Professional development of teacher educators

Three steps forwards and two steps backwards

Annual conference, Birmingham, 3-4 November 2015

Anja Swennen, VU University Amsterdam

De State of the Art in het onderzoek door en naar lerarenopleiders en verder

Aim of my presentation

“Good teachers need good teacher educators”

Good teacher education starts with good teacher educators

Increase recognition of teacher educators

as a specific professional group within

education and understand (ourselves as)

teacher educators

Explore charactistics of teacher educators

Explore research by teacher educators

Why focus on teacher educators?

They are responsible for the education of (future) teachers and therefor for the education of all pupils and students

They are the “linchpins” of educational reform

They also contribute to the continuing professional development of Europe’s six million serving teachers.

Teacher Educators Matter

(Cochran-Smith, 2003, Snoek & Van der Sanden, 2005http://www.lerarenopleider.nl/velon/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/teachereducmatter-english.pdf).

Humble origins

Educators of primary teachers are good primary teachers and generalists

Subject specialists with a subject teaching degree

Teacher educators in HE

Maguire, 2000; Swennen, 2012; Willis, 2012

The profession of teacher educators is an emerging profession

Policy Identity signature identity Pedagogy signature pedagogy Research

Shulman, 2005

Policy

European policyJune 2010: The Profession of Teacher Educator in Europe small peer learning activity in Reykjavik organised by the peer learning Cluster ‘Teachers and Trainers’

March 2012: Education²: Policy support for Teacher Educators Large peer learning conference in Brussels organised by the peer learning Cluster ‘Teachers and Trainers’

February 2013: Integration, innovation and improvement: The professional development of teacher educators Large conference in Dublin organized by the Irish government

http://ec.europa.eu/education/policy/school/doc/support-teacher-educators_en.pdfSupporting Teacher Educators

For better learning outcomes

MISSION UCET….to enhance the quality of the educational experience of learners in schools, colleges and universities in the UK (…). …by ensuring that the nation’s teachers and educators are effectively prepared for their professional responsibilities, that they acquire the skills, understandings and dispositions necessary for effective professional performance, and that they receive programmes and other forms of continuing support that will enable them to respond effectively to changing circumstances. UCET (…) promotes programmes that are quality-assured to the highest international standards that are formally accredited at higher education level; that are informed by research, and that involve the examination of the values which underpin teaching as a profession.

Not a word about those who have to prepare these teachers and develop and teach the programs: the teacher educators

Going forward 1

Teacher educators:

Have to be recognized as a professional group Need their own journals, associations,

handbooks, conferences

Signature identity

The signature identity of TEorsThe signature identity of TEors

Teachers are first order practioners

TEors are second order practioners

Murray & Male, 2005

Transition from teacher to TE is complicated

Becoming a TEor means developing an identity of second order practitioner

TEors at universities are second order practioners in a second order contex”: left the profession of teachers

TEors at schools (mentors) are second order practioners in a first order context: the teach teachers within the profession of teachers

TEors who are academics are first order practioners in a first or second order context: never (or limited) member of the profession of teachers

IF NOT…

Who have

Less interest in pedagogy for teacher educators

More interest in school and pupls or academic work

Teachers and TEors seen as the same

Less interest in professional development as TEor

Rather subject specialistRather academicRather teacher

Going forward 2

Teacher educators

Have to be recognized as a professional group Need their own journals, associations, handbooks,

conferences

Identify themselves as teacher educators

Signature pedagogy

A signature pedagogySecond order practitioners need a pedagogy that reflects this core elements of our work: forms of congruent teaching and explicit modelling

First order context of teaching

Second order context of teacher education

Congruent teacher education

The education of (student) teachers (curriculum and practice of TEors) is in line with the principles that are preached

Swennen, Lunenberg & Korthagen, 2007

Modelling

It is modelling the processes, thoughts and knowledge of an experienced teacher in a way that demonstrates the ‘why’ or the purpose of teaching: it is not creating a template of teaching for unending duplication

Loughran, 2001; Van Velzen, 2013

Explicit modelling

Explicit modelling:a pedagogy whereby the teacher

educator unpacks her practice and the related reasoning

for the benefit of student teachers or peers

Berry & Loughran, 2005; Boyd, 2014, Powell, 2015

WHY?

A moral obligation

Professional responsibility for improving teaching

Experiencing teaching complexity in our own practice

(Zeichner, 2012) 

Knowledge and skills of TEors

Are always aware of the second order context of TE and the first order context of the (student) teacher and can move easily between those two contexts

Have knowledge of pedagogy of teacher education

Are able to model explicitly their own teaching and that of other novice and experienced teachers

Field, 2012; Loughran, 2007

Going forward 3

Teacher educators

Have to be recognized as a professional group Need their own journals, associations, handbooks,

conferences Identify themselves as teacher educators

Develop a pedagogy of teacher education

Research

Research about and by teacher educators?

Developing research capacity as a way of strengthening teacher education communities is seen as a key factor in enhancing the long-term quality of student and teacher learning across

Continental Europe and the USA

(Murray, Campbell, Hextall, et al., 2009)

Practice based research by teachers as part time researchersPractice based research by teacher educators as part time researchersScientific research by full time researchers (who might teach)

   Researchers Scope of findings  Aim of the researchNon-academic world Schools

School teachers Student teachersAs subjectsAs fellow researchers

Practice-based researchFindings interpreted locally at school or class level

Improvement of curriculum, teaching and learningProfessional development of teachers (individually and as a team)

Semi-academic world Teacher education

Semi-academics (or academics)

Practice-based researchFindings interpreted locally at institutional or departmental levelPublish in professional journal, books, Internet

Professional development of TEors (individually and as a team)Improvement of teacher education and teaching teachersUnderstanding of one’s own work

Academic worldTraditional university

Academics Practice-based and academic researchTheoretical interpretation findingsPublish in academic journals

Transfer of knowledgeContributing to theory and knowledge

Non-academic world of schools

Semi-academic world of TEAcademic world

of traditional universities

“Most academics who are involved in the teacher (education) research

movement around the world have marginalized the process

of school-based inquiry by teachers (and TEors, as ) as a

form of teacher (education) development but do not consider it as a form of knowledge production” (Zeichner, 1995, p. 153)

Good example: self-study of TEors

Researchers/teacher educators have worked consistently to create, grow and enhance their research

SIG S-STEPConferenceJournalHandbooksLeading professors, John Loughran, Amanda Berry

Themes in research about TE(ors)

Student teachers 9ITE (reform) 8Teachers 5Teacher educators 4Partnership 4Pupils 3Assessment 2Coaching/mentoring 2FE 2Math 2Research 2CPD 1Head teachers 1Policy 1

8,7 % of all 46 papers are about teacher

educatorsDavid Powell (Huddersfield): FE Teacher Educators, modelling and their practice Matt Walker (NFER): The importance of enhancing teachers’ research literacy: what teacher educators need to know about research in schools, and how you can help prepare your trainees Diane Swift and Marie Bateman (Keele and North Staffordshire Primary SCITT): 'Developing the role and status of Teacher Educators (Mentors) within a primary partnership Charmaine Brown (Greenwich): Teacher educators’ perceptions of the FE professionalisation agenda

UCET papers

Going forward 4, teacher educators

Have to be recognized as a professional group Need their own journals, associations, handbooks, conferences Identify themselves as teacher educators Develop a pedagogy of teacher education Do research that contributes to understanding

and improving teacher educators and their work and 2. Contribute to the body of knowledge about TEors and their work

Need time and facilities Need change in working conditions

(Ellis, McNicholl, Blake, & McNally, 2014)

Who will take the initiative?

TEors?

‘Teachers’ of teacher educators

Teacher education leaders? 33