Abstract

The concepts of status and professionalism are key issues in teaching and teacher education across the United Kingdom and internationally.  While there is increasing recognition that high quality teachers are crucial, this coexists with a persistent culture of blaming and shaming them. Student teachers will live out their careers within this maelstrom so need to be encouraged to consider the place of their profession both locally and globally, and teacher educators can support them to make a realistic yet ambitious analysis. This book answers a fundamental need for teachers to position themselves in their professional world. It uses an innovative Place Model to explore the professional learning of teachers, examining place in terms of both hierarchical status and as a cumulative journey of professional learning within ever expanding horizons. It looks at the nature of professionalism, why teacher status is important, where trainees might fit within the model and what infrastructure needs to be in place to support teachers’ career long professional learning.

Linda Clarke was a geography teacher and head of department in public and private sector, selective and non-selective schools in England and in Northern Ireland for 15 years.  On completing her Masters she became an academic and teacher educator at Ulster University, gained a PhD and completed a term as head of the School of Education, before escaping back to her true delight in schools and in teaching student teachers. She was awarded a personal chair in 2012. Her research interests include teacher education, education technology and international development.

Ian Menter (AcSS) is Professor of Teacher Education and Director of Professional Programmes in the Department of Education at the University of Oxford.  He previously worked at the Universities of Glasgow, the West of Scotland, London Metropolitan, the West of England and Gloucestershire.  Before that he was a primary school teacher in Bristol, England.  His most recent publications include A Literature Review on Teacher Education for the 21^st Century (Scottish Government) and A Guide to Practitioner Research in Education (Sage).  His work has also been published in many academic journals.