Memorandum submitted by King's College London

 

New Inquiry into Teacher Training

 

Clearly, as a Teacher Training Institution and as a high ranking research establishment, the Department of Education and Professional Studies at King's College, London are keen to contribute to the debate about teacher training provision. An important aspect of this is that we will endeavour to focus our contribution in terms of developing professional learning rather than simply comment on provision.

 

Measuring Quality

 

1. Teaching is a complex task that pivots on a careful balance between thought and action. As a graduate based profession, and one that is likely to demand postgraduate level working from many of its members, it has individuals that have the capacity to work with the cognitive demand needed to convert strong subject knowledge into activities and discussions that enable youngsters to acquire and construct new understanding about the world around them. Teaching also requires teachers to respond to individuals needs in the short-term as learning is taking place, in the medium term, through planning next steps in response to how a learner has responded to their previous learning activities and in the long term in planning an educational journey for each child in their class that ensures progress and full potential is achieved.

 

2. The problem with the current ways of defining and describing quality in teaching is that they are often approached in an atomistic manner rather than taking a holistic approach and they depend more on having done something rather than examining the processes and amalgamation of skills that lead towards quality. This can lead to a checklist approach towards competency at each level rather than create a cycle of reflection, targeting and action research that leads to further reflection. In the extreme, this could mean that a teacher could be successful in each aspect considered - questioning, planning, assessing etc. - but if these skills are not linked and the workings from one used to shape and hone the others, then it is likely that the teacher may not teach in a way that affects the learning. The irony here being that s/he may be categorised as a good teacher and yet learning is not taking place.

 

The delivery of ITT

 

3. Currently the role of higher education institutions in ITT is too narrow. Insufficient attention is given to equipping intending teachers with the understanding needed to develop professional judgment, particularly as they rise into more senior positions within the profession. Teachers need a better understanding than they currently have of:

 

· The nature of educational aims.

· The relationship between aims and curriculum design and the extent to which the National Curriculum allows for innovation.

· The literature on the efficacy of various pedagogical approaches.

· The nature, purpose and different forms of educational assessment.

· The nature, design, strengths and limitations of educational research.

 

Such understanding should include an appreciation of the philosophical issues germane to these areas and an appreciation of the contested nature of decision-making in these areas.

 

4. More specifically, the academic underpinning of certain key areas is insufficient. This includes understanding of the differences between literacy and the use of spoken language, research on the teaching of reading and writing and study of applied linguistics and psychology related to these areas. This recommendation is of particular relevance to primary school teachers.

 

Whether the current nature of partnership working between schools and higher education institutions in the delivery of ITT is sustainable

 

5. This relationship needs to be rethought with particular attention paid to the professional development of mentors within the partner HE institution so that there is more of a common purpose in their joint approach and also so that the school based mentors are properly equipped and given sufficient time to carry out their role. Devolved funding for schools needs to be rigorously accounted for.

 

The adequacy of development opportunities for those involved in the delivery of ITT, including those who are based in higher education institutions, schools and other settings;

 

6. Development opportunities are varied and often concentrated into 3-4 days in any year and, where provided, are not always taken up by the mentors. It would help if successful mentoring of ITT students over a period of 2-3 years were seen as an essential skill for experienced teachers and middle managers to demonstrate to gain promotion or enhanced salaries. Currently, the role of mentoring ITT trainees in some schools is devolved to inexperienced staff and, in some cases; NQTs and these colleagues do not have the necessary skills and experience to do this job effectively

 

The role of educational research in informing ITT provision.

 

7. Intending teachers need a much more thorough grasp of the nature, role, limitations and strengths and methodologies employed in educational research. They should be equipped to be able to understand research papers and to assess the relevance of such research to their own professional practice and the development of their own professional judgements and be able to devise adequate training provision in these areas for their trainees.

 

CPD provision

 

8. Clearly as a teacher progresses from NQT, to experienced classroom teacher, to Head of Department and Senior Leader, they need to acquire a whole new range of skills to help others manage changing curricular, assessment processes and new teaching and learning initiatives, as well as providing quality assurance and communication with parents, governors and local authority personnel. At the moment, much of the training focuses on the experience that teachers have to enable them to enter the profession with teacher development, at later stages, usually allocated to single day events that inform rather than affect or transform practice. The research strongly supports the idea of regular long term professional development, where teachers are encouraged and supported in developing the high level skills they need to be successful throughout their career. The McCron agreement in Scotland has made professional development an accepted part of all teachers' careers development and a similar move here in England would be a useful start to changing the mindsets of schools about how professional development could be done more effectively.

 

9. A way forward here might be through the use of formative portfolios where the teacher, supported by a mentor and peers at a similar stage of development, decides where to pitch their efforts to improve their teaching and collects both qualitative and quantitative evidence from their classroom to help them decide how successful or not the changes they are making are in relation to the learning, self-esteem and motivation of their students.

 

February 2009