8 research outputs found
Beyond compliance: teacher education practice in a performative framework
publication-status: Publishe
Mentoring and Individual Learning Plans: Issues of practice in a period of transition.
publication-status: Acceptedtypes: ArticleThis article draws upon research undertaken with 28 teacher education mentors,
managers and trainee teachers within the SW Centre for Excellence in Teacher
Training (CETT) in 2008, following the introduction of the new revised Lifelong
Learning UK (LLUK) standards. The first part of the article locates and contextualises
the policy context in relation to the school and further education (FE) sectors.
Two separate and distinctive models of mentoring practice are delineated, the first
model as a source of formative support for trainee teachers, and the second model
as a tool for the assessment of competence. The article concludes by suggesting
that the danger and indeed unintended consequence of separating out these functions
of mentoring is that an unnecessary dichotomy is created that dislocates
coherent teacher practices from one another. It argues that what is needed is a sustained
period of stability in the sector. This would leave a space for CETT professionals
and others to promote those practices that will make a difference not only
to the work of teacher educators but to the work of staff and students
No good surprises: intending lecturers' preconceptions and initial experiences of further education
Current initiatives to promote lifelong learning and a broader inclusiveness in post-16 education have focused attention on further education (FE). The article examines the experiences and reactions of 41 intending lecturers studying full-time for a Postgraduate Certificate in Further Education and Training (PGCET), as they enter FE colleges on teaching practice and encounter FE students for the first time. It argues that the sector may have something to learn from the contrast between these intending lecturers' expectations and their subsequent experiences, and that attempts to address problems which are endemic within the current FE sector by initiatives to improve teacher competence, such as the Further Education National Training Organisation (FENTO)'s recently introduced FE teacher training standards, are inadequate and misdirected
Surveillance, performativity and normalised practice: the use and impact of graded lesson observations in Further Education colleges
In little over a decade, the observation of teaching and learning (OTL) has become the cornerstone of Further Education (FE) colleges’ quality systems for assuring and improving the professional skills and knowledge base of tutors. Yet OTL remains an under-researched area of inquiry with little known about the impact of its use on the professional identity, learning and development of FE tutors. This paper examines the specific practice of graded OTL and in so doing discusses findings from a mixed-methods study conducted in 10 colleges situated across the West Midlands region of England. Data from a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews were analysed within a theoretical framework that drew largely on aspects of Foucauldian theory as well as the twin phenomena of new managerialism and performativity. This analysis revealed how OTL has become normalised as a performative tool of managerialist systems designed to assure and improve standards, performance and accountability in teaching and learning. It is argued that FE has now outgrown graded OTL and it is time for a moratorium on its use. Colleges and tutors need to be given greater professional autonomy with regard to OTL and be allowed to develop their own systems that place professional learning and development at the forefront, rather than the requirements of performance management systems
The introduction of national standards and compulsory teacher education for further education college teachers in england: issues and challenges
Class in the Classroom
This chapter considers how class helps to construct the identity and ultimately the teaching of certain groups of educators, and it explores ways of making class explicit in the teacher education classroom