2 research outputs found
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
The state of professional practice and policy in the English further education system: a view from below
This paper addresses a recurring theme regarding the UK’s Vocational Education and Training (VET) policy in which Further Education (FE) and training are primarily driven by employer demand. It explores the tensions associated with this process on the everyday working practices of FE practitioners and institutions and its impact on FE’s contribution to the wider processes of social and economic inclusion. At a time when Ofsted and employer-led organisations have cast doubt on the contribution of FE, we explore pedagogies of practice that are often unacknowledged by the current audit demands of officialdom. We argue that such practice provides a more enlightened view of the sector and the challenges it faces in addressing wider issues of social justice, employability and civic regeneration. At the same time, the irony of introducing laissez-faire initiatives designed to remove statutory qualifications for FE teachers ignores the progress made over the past decade in raising the professional profile and status of teachers and trainers in the sector. In addressing such issues, the paper explores the limits and possibilities of constructing professional and vocational knowledge from networks and communities of practice, schools, universities, business, employers and local authorities, in which FE already operates