Deconstructing and reconstructing professionalism: the 'professional' demands of the PCET teacher education programme in the UK

Professionalism has assumed the level of obligation in both the training and practice of teachers in the Lifelong Sector (LLS) in the UK. Responding to the demands of professionalism has been seen both by teachers and trainees as a source of tension and distress. In effect, many practitioners and trainees in the field have become less enthusiastic and less attracted to work in the field because of the culture of performativity that some elements of professional demand attract and in some cases, fail to see themselves as professionals. This paper responds to this situation in two ways. First, it offers a new construct of understanding the multiple demands of ‘professionalism’ which categorises elements of professionalism into three categories of subject knowledge, pedagogical and procedural professionalism. Second, it reports the findings of a small pilot research on the disposition of trainee teachers towards the professionalism module of their training programmes. Though only a pilot study, the research found a paradoxical relationship between trainees and professionalism as trainees felt less like professionals because of the demands and imposition of conditions of procedural professionalism. Also, the pilot study established that among the group investigated, the major source of tension and distress is the demand of procedural professionalism. Finally, the study suggests that trainees are better able to accommodate the demands through appropriate classification that is offered by the new construct

Designing and piloting PTLLS ESOL: Appendix 4: provider’s final report

This is a final report of a project funded by LSIS to design, pilot and evaluate an specialised PTLLS programme in ESOL. The project was piloted with WCS and evaluated the pros and cons of delivering such a project in a specifc way to practitioners who are already employed in a teaching role in the LLS sector. [Grant: £5000

Designing and piloting a bridging programme between the Additional Diploma Awards: provider final report

A report of the pilot and evaluation of a bridging course between the Additional Diploma ESOL and Literacy awards funded by LSIS as an action research

Report of NRDC funded Creative Routes to Qualified Status Programme Development in SFL project (2008/2009)

This paper reports on the design and pilot of a range of additional diploma in SFL projects as part of an overall portfolio of action research funded by NRDC

Literacy and health (Diabetracy)

In this presentation, I argue that literacy has a huge role in the prevention and management of illnesses such as diabetes. In order to do this, I argue that the concept of LSP (Ade-Ojo, 2014) needs to be explored further, such that collaborations between health providers, schools and literacy researchers can lead to the development of a general health literacy curriculum and a literacy for specific diseases. Such a literacy, I argue, must be embedded in school and health practitioners' curricula. The emergence of specific literacies such as diabetracy and obesitracy can ultimately lead to better management and prevention of these diseases as they would ultimately become a component part of the literacy practices of beneficiaries

Using targeted observation sessions as a replacement for micro teaching sessions on a PTLLS ESOL course

This paper reports on the piloting and evaluation of an innovative approach to the delivery of the observation component of PTLLS under a funded LSIS action research project

Socialising young literacy learners into a discourse of failure: Dominant discourses in literacy teaching and assessment and their impact on the progression of young literacy learners into employment

This paper argues that contemporary literacy programmes are a mismatch for the expectations of both the government and employers as well as the goals of learners. It submits that the dominant discourses in literacy provision have led to the emergence of a learning culture which not only fails the learners but is also incapable of meeting the aspirations of both the government and employers. To support this argument, the paper reports a small scale research project that analyses the perceptions of learners, teachers and employers who were involved in a work placement scheme for young literacy learners in a college of further education. Data for the study were collected through focus group and face to face interviews and analysed using the framework of discourse analysis provided by Gill (2000) with findings codified and analysed thematically. The study found that teachers were aware that their learners were not adequately prepared for the world of work because of the demands of the dominant discourses of quality and performance measurement which were most obviously manifested in their assessment, teaching methods and the attitudes of learners. It found that employers perceive young learners as inadequate in terms of the workplace expectations. Learners in the study revealed that their workplace culture and expectations were totally different from the culture to which they had been socialised in their studies. The study concludes that unless the dominance of these discourses is ameliorated, young literacy learners will continue to be socialised into a discourse of failure