Coping, Confidence and Alienation: the early experience of trainee teachers in English FE

This article examines what both in-service and pre-service trainee teachers learn from their early experience of teaching in further education (FE) colleges in England. Despite differences between in-service and pre-service trainees, that early experience is often characterised by isolation and lack of control over practice for both groups. Though trainee teachers may develop as a result of this experience of working in FE, a discourse that emphasises their growing confidence obscures how these trainees may not be enhancing their professional practice, but rather learning to cope with difficult circumstances. This article draws on data gathered between 2005 and 2009 from two separate projects, one that focused on pre-service, the other on in-service teacher education in FE colleges. It problematises the effect of this early experience and applies the Marxist concept of alienation to analyse the development of trainee teachers in relation to coping rather than learning to teach and to the limited impact of government reform. As a partial counterbalance to the paucity of the early experience of many trainee teachers, the article concludes by arguing that teacher education for the FE sector should be constructed around a body of professional knowledge rather than the lengthy list of statutory professional standards that directs current provision

Dual roles and dual identities: enhancing the experience of in-service teacher training in English Further Education

In marked distinction from other sectors of education, around 90 percent of Further Education (FE) staff in England are employed untrained and complete their Initial Teacher Training (ITT) on a part-time in-service basis. By consequence, these staff sustain the dual role of employed teacher and teacher-trainee usually at the beginning of their career. This paper reports on a project funded by ESCalate which researched the dual roles and dual identities of employee and trainee on in-service FE teacher-training courses. It argues that the lack of a culture of pedagogical development in colleges along with the pressure for trainees to quickly cope with teaching can lead to conservative practice as expedience may be prioritised over flair. In response, the paper makes recommendations to enhance the experience and development of in-service teacher trainees

Higher Education in Further Education and its impact on social mobility in England

Further Education (FE) institutions in England have been providing a variety of higher education (HE) courses for decades. Despite the more recent expansion of HE in England, however, the proportion of those studying HE in FE colleges has remained curiously stable at around ten per cent of all HE students. This paper sets out to investigate why the proportion of college-based HE has remained so stable by setting this extremely diverse provision within its wider social and economic context. In so doing, this study reveals an important aspect of the increasing differentiation of the HE sector in this country. The paper examines secondary statistical data on HE students in FE colleges, including the type of course they are taking and their consequent destinations, to question if HE in FE provides “An engine for widening participation and social mobility” as claimed by the Policy Exchange think tank

Architectural students’ year-out training experience in architectural ofces in the UK

This paper investigates architectural students’ ‘year-out’ learning experiences in architectural offices after completing RIBA Part I study within a UK university. By interviewing and analysing their reflections on the experience, the study examines how individual architecture students perceive and value their learning experience in architectural offices and how students understand and integrate what they have learned through two distinct elements of their training: in university and in offices. The architectural offices that students worked with vary in terms of workforce size and projects undertaken. The students’ training experience is not unified. The processes of engaging with concrete situations in real projects may permit students to follow opportunities that most inspire them and to develop their differing expertise, but their development in offices can also be restricted by the vicissitudes of market economics. This study has demonstrated that architectural students’ learning and development in architectural offices continued through ‘learning by doing’ and used drawings as primary design and communicative media. Working in offices gave weight to both explicit and tacit knowledge and used subjective judgments. A further understanding was also achieved about what architects are and what they do in practice. The realities of their architectural practice experience discouraged some Part I students from progressing into the next stage of architectural education, Part II, but for others it demonstrated that a career in architecture was ‘achievable’. This study argues that creative design, practical and technical abilities are not separate skill-sets that are developed in the university and in architectural offices respectively. They are linked and united in the learning process required to become a professional architect. The study also suggests that education in the university should do more to prepare students for their training in practice. Yun Gao is an architect and Senior Lecturer in the School of Art, Design, and Architecture at the University of Huddersfield. After earning a PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 1998, she practiced architecture in Bristol. Her research has explored teaching and learning in architectural education. Kevin Orr has been Senior Lecturer in the School of Education and Professional Development at the University of Huddersfield since 2006 where his research has mainly focused on work-based learning and professional development of teachers in the lifelong learning and skills sector

Architectural students' year-out training experience in architectal offices in the UK

This paper investigates architectural students’ ‘year-out’ learning experiences in architectural offices after completing RIBA Part I study within a UK university. By interviewing and analysing their reflections on the experience, the study examines how individual architecture students perceive and value their learning experience in architectural offices and how students understand and integrate what they have learned through two distinct elements of their training: in university and in offices. The architectural offices that students worked with vary in terms of workforce size and projects undertaken. The students’ training experience is not unified. The processes of engaging with concrete situations in real projects may permit students to follow opportunities that most inspire them and to develop their differing expertise, but their development in offices can also be restricted by the vicissitudes of market economics. This study has demonstrated that architectural students’ learning and development in architectural offices continued through ‘learning by doing’ and used drawings as primary design and communicative media. Working in offices gave weight to both explicit and tacit knowledge and used subjective judgments. A further understanding was also achieved about what architects are and what they do in practice. The realities of their architectural practice experience discouraged some Part I students from progressing into the next stage of architectural education, Part II, but for others it demonstrated that a career in architecture was ‘achievable’. This study argues that creative design, practical and technical abilities are not separate skill-sets that are developed in the university and in architectural offices respectively. They are linked and united in the learning process required to become a professional architect. The study also suggests that education in the university should do more to prepare students for their training in practice

Advice, guidance and “the overlooked middle” in English secondary education

Policymakers in Europe have devoted considerable resources and attention to low achievers in education, especially those who are or who are at risk of becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training) (Tomlinson 2013:102). At the other end of the spectrum British and American governments, amonst others, have also focused on high educational achievers who are considered to be ‘gifted’ (Balchin et al 2008). In contrast, Roberts (2012: 203) argues, “‘ordinariness’ tends to remain overlooked in contemporary research and policy discourses”. This paper addresses that neglect by specifically focusing on the group of ‘ordinary’ middle attainers in the context of English 14-19 education, who Hodgson and Spours (2013) have termed “the overlooked middle”. It draws on an analysis of statistical data from the government-funded Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) in order to quantify and identify this group of young people. In particular the data is analysed to investigate the relationship between the advice and guidance that these middle attainers receive and the post-16 qualifications that they select. Advice and guidance has a particularly important role in promoting social justice within the English context, where education and training are characterised by a plethora of highly differentiated courses for young people from 14 to 19. This diversity is the result of what Higham and Yeomans (2011: 217) refer to as “the hyperactivity of English policy and provision for 14- to 19-year-olds." The qualifications to which many of these courses lead are, however, of uncertain equivalence and uneven value, especially in vocational education and training (VET). Some of these qualifications have proved to be very short-lived. Data collection for the LSYPE covered a period (2004-2010) when new VET qualifications were being introduced in England with much publicity and when advice and guidance services were undergoing significant change. This paper uses the rich LSYPE dataset to address three research questions: • How many young people fall into the group of middle attainers and what, if anything, characterises them? • What formal advice and guidance does this group of young people receive? • What is the relationship between this advice and the post-16 qualifications they select

The rise of the nones: religion, leaners, and their connection with partisanship in America.

This thesis is based on the rise of the so-called “nones” in America - those who do not identify as religious - which has been a rapidly increasingly subgroup in the country. Along with the increase of the nones, religious belief and religious behavior have also been decreasing, showing a larger trend across the nation of a society detaching from religion. Nonetheless, religion in politics is still very visible. Additionally, another subgroup of America, the “leaners” - those who identify as Independents who lean towards Democrat or Republican - are a similar type of group to the nones in their unwillingness to identify with established groups in America. Thus, this thesis examines these two groups in two different ways- first, if nones have a higher chance of identifying as leaners, and if nones and leaners have a higher chance of not participating in civic engagement, which would show a general malaise towards American political culture. This thesis is divided into four chapters. The first chapter is a literature review divided into sections based on the various groups and phenomena occurring in America. The second chapter in the thesis is an examination of the datasets, basic metrics of the variables, and metrics of religiosity and religious behavior. The third chapter is a summation of the observational studies, which used regression and cross-tabulation, with tables and graphics of the relationships between the variables. The fourth chapter is a summarization of the results, explanation of methods, and topics for future research, especially for the nones and the leaners in different ethnic groups and religions

College Cultures and Pre-Service Trainee Teachers: a study in the creation and transmission of ideas about teaching

This thesis analyses the college placement element of pre-service initial teacher training (ITT) and its impact on ideas about teaching in Further Education (FE). It considers both trainees and serving teachers to investigate this impact on ideas in relation to individuals’ experiences of placement and in relation to ideas held in general society by distinguishing cultures and questioning how they each shape notions about teaching. The placement experience is examined within the broad context of work-based learning (WBL) and the thesis draws on and assesses the explanatory power of three theorisations commonly adopted within WBL research; communities of practice; Cultural Historical Activity Theory; and Bourdieu’s concepts of field and habitus. Though trainees’ experience of the placement is characterised by messiness and diversity, the small groups they work within at colleges generally cannot be defined as self-sustaining cultures. Moreover, ideas about teaching held in society are often more influential on trainees’ development than the particular situation of their placement during training, even where trainees are placed within distinctive cultures. Trainee and serving teachers in FE, therefore, experience a hierarchy of influences, including government policy, as well as concomitant tensions between agency and control, all relating to the unequal structures of society. This understanding exposes the weakness of some theorisations in describing how ideas about teaching are formed and disseminated. This thesis argues that the Marxist concept of alienation more adequately describes the situation of trainees and teachers in FE and the formation of their ideas and practice. It finally argues for ITT for FE to be constructed around a body of professional knowledge as a counterbalance to the limitations of the experience of placement

Local government partnership working : a space odyssey or journeys through the dilemmas of public and private sector boundary-spanning actors

In this article we explore the dilemmas experienced by boundary-spanning actors working at the intersection of local government and the private sector. We suggest that these dilemmas are entwined with the disruption, transformation and reproduction of local government traditions. We utilise structuration theory to understand how agency is both constrained and enabled by traditions and how such agency in turn affects traditions. In drawing on the accounts of both public and private sector actors in one English region over a 10-year period, we decentre the public sector and reveal the flux inherent in working across different traditions of practice