School strategies for the professional development and support of early career teachers

This paper focuses on school strategies for professional development and support (PDS) in the first three years of teaching, and early career teachers’ responses to those strategies. Survey and case study data from the longitudinal NQTQIS research programme is used to map the changing types of PDS provided to teachers over their first three years of teaching; and to discuss the ways in which school context influences early career teacher learning

The positive impacts of interactive whiteboards on student learning outcomes in FE colleges, and the conditions under which outcomes can be maximised.

This paper draws from a wider study on the use and impact of ICT within FE colleges. The research questions addressed are: what is it about the ways interactive whiteboards (iWBs) are being used that produce positive impacts on student outcomes, and what institutional and personal factors determine which teachers use iWBs effectively? Multiple case-studies of 6 colleges were designed using a new framework for classifying e-learning uses (ELUs) according to the learning context, learning objectives and the types of software and activities being used. Tutors’ beliefs in the efficacy of iWB use, their intentions for use, teaching style and pedagogical skills, and the subject taught all affected the ways in which iWB were deployed, and in particular the degree of multimedia and pedagogic interactivity. Tutors who made a lot of use of iWBs were in colleges where the leadership vision prioritised ICT within teaching and learning. The strongest impact on student outcomes occurred where iWBs were used in a variety of ways, use was appropriate for the subject, and congruent with the teachers' purposes and intentions for students' learning. Tutors who made little use of iWBs tended to be in colleges where the emphasis on management of learning was stronger than on supporting pedagogic development, and/or they were unaware of the potential of iWBs particularly in relation to their subject

Improving workplace learning of lifelong learning sector trainee teachers in the UK

Learning in the teaching workplace is crucial for the development of all trainee teachers. Workplace learning is particularly important for trainee teachers in the lifelong learning sector (LLS) in the UK, the majority of whom are already working as teachers, tutors, trainers or lecturers while undertaking initial teacher education. However, literature indicates that LLS workplace conditions often inhibit teacher learning. This paper reviews the research base on LLS trainees’ workplace learning. Billett’s (2008) concept of relational interdependence, between the affordances (activities and interactions) that workplaces offer for learning and the ways in which individuals perceive and engage with these, is used as a framework to synthesise research evidence. Support and experience of teaching were found to be crucial affordances for trainees’ learning. The nature and availability of these affordances were shaped by workplace culture, organisational strategy, process and structures and the allocation and structuring of work. The ways in which trainees perceived and interacted with workplace affordances for learning were influenced by their prior experiences, confidence and self-esteem, career intentions, workplace position and status and orientation toward theoretical tools. The key properties of support and teaching experience and the workplace conditions needed to promote trainees’ learning are proposed. These provide a starting point for employers, mentors, teacher educators, policy makers and trainees to improve workplace learning. The findings and proposals are also relevant to HE and school initial teacher education. Proposals are made for addressing the gaps in the scale and scope of research into LLS trainees’ workplace learning. Keywords : workplace learning; initial teacher education; lifelong learning; FE; professional development; teacher training; post compulsory education; trainee teacher

Evidence-informed innovation in schools : aligning collaborative research and development with high quality professional learning for teachers

Innovation efforts in schools commonly wrestle with two challenges: how to secure ownership of change among teachers and how to ensure that improvements are based on rigorous evidence. This article draws on findings from a two-year collaborative Research and Development (R&D) project in England which involved 66 school clusters (Teaching School Alliances) in implementing and evaluating school innovations. A linked research project by the authors evaluated how a sample of these school clusters structured and supported their R&D projects and the impact of this work. We find that, subject to certain conditions being met, collaborative R&D can enhance the ownership of change among participating teachers and can ensure that innovations are based on evidence. However, none of the schools involved in our study engaged all their staff in their collaborative R&D project and most had limited success in mobilising the learning from their R&D work so that the teachers who had not been involved could benefit. Therefore we draw on a separate umbrella review of evidence on effective Continuous Professional Development and Learning (CPDL) for teachers to argue for a model that integrates R&D and CPDL within and across schools. In this way, we argue that the learning from focussed R&D projects can be scaled up through well-designed CPDL, whilst retaining teacher ownership and evidence-informed improvement. In support of this argument we draw on research and theory from the emerging field of Knowledge Mobilisation, which has tended to focus on the organisational and systemic conditions required for evidence to inform practice, and combine this with Winch, Oancea and Orchard’s (2015) model of teachers’ professional knowledge, which provides a framework for understanding change at the individual level. We evidence the ways in which collaborative R&D can develop teachers’ professional knowledge and the organisational conditions required for this to happen. Where this happens we posit that it will enhance the potential for teaching to be accepted as an ‘evidence-informed professional endeavour’

Context and Implications Document for: Using evidence-informed logic models to bridge methods in educational evaluation

Designs that combine differing forms of data are increasingly used to structure educational evaluation studies, for a variety of reasons. In particular, using combinations of methods can help improve understanding and enable better interpretation of findings from evaluations with a variety of purposes including impact, pilot and scale‐up evaluations, all of which are considered in this paper. The use of logic models as visual representations that lay out the steps from inputs to outcomes of programmes has become widespread as a tool for designing educational evaluations, especially as they have been promoted by policy makers and funders including the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) in England. Yet, the use of logic models in educational evaluations has not been given due attention as a way of providing robust representation of the intervention being evaluated and for interpreting evaluation findings. The paper reflects on practical and theoretical implications of critical literature on logic models focusing particularly on issues of implementation logic, causal mechanisms, context and complexity. The paper uses two EEF evaluations to illustrate how these issues can be addressed and also to present a new framework for evidence‐based logic models thatdraws out a set of key issues to address in future evaluations that use logic models

Supporting and inhibiting the well-being of early career secondary school teachers: extending self-determination theory

This article reports an original examination of the well-being of early career secondary school teachers in England, which extends the evidence bases relating to early career teachers’ working lives, teacher well-being, self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), and performativity (Ball, 2003), respectively. Drawing on a secondary analysis of qualitative data generated for four separate empirical studies between 2005 and 2013, in a context in which teachers’ work was subject to unparalleled external regulation, the authors examine the extent to which the well-being of early career teachers can be explained by self-determination theory, which posits that well-being is enhanced when innate psychological needs for competence, relatedness and autonomy are satisfied. The findings suggest that satisfaction of these three basic psychological needs is a necessary but not sufficient condition for optimising the well-being of early career teachers, which is dependent upon the interaction of a wider range of individual, relational and micro-, meso- and macro-environmental factors. Amongst the recommendations for policy and practice, policymakers and school leaders are urged to uphold their duty of care to newly and recently qualified teachers by doing their utmost to create conditions for the optimisation of their well-being. Several specific means of bringing this about are proposed, together with a checklist for those concerned to support early career teachers’ well-being. Keywords: teacher well-being; early career teachers; self-determination theory; performativit

Extending the mentor role in initial teacher education : embracing social justice

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how mentors can act as change agents for social justice. examines mentors’ roles in initial teacher education in the lifelong learning sector (LLS) and how critical spaces can be opened up to promote a flow of mentor, trainee teacher, learner and community empowerment. Design/methodology/approach – Two thematic literature reviews were undertaken: one of UK LLS ITE mentoring and the other an international review of social justice in relation to mentoring in ITE and the first year of teaching. Bourdieu’s concepts of capital, field and habitus (Bourdieu, 1986) are used as sensitising tools to explore LLS mentors’ practices and the possibilities for increasing the flow of “pedagogical capital” between mentors, trainee teachers, learners and communities, in such a way that would enable mentors to become agents for social justice. Findings – LLS mentors and trainee teachers are uncertain about their roles. In the UK and several countries, mentoring is dominated by an instrumental assessment-focused approach, whereby social justice is marginalised. In contrast, what we call social justice mentors establish collaborative democratic mentoring relationships, create spaces for critical reflection, support trainees to experience different cultures, develop inclusive critical pedagogies, and generally act as advocates and foster passion for social justice. Research limitations/implications – While the literature reviews provide timely and important insights into UK and international approaches, the existing literature bases are limited in scale and scope. Practical implications – A model for mentoring that promotes social justice and recommendations for mentor training are proposed. Originality/value – The paper addresses the omission in policy, research and practice of the potential for mentors to promote social justice. The proposed model and training approach can be adopted across all education phases.</p