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The Professional Development Needs of Teacher Educators in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and School-based Mentors in Schools. Researcher: Becca Westrup Research manager: Dr Alison Jackson University of Cumbria. Aims.
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The Professional Development Needs of Teacher Educators in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and School-based Mentors in Schools Researcher: Becca Westrup Research manager: Dr Alison Jackson University of Cumbria
Aims • to identify the current and future support needs of teacher educators in Higher Education Institutions providing Initial Teacher Education for schools; • to identify the current and future support needs of student teacher mentors in schools; • to clarify the important CPD issues as perceived by these staff; • to inform TDA internal planning for the 2009-10 business year by understanding the critical issues and challenges facing ITE providers.
Wider Context • Professional development literature • NQT survey • Rose Review • Ofsted reports • Teach First • ESCalate ITE documentation
The quality of teaching depends in large measure on the quality of teachers; the quality of teachers depends in large part upon the quality of their professional education; the quality of teacher education depends in large measure on the quality of those who provide it, namely teacher educators. Murray (2006) drawing on Turney and Wright (1990)
A review of the literature suggests that research investigating the experiences of teacher educators is limited (Korthagen, Loughran and Lunenberg, 2005)
There is a wealth of information about how teachers develop professionally .. But little about how teacher educators develop professionally (Smith, 2003)
Research Design Methods of Data Collection: • Survey • Focus groups Data Analysis: • Qualitative • Analysis of key themes
Challenges and Opportunities • School Placement Learning • Assessment • Masters Level learning and teaching • School mentor support • Partnership arrangements • Course content/curriculum • Every Child Matters/Multi-agency working • Balancing the ideal against the reality of working in schools today • Any other challenges and opportunities
Longer term needs of teacher educators: • The acknowledgement and appreciation of work that those involved in ITE provision do (including school-based mentors); • More opportunity and communication links to enable discussion with colleagues based in HEIs and schools;
Funding for research to involve student teachers in the researching or developing of ways of working • Consider whether current CPD delivery always meets staff learning needs – create new ways of delivering CPD ..
‘CPD should be more about opportunity because we have the expertise, we have these things in place, we need time, the flexibility, the funding, we need the acknowledgement.’
Themes- Teacher Educators • Communication and collaboration • Investments in terms of time and resources • Research- by them/of them/by their students • Future directions e.g. MTL
Challenges and Opportunities • School Placement Learning • Assessment • Masters Level learning and teaching • School mentor support • Partnership arrangements • Course content/curriculum • Every Child Matters/Multi-agency working • Balancing the ideal against the reality of working in schools today • Any other challenges and opportunities
Themes- School Based Mentors • Communication and Collaboration • Sharing ‘good’ practice • Construction of knowledge • Autonomy • Training and Support Programmes • Recognition of their role
‘Is it a question of CPD or Community Development?’ • Opportunities for communication • Autonomy • Strengthen school-based mentor support • Multi-agency working • ‘Teaching - a Masters profession’
Where is the full report On the TEAN website: www.tean.ac.uk www.cumbria.ac.uk/tean Go to Teacher Educators’ Storehouse
What is TEAN? • Teacher Education Advancement Network • www.tean.ac.uk • www.cumbria.ac.uk/tean • tean@cumbria.ac.uk
Workshop • Reaction to findings of research • What can TEAN do for you? • What is your synthesis of the current and future development needs of Teacher Educators in HEIS (and School-based mentors if you wish) for publication on the TEAN site