and experiential learning
in a systematic way
provided a firm basis
for teachers’ continuing
professional learning
and for the creation
of teachers who
could work in a
range of contexts
and situations.
Two of my colleagues at Oxford, Katharine Burn and Trevor Mutton (2014), were asked to look at research- based clinical practice models of initial teacher edu- cation. They looked at approaches in Scotland, Aus- tralia, the Netherlands and elsewhere, as well as our own Oxford internship scheme, and found that models which sought to integrate theoretical and experiential learning in a systematic way provided a firm basis for teachers’ continuing professional learning and for the creation of teachers who could work in a range of con- texts and situations.
Overall the Inquiry came to the following conclusions (BERA–RSA, 2014b):
• Internationally, enquiry-based (or ‘research-rich’) school and college environments are the hallmark of high performing education systems.
• To be at their most effective, teachers and teacher educators need to engage with research and enquiry; this means keeping up-to-date with the latest developments in their academic subject or subjects and with developments in the discipline of education.
• Teachers and teacher educators need to be equipped to engage in enquiry-oriented practice; this means having the capacity, motivation, confi- dence and opportunity to do so.
• A focus on enquiry-based practice needs to be sus- tained during initial teacher education programmes and throughout teachers’ professional careers … [this needs to be] embedded within the lives of schools or colleges and become the normal way of teaching and learning, rather than the excep- tion—[that is, teachers should be equipped with ‘research literacy’].
The report made recommendations for each of the four UK jurisdictions but also some more general recom- mendations, as follows:
• With regard to both initial teacher education and teachers’ continuing professional development, there are pockets of excellent practice across the UK but good practice is inconsistent and insuf- ficiently shared. Drawing on the evidence, the inquiry concludes that amongst policymakers and practitioners there is considerable potential for greater dialogue than currently takes place, as there is between teachers, teacher-researchers and the wider research community.
• Everybody in a leadership position—in the policy community, in university departments of educa- tion, at school or college level or in key agen- cies within the educational infrastructure—has a responsibility to support the creation of the sort of research-rich organisational cultures in which these outcomes, for both learners and teachers, can be achieved.
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Making connections: research,
teacher education and educational improvement
4
Now what about Australia and Tasmania?
In July last year I was speaking at the annual confer- ence of the Australian Teacher Education Association, held in Sydney, and I became aware of the moves that were developing here to look at the organisation and delivery of teacher education. To be frank, there was considerable anxiety at that time that the outcomes of the processes of review established by Minister Pyne might bear a considerable similarity to the develop- ments in England. My reading of the report (TEMAG, 2014), which came out seven or eight months ago, is that this has not in fact been the case.
The key issues for teacher education (as delineated above) are all in there and the awareness of the politi- cal significance of teacher education is clearly flagged, as well as the influence of the GERM! The report is not at all uncritical of current practice however, and sug- gests that there are some serious weaknesses that must be urgently addressed. On the key issue of who should be responsible for high quality teacher educa- tion, the report is clear:
Higher education providers and the teaching profession must together embrace the oppor- tunity to full participate in a reformed, inte- grated system of initial teacher education. This participation will be essential in embedding the reforms necessary to deliver high-quality teaching in every Australian school (p. xi).
The report identifies four fundamental principles on which the group’s deliberations are based: integration; assurance; evidence; transparency. Five proposals then follow from these principles:
1. a strengthened national quality assurance process; 2. sophisticated and rigorous selection
for entry into teaching;
3. integration of theory and practice;
4. robust assurance of classroom readiness; and 5. national research and capability.
On the third of these, there is talk of structured and mutually beneficial partnerships between schools and higher education in order to provide the necessary ‘real opportunities for pre-service teachers to integrate theory and practice’.
And on point 5, the report elaborates:
Better evidence of the effectiveness of initial teacher education in the Australian context is needed to inform innovative program design and delivery, and the continuing growth of teaching as a profession (p. xii).
Not only that, but there is a clear recommendation as to where the leadership for this research should lie:
The AITSL should expand its functions to include provision of leadership in national research on teacher education effectiveness, to ensure that the Australian teaching profes- sion is able to continually improve its practice.
This is profoundly encouraging. Of course much will depend on the level of political support that the rec- ommendations get—and we know politicians change and move on. However, what has been provided here is a clear evidence-based report that offers an overall strategy for transformation and improvement. I trust it will be helpful across Australia, not least in Tasmania.
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