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Post Compulsory Teacher Educators: Connecting Professionals

Post Compulsory Teacher Educators: Connecting Professionals

Jim Crawley | Ian Menter

(2016)

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Book Details

Abstract

This book provides a call to action for post-compulsory teacher education professionals, both in the UK and internationally, to unite around key principles and practices. The professional, educational and funding turbulence experienced by post-compulsory teacher education since 2008 has been significant. Austerity financing and increasing government intervention have provided many new and difficult challenges. At the same time evidence is building that the quality of teaching is the most important contributor to the quality of learning and achievement, and teacher education is demonstrably one of the most important influences on that teaching quality.

The mainly workplace-based partnership model of teacher education used in the post-compulsory education (PCE) sector resonates well with a number of key current developments in the UK and broader field of teacher education. PCE teacher educators are particularly well placed to tell their story and share their vision of a better future for teachers through their own experiences, values and principles. Written by a range of post-compulsory teacher educators, the text therefore is an informed and passionate argument for:

  • improving the professional recognition of teacher education and teacher educators;
  • demonstrating how teacher education already connects teaching professionals into an engaged and collaborative professional community;
  • providing strategies to enact this vision through connected, democratic professionalism.

This title is part of the successful Critical Guides for Teacher Educators series edited by Ian Menter.


The text offers a wide range of suggestions and ideas for educators engaging in post compulsory education. It touches on the fact that this sector is often a ‘forgotten’ area and more needs to be done to develop colleagues within this area. The text offers a wide range of practical advice, guidance and models of good practice. It is accessible, engaging and allows the busy practitioner an opportunity to develop core skills in a succinct and thoughtful way.  It is a compact read filled with helpful support and an insightful chapter on ‘[e]nacting teacher education values, by Dr Vicky Duckworth. The text makes clear links to theory and specific advice on how to address core issues.


Lizana Oberholzer, NASBTT

Jim Crawley a senior lecturer in education studies and a Teaching Fellow at Bath Spa University. He has over 35 years’ teaching experience, including teacher education, basic skills and adult and community learning. He co-ordinated post-compulsory teacher education at Bath Spa University for 12 years, gaining two Ofsted outstanding grades during that time.  Jim was chair of the Post-16 Committee of the Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET) between 2012 and 2015 and is the founder member, and now convener, of the national research network Teacher Education in Lifelong Learning (TELL).

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 21st Century (Scottish Government) and A Guide to Practitioner Research in Education (Sage).  His work has also been published in many academic journals.


Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Cover Cover 1
Half-title i
Series information ii
Title page iii
Copyright information iv
Table of contents v
Foreword vi
About the series editor and book editor viii
About the contributors ix
Chapter 1 Introducing the ‘invisible educators’ 1
Introduction 1
What is unique about PCE teacher education and PCE TEds? 2
PCE teacher education 2
What is it? 2
Where does PCE teacher education happen, on what scale and in what conditions? 3
PCE TEds 3
Enhancing the value of PCE teacher education and PCE TEds 5
TELLing our own story 5
References 7
Chapter 2 Post compulsory teacher educators: the ‘even more’ quality 8
The ‘even more’ quality 8
The voice of PCE TEds 9
What research methods enable the application of the voice of PCE TEds? 9
Raising the voice of the PCE TEd 10
References 15
Chapter 3 The filling in the educational sandwich: post compulsory education 16
Why is the post compulsory education sector so hard to define? 16
Who is PCE for? 17
What does the sector look like? 17
A general FE college? 18
Regionalisation 18
What is the PCE sector for? 19
Looking to the future of the sector: how is PCE changing? 21
References 22
Chapter 4 The history and development of post compulsory teacher education 24
A policy-driven sector 24
Early approaches to initial teacher education in PCE 27
Teaching standards 28
PCE in the twenty-first century 29
Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK) 29
The Institute for Learning 30
The Learning and Skills Improvement Service 30
Lingfield 30
The Education and Training Foundation 31
Society for Education and Training (SET) 31
References 32
Chapter 5 Enacting teacher education values 34
Introduction 34
TEds’ values, approaches and principles of practice 34
Teacher education and social justice 35
Practitioner research as a tool for the empowerment of TEds 35
How TEds enact their values 36
Supporting students to become critical practitioners 36
Communities of practice 38
Reshaping teacher education as a tool for social justice 38
References 40
Chapter 6 Invisibility or connecting professionals? 42
Introduction 42
Modelling and TEds 43
Mirrors, metaphors and invisibility 44
TEds: Connecting professionals 46
Values versus evidence-based practice 46
Phronesis 47
References 48
Chapter 7 Going global 50
Introduction 50
The dispositions of TEds 51
TEds in English PCE 51
Global examples of work to support and develop TEds 52
Professional standards in the USA 52
The Netherlands 52
Israel 53
Why have English TEds failed to produce their own standards? 54
The metamorphosis from teacher to TEd 55
A rocky road in Australia 55
Only connect: How to avoid a ‘seat of the pants’ approach to scholarship 55
Becoming TEds in Canada: an English-inspired idea 56
Dancing in the ditches: Australia’s Quality Teaching Action Learning project 56
References 57
Chapter 8 Growing connections for the future of a connected profession 59
Introduction 59
PCE TEds: embedded and entangled 59
Supporting, modelling, championing, becoming and connecting 60
Supporting and connecting other teachers 60
Modelling 61
Championing democratic social justice 61
Agility, flexibility and constant ‘becoming’ 61
Growing connections 62
Growing connections in action 63
Sharing Innovation in Teacher Education (SITE) project 63
Going global 63
References 65
Index 67