Being a teacher educator: tensions in further education college workplaces

1. Being a teacher educator: tensions in further education college workplaces Pete Boyd, Simon Allan & Paolo Reale Becoming a teacher educator: annual workshops on academic induction organized by TEAN www.tean.ac.uk Becoming a teacher educator: guidelines for induction (2nd Ed.) Published by the HE Academy www.cumbria.ac.uk/guidelines2011

2. Teacher educators in FE Colleges More white, female and ageing…(Noel 2006) The place of teacher educators within their institution is a contested area (Crosland 2009)‏ …sufficient agency to mediate centralised policy on curriculum (Lawy & Tedder, 2009; Maxwell 2009) ‏…identity based on experience within their original vocational subject (Salisbury et al. 2009)

3. HE in FE HE in FE lecturers’ espoused views of teaching are dominated by student-focused approaches (Burkhill, Rodway-Dyer & Stone, 2008)‏ ‘…the culture of the now’ (Scaife, 2004)‏ may mean that scholarship ‘…dare not speak its name’ (Young, 2002)‏ Partnership with a university department may be dominated by QA issues (Trim, 2001) ‏

4. Theoretical Framework Expansive learning environment (Hodkinson 2005; Evans et al. 2006) Expansive learning (Engestrom 1987; 2001; 2004) Learning architecture (Dill 1999; Billet 2002; Boyd 2010) Positioning (Fanghanel 2007; Holland et al. 1998)

5. Expansive workplace learning environments • collaborative and mutually supportive working • explicit focus on learning at work • opportunities beyond departmental priorities • external opportunities and time to think differently • support to integrate off the job learning into practice. • working in more than one group • boundary crossing. • support for local variation in ways of working (Adapted from Hodkinson & Hodkinson, 2005)‏

6. Findings Review body influences University department Student-focused values Institutional influences Teacher educator networks Positioning of teacher education

7. Expansive workplace learning environments Close collaborative working… Ok but workload is seen as a constraint Out of college opportunities… Some but MA seen as personal and workload is a constraint Focus on teacher learning… Maybe but workload is seen as a constraint on scholarship Beyond college or government priorities… Institution reinforces review body

8. Expansive workplace learning environments Mutually supportive… OK…but due to small teams external networking is important… Opportunities to network in and out of college… Some…but workload is a constraint Extending professional identity by boundary-crossing… Some through partnership but workload constrains Variation in ways of working and teaching… Review body & institution shape views of teaching and learning Collective professional values respected… Tensions between institutional and teacher educator values

9. Conclusions? • Workplace context powerfully shapes teacher educator practice and identity… • The ‘workplace learning environment continuum’ benefits from a focus on ‘tensions’ in the workplace… • Teacher educators struggle to maintain their values and identity with heavy workload and accountability pressures… • There is a tension around the position of teacher educators within their own institutions…

10. Implications? • Local and partnership work is needed to resolve tensions around the position of teacher education within institutions… • Need to use partnerships and networks to build research and scholarly activity and to influence policy and practice… • Sector seems to need to resolve tensions around the recruitment of students… • Need to address teacher educator workload from top-down and bottom-up directions…

11. Being a teacher educator: tensions in further education college workplaces Pete Boyd, Simon Allan & Paolo Reale (correspondence: pete.boyd@cumbria.ac.uk) Becoming a teacher educator: annual workshops on academic induction organized by TEAN www.tean.ac.uk Becoming a teacher educator: guidelines for induction (2nd Ed.) Published by the HE Academy www.cumbria.ac.uk/guidelines2011