Judging the quality of teaching: local and European perspectives on the evaluation of teaching

Aim: The paper aims to demonstrate lessons that can be learnt about evaluation of schools and teachers using examples drawn from a transnational project. The paper aims to stimulate reflection amongst participants on the potential for comparative studies for personal reflection and professional development. Content: This paper will have two, interlocking components; 1. To share findings about similarities and differences in the evaluation of school leaders and of teachers drawn from a number of European countries. This section will illustrate alternatives to the evaluation of schools and teachers that demonstrate an on-going, formative approach to evaluation that is collaborative and participatory. 2. To demonstrate how comparative studies can lead to meta-cognition that goes beyond the scope of the topic that forms the focus of a transnational project. This section will draw on Mezirow’s theory of ‘perspective transition’ to illustrate the challenges and opportunities presented by reflection on transnational differences in professional practice. Reflective practice is seen as an important component of developing teaching and learning (Ghaye, 2010) and international projects create opportunities for high-quality professional learning through comparative studies of education which can provide insight into one’s own and others’ professional practices (Dale, 2007). Systems and procedures for the evaluation of school leaders and teachers’ practice vary widely from country to country (Headen, 2014; Eurydice Report, 2013). This paper will present findings drawn from a transnational Erasmus+ project on the Evaluation of School Leaders and Teachers’ Practice to reveal a variety of perspectives on the nature, purpose and characteristics of the evaluation of school leaders and teachers. The paper will draw on experiences of participants in the project to demonstrate how experience of alternative practices can be used as a basis for reflective enquiry within a process of Mezirow’s ‘perspective transformation’ to inform professional practice for a variety of stakeholders, including inspectors, school leaders and teachers. Thinking deeply about teacher education: Evaluation of school leaders and teachers is an important component of professional development (Cranston, 2013). This paper will share evidence drawn from practice that evaluation can be a collaborative and transformative element of thinking deeply about teaching and teacher education. The country/ies to which the presentation relates: The study is an Erasmus+ project with partners from England, Basque Country, Romania, Lithuania, Portugal, Italy and Cyprus. This paper draws on the experiences of this project to show the benefits and challenges of comparative studies for any country – the messages of the paper will be transferable to a range of professional contexts

Gardens and birdwatching: recreation, environmental management and human-nature interaction in an everyday location

Private, domestic gardens are important both as sites for leisure and as sites of conservation interest. Birdwatching is an important leisure activity, yet there appear to be no previous studies that combine these two themes of importance to the understanding of managed garden spaces. Semi-structured interviews were held with birdwatchers as part of a larger study of the interactions between local places and birdwatching. Respondents revealed a wide and disparate spectrum of responses to their gardens and to how they made use of their gardens in their normal birdwatching activities. The study raises questions about the extent to which gardens are viewed as sites for interactions with nature and raises challenges about the use of gardens as areas of conservation action

Forget the Transnational State

This paper offers a critique of the ideas of the 'transnational capitalist class' and 'transnational state' advanced by William Robinson. It argues that the concepts and their theoretical underpinning are fundamentally flawed, and therefore that the idea of the 'transnational state' should be abandoned

Competitiveness, social justice, and the Third Way

Although it passes itself off as 'renewed social democracy', Giddens' The Third Way (1998) systematically redefines social democratic values in neoliberal terms: individualism is solidarity, responsibility is emancipation, risk is security, enterprise is community, opportunity is redistribution, inclusion is equality, and self-help is welfare, and competitiveness is social justice. The same procedure is central to Over To You Mr Brown (2007). The argument is made that Giddens seeks to transform our understanding not only of social justice, but also of society and ourselves. The intention is that a commitment to competitiveness should not be an isolated impulse, but part of a general disposition of every citizen

RIP IPE

The paper reviews the origins of critical IPE, arguing that the contrast it introduced between problem-solving and critical theory was flawed. Critical IPE has since been drawn into a subordinate relationship to hegemonic 'American' IPE, and failed to realise the potential of the research agenda set out by Cox in 1981. On the basis of the analysis of Nicola Phillips, Globalizing International Political Economy (2005) and Tony Payne, The Global Politics of Unequal Development (2005), and a brief discussion of their relationship with mainstream IPE, it is argued that both mainstream and critical IPE are so deeply flawed that they should be abandoned

All power to global capital!

It is one of the key precepts of the 'political economy of reform' that every crisis is an opportunity to be exploited to drive reform forward. True to form, the international organisations and their G-20 allies have used the current crisis to their advantage. They have greatly reinforced the power of the IMF in particular, with the intention of tightening further the disciplinary power of capital, in line with a project under way for two decades. In this context, proposals to introduce an unconditional IMF Flexible Credit Line and to democratise the Bretton Woods institutions are traps for the unwary. Rather than empowering the poor in the developing world they legitimise and intensify mechanisms that subject them to closer control and exploitation by capital. The response of the IFIs to the global crisis – highly successful so far – has taken the form of a carefully staged illusion dependent on the magician's art of misdirection. However, their own recent publications, analysed here, give their secrets away. As a general rule, the more progressive these proposals for reform seem to be, the more dangerous they are

Competitiveness and Convergence: the Open Method of co-ordination in Latin America

The paper identifies the Lisbon process and the Open Method of Co-ordination (OMC) as aspects of the politics of competitiveness in the European Union, and describes a parallel project in Latin America. It shows that despite the absence of an institutional framework comparable to that of the European Union, similar processes of policy co-ordination can be identified, in conjunction with the practices (surveillance, benchmarking, peer review and mutual learning) associated with the OMC in the European context. The paper concludes that the Lisbon process and the OMC are best understood if they are seen as local examples of a global politics of competitiveness, rather than as phenomena specific to the European Union

Class politics, competitiveness, and the developmental state

The paper offers a critique of Vivek Chibber, Locked in Place: State-Building and Late Industrialization in India (2003). It argues that Chibber's critique of state-led development in India is neoliberal rather than Marxist in inspiration, and that the neoliberal character of the critique is reinforced by his failure to address the labour-repressive character of the South Korean developmental trajectory with which the Indian case is unfavourably contrasted. Given these attributes, it is not surprising that Chibber reaches conclusions which the World Bank shares

UN Imperialism: unleashing entrepreneurship in the developing world

Over the last decade the UN, and particularly the UNDP, has become the sponsor of a new imperialist project, aimed at exporting capitalism to the developing world. Initiated at the start of Kofi Annan's term of office, the project was developed through the Millennium Development Goals and the Monterrey consensus, culminating at the UN World Summit of 2005

Reflecting on values: Christian values and ‘institutional body language’ in Indian schools: implications for the British teacher educator

Aim: For delegates to consider the impact of values on teacher educators with reference to a case study in Indian Christian foundation schools. Content: The lead investigator spent two consecutive summers visiting Christian foundation schools in five Indian states and this paper focuses on the impact of Christian values on practice using West-Burnham and Davis (2014) tree metaphor, where education is seen as a moral activity. The research team reflected on the interconnectedness of values, the Christian religion, the context of the Indian education system and the impact on practice. We explored how espoused values, a teacher’s faith and the ‘institutional body language’ of the school (Dadzie 2000), are enacted in practice. I did not set out to gauge the extent to which teachers showed a shared belief system rooted or inspired by their faith, rather, I listened to their stories using IPA approach and identified themes which arose - ‘making sense of them making sense of their views’, (Smith and Osborne 2003) and some views were shared while others were in stark contrast. The findings illustrate how the thirty-four participants narrate firstly the impact of their faith on teaching and learning and secondly the influence of the Christian values in their schools given that the majority of learners are predominantly Hindu, (with some from Muslim, Christian or Sikh backgrounds) all within the context of Indian governmental policy prohibiting proselytising. Three themes emerged which are mapped on to West-Burnham and Davis tree metaphor (2014): 1. Christian values provide deep ethical roots. 2. Biblical texts and Christian doctrine informs decision making – the tree trunk, and the day to day action – the branches. 3. Differences and commonalities. The presentation highlights the tension of conflicting values - Indian Christian teachers sharing God’s love whilst adhering to governmental policy not to coerce non-Christians to convert. We are thinking deeply about values in teacher education; reflecting on the impact of espoused personal values, adherence to governmental policy, and implications for practice in an Indian context. This has implications for our role as teacher educators where governmental directives may conflict with a teacher’s values