tabberer > Furlong

– The Republic: implementation of review

England – the outlier?

• The peculiarities of the English (EP Thompson)• The European dimension (don’t mention

Finland any more!)• Misinterpreting global forces – the risk to

quality in education (and educational research)

• Can it only get better? (General Election next May)

• The Inquiry serves specific purpose(s) for us in Scotland:

– Validation of current direction of policy travel

– Another source of evidence from which to argue our position that research is a fundamental aspect of quality teacher education

– A focus for cross-UK discussions and action which can benefit us all, despite variations in context

BERA 2014: Aileen Kennedy, University of Strathclyde

BERA 2014: Geoff Whitty (Bath Spa University) - International dissemination

• Australia• New Zealand • India • China • USA etc

Good reception, examples of good practice, but divergent models. Tendency to see the report as legitimating own practice.

The UUK Report: The Impact of Initial Teacher Training Reforms on English Higher Education Institutions

The change in balance also has implications for government’s need to ensure a sufficient supply and consistent quality in the teaching of skills in areas important to economic growth. The teaching profession is heavily dependent on the university sector for training chemists, physicists, mathematicians, computer scientists and modern linguists. Data shows that the new School Direct training route recruited only two-thirds of its allocation in 2013–14, while university (and other core) recruitment exceeded 90% of its allocation. Whereas School Direct has been more successful in recruiting trainees into subjects such as English and history, it has been less so in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects. This has contributed to a shortfall in the number of trainee teachers recruited into several subject areas, such as mathematics and physics.

UUK continued

There are concerns, therefore, that, as the government pursues its ambition for a school-led system, the pace of change could create teacher supply issues in the future if university-delivered training becomes unsustainable. It is vital that a greater level of stability is given to universities, and that their role within the wider ITT system is recognised and clearly defined within the government’s strategy for teacher training.

The Nuffield Foundation Report: The costs and benefits of different initial teacher training routes

• Led by Institute for Fiscal Studies• Problems with methodology – crude view of costs and

benefits• Bigger problems with dissemination:

“The study shows that Teach First offers the overall best value for money for training teachers in the high priority subjects, such as Science and Maths, which make up the majority of our intake. For 98% of the secondary trainees Teach First recruits, the report finds that it is better value for money than either a standard PGCE or School Direct unsalaried. The study also showed that schools said that Teach First has the highest benefit of any current teacher training route and the value of that benefit was worth significantly more than any other route.”

• Further work to be done

England: The Carter Review

Purposes:• define effective ITT practice;• assess the extent to which the system currently

delivers effective ITT;• recommend where and how improvements

could be made; and • support choice in the ITT system by improving

the transparency of course content and method.

Carter Review – the research dimension

• What do the best ITT providers do to ensure new teachers are prepared to adopt evidence-based teaching and are research literate? What would you like to see more of?

• What is the most effective way of integrating theoretical and practical training?

• How important is academic accreditation in ensuring that trainees become research literate?

• What are the characteristics of weak training on evidence-based teaching? What would you like to see less of?

• To what extent do universities’ research priorities match school needs?

Contacts/follow-up

• BERA HoDs event 3 February

• [email protected]