Reforming Teacher Education? Analysing and theorising work in a contested field

1. Reforming Teacher Education? Analysing and theorising work in a contested field Professor Jean Murray, Research Leader, The Cass School, University of East London

2. Some givens... Impact of social & economic changes on government policies Radical changes to schooling High stakes testing regimes & other performativity cultures Effects of 20+ years of neo-liberal educational experimentation – policy barrages for schools (& teacher education) Government policy in teacher education as a lever for change in schooling – specific legislation since 1984 Ambiguous position of research in teacher knowledge The central importance of research & scholarship in teacher education – teaching as enquiry / as art Globalisation & its particular effects on the marketisation of the university sector Performativity agendas & their impact on research & universities

3. Teacher CPD funding losses CPD (2000-05): £23.5 million per year PPD (2005-08): £20 -£27 million per year PPD (2008-11): £27-£30 million per year MTL (2010-11): £30 million over two years (mainly NW) SAS (2003-11): £14-£18 million per year National Scholarship Fund (2011- ): £2 million a year

4. Trend in ITE numbers in England 1999-2013

5. School Direct: Impact on subjects 2013/14

6. School Direct: impact on sector • Teacher supply threatened: • Regional/subject workforce planning models at risk. • Loss of SKE courses accentuated by proportion STEM in SD/SDS • Institutional vulnerability increased: • ‘Good’ providers not guaranteed core allocation (‘outstanding’ providers only guaranteed core allocation until 2014/15); • Many secondary programmes unsustainable (even before SD); • Core placements (PGCE/UG) /other routes at risk (Teach First); • Changes in inspection framework (increased expectations and reduced notice 48 hour/12 hour inspection); • Route resource intensive (administration –school and HEI - and tutor time) and market dynamic likely to drive down funding to HEI. • Staff at risk: • Staff training out of their comfort zone and taking on vast extra workload (6 over 50% increase 2 of which over 60%); • SD not a sustainable/secure funding base – numbers will vary year-on-year; • Increased casualisation of the workforce/loss of skill, subject expertise .

7. Where has educational research funding gone? BERA UCET review (2012) general figures on grant income loss across Schools of Education since recession and change of government Research Councils’ funding priorities NGOs and Foundations – cuts and strategic prioritisation Government funding – EEF – random control trials and the Goldacre factor + Teaching Schools and teachers funded as researchers (Gove’s May 2012 speech)

8. Challenges for teacher educators & Schools of Education (1) Drive for increased research selectivity across sector & within HEIs Inclusive policies in RAEs in 2001 and before? 2* entry levels in 2008 RAE? 3*/4* entry for REF 2014? Unacknowledged types of research & scholarship in education + impact on increasing selectivity in types of research that are valued Typical staff research qualifications & experience on entry to teacher education Learning & development support in acquiring a research profile in HE Lack of congruence between teacher educators’ work, as it was, the professional capital they require for it & the resources required for ‘active researcher’ status?

9. Challenges for teacher educators & Schools of Education (2) • Recruiting and retaining a (research active) HE workforce problematic before School Direct began to impact: • Staff recruitment QTS & experience - pay differentials between HEI and school • Staff age profiles often high & qualifications low in HE terms • Time spent in teacher education work shortening as age profile increases • Making the transition between school & HE cultures challenging • Surviving and thriving in HE problematic • Inheritance and sustainability planning problematic, even in past policy contexts

10. An under-developed research field Teacher education research is ‘a relatively young field of study that draws on many different disciplines and responds to an evolving policy context’ (Zeichner 1999) The TEG resource – collation of 446 studies on pre- & in-service teacher education in UK As disseminated in 49 major academic journals between 2000 and 2008 (http://www.bera.ac.uk/teg-bibliography/) Not a comprehensive record of all teacher education research in the UK, but scale of the collection and the rigour of its collation make claims to a high degree of representation reasonable (Zeichner 1999, cited in Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2006:755)

11. Analysing the research in the TEG database (TLRP / ESRC funded project 2009-2010) Most of the studies were small-scale qualitative methods conducted as one-off, ‘bootstrap’ studies by teacher educators involved as practitioners in the sector Many of the studies were high quality, but others could be accused of deficits, including a lack of generativity methodological limitations or flaws limited theorising and contextualisation

12. Analysing the research in the TEG database Further issues: the predominance of ‘practitioner research’ the lack of research ‘depth’ achieved by most reseachers the paucity of large-scale, longitudinal studies – MOTE in 1990s, VITAE & BaT in 2000s the dissemination of the work across 49 journals makes meaningful collation of findings and identification of collective significance challenging to say the least. Reduction of potential cumulative and developmental impact of this research for understanding teacher education.

13. Research in & on teacher education In the UK research on teacher education is interwoven with research in teacher education, conducted by stakeholders in the field, usually situated within academia (although for some that positioning may be marginal / complex / contested) It can therefore be conceptualised as ‘insider research’ & is rooted in the ‘discourses & practices of the moment’ Analysis of who is doing the research raises questions about teacher educators as active researchers & their contributions to the field

14. Research-informed teacher education research & the political will What issues does the current situation in teacher education research pose about the political will to build research-informed modes of teacher education in England? Ambiguity in education research & in its place in teaching & teacher education Forces from Higher Education & schooling have brought investments in teacher education research to a low (but not an all-time low?) Accident or design? Historically pervasive sense of the academically low status of teacher education as a gendered field & as a non-elite form of Higher Education situated mainly in non-elite universities

15. Teacher educators across Europe: policy directions Towards pan European policy: Creating regulative / legislative frameworks for effectiveness Safeguarding the coherence of the teacher educator system Providing a framework for quality + assessing it Selection criteria + competence criteria Induction and continuing professional development ‘There is a growing need for research related to pedagogy ... in teacher education’ (EC Policy document 2012: 6)

16. Strengthening research-informed teacher education Better quality research in & on teacher education - across both schools and universities - and including better articulation of range research activities & their purposes Engage with European agendas and colleagues Overcoming the individualism of research & the competitiveness of universities - the ‘somos mas’ message – in making research count & in capacity building Generate and disseminate products of teacher and teacher educator scholarship in more effective ways using conventional and new media Teacher educators ‘standing at the forefront of their discipline’ (Furlong, 2009) acting as ‘public intellectuals’ (Cochran-Smith, 2008)