Learning from Practitioner Enquiries

This report presents the outcomes of the University of Glasgow’s project, ‘Playing the long game: Building capacity in final year initial teacher education and newly qualified teachers to improve outcomes for children in disadvantaged communities’, funded as part of the Scottish Attainment Challenge project of the Scottish Council of Deans of Education. The project asked three questions: • What learning can be gained and shared from practitioner enquiries undertaken in teacher education? • Can such contextualised learning also generate decontextualized learning that could resource other teacher education students and the profession? • Could sharing practitioner enquiries undertaken in disadvantaged communities contribute to professional growth and the Scottish Attainment Challenge? These questions where explored through interviews with two cohorts of PGDE students about to enter their probationer year, and repeat interviews with some of the first cohort one year later. Recruitment for the second cohort was impacted by COVID-19. Practitioner enquiry is now an essential part of teacher preparation, cultivating professional judgment and research-informed curiosity about practice within actual classroom settings. These enquiries can draw on theory, concepts, practice, past experience, tips and reflections to address problems of practice or explore enriched approaches within a particular classroom context. The current literature debates the merits of practioner enquiry as a pedagogy for professional growth, with contextualisation considered either a strength or a weakness. The report argues that attention to context is of particular relevance to teachers’ practice in sites of multiple deprivation. The theoretical framing was interested in how teachers’ professional learning over time seeks to integrate theory and experiential insight with ideas of possible alternatives then apply these in new contexts. The literature review raised the possibility that presumptions about what is possible in contexts of high deprivation might deter the use of more innovative pedagogies. The interviews explored whether and how contextualised learning from an enquiry might be de-contextualised as abstract principles, or re-contextualised to inform practice embedded within a new context, and what kinds of contextual conditions informed their professional judgements. The participants’ responses demonstrated that learning of different types can be recontextualised from their own and others’ practioner enquiries and that novice teachers are sensitive to multiple factors that condition their contexts of practice. There was evidence that the respondents considered innovative pedagogies more, not less, relevant in contexts of high deprivation, and that potential learning from others’ enquiries can resource an appreciation of complexity and diversity across contexts. The conclusion argues that sharing enquiries conducted in SIMD 1-40 contexts would have benefit, particularly for ITE students who do not experience such settings on their placements

Developing pedagogies that work for Pre-Service and Early Career Teachers to reduce the Attainment Gap in Literacy, Numeracy and Health and Wellbeing. Research Question 3: What other practice or research might assist us in our purpose?

This report contributes to the Scottish Council of Deans of Education project related to the Scottish Attainment Challenge. It presents a literature review that responds to the third research question of the SCDE collaborative project: What other practice or research might assist us in our purpose? The purpose of this phase was to resource professional conversations and thinking in the teacher education sector, and to inform the final trial phase of the project. A literature search was undertaken using a range of strategies, to identify published accounts of innovative work from beyond Scotland in the following fields: initial teacher education for high poverty settings; pedagogies in literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing; mentoring and induction. Each group of studies is summarised under themes with their potential for the SAC, ITE programmes and professional learning noted

Partnership Working in Scotland: the Evolution of a New Model of Early Phase Teacher Education

An exploration of a new model of teacher education and the impact learning has had on students ability to engage with the early phase of teachers education

Muddling Masters

The paper explores , the lack of teacher capacity and the belief that the capacity of teachers can be measured in part by their university qualification. The impact of teacher capacity on pupils’ learning in particularly in the areas of maths and language, focusing on the link between the quality of pupil learning and the level of a teacher’s education

Murals: Perspectives From Artists and Educators

Artists of Murals in Northern Ireland and student teachers discuss the impact of murals as the creators and recipients. Through extended interviews perceptions, impact and experiences of murals depicting events in Irish history are explored

Pedagogies in Teacher Education

As understandings of teacher professionalism develop, it has been argued that not only do teachers need to be able to demonstrate routine expertise, they also need to show ‘adaptive expertise’ where efficient knowledge interacts with innovative uses of knowledge enabling teachers to respond creatively to novel challenges in the classroom (Hammerness in Darling-Hammond and Bransford 2005). This paper explores how key ideas about creativity as an innovative pedagogy in teacher education forms teachers who can motivate and facilitate pupil learning as well as transmit information. We will look at what we mean by creativity and the historical context of the ‘creativity’ debate. We will consider why it is important to encourage creativity in education and how teachers can nurture a creative environment. It will also be important to look at how a creative environment would look, feel and sound. The language of creativity has been a feature of the educational landscape for the past half century. As teachers, we are still encouraged to engage young people in the creative process and to teach creatively. If asked, many newly qualified teachers throughout the UK might include creativity on a list of desired pedagogical characteristics for teachers today. Teaching Scotland’s Future (Donaldson, 2011), the most recent review to date of teacher education in Scotland, reported that teachers cited ‘creativity’ as one of the key characteristics of a twenty-first century teacher. But what exactly is meant by creativity and why does it continue to feature in current educational discourses? Equally importantly, what does this preoccupation with creativity mean for us as educators and how can creative teaching and learning be made manifest in and beyond the classroom? This paper begins by offering a brief examination of the historical and contemporary understandings and definitions of creativity in education. We attend here to policies that carved out a path for creativity and led to its current prominence. We then explore why creativity should be such a significant aspect of the educational framework and ask what a creative learning environment might mean in practice. Finally, we explore one or two ways of approaching creativity in teacher education

Career pathways for Scottish teachers

An article exploring the debate and dilemma's facing the Career Pathways Panel in the creation of a new career pathway for Scottish teachers

Masters, What is the Point?

Masters level learning in career long teacher professional learning has been part of the educational landscape in Scotland for over a decade, what has the impact been on teachers ability to deliver quality learning and teaching in Scottish classrooms

Partnerships in Practice

Refections on the theory and practice of co creation of models of teacher education. In Scotland teachers learning has been a focus of goverment and universities, this paper explore the creation of a new model of teacher education and the impact it has had on learning and professional development of the student teacher