Addressing Diversity and Disparity through Teacher Education. Russell Bishop University of Waikato New Zealand. Facing Global and Local Challenges: The New Dynamics for Higher Education. 25th September, 2008. Macau SAR, PR China.

Challenge Number 1.

Overall Performance - New Zealand’s High Average and Large Variance Finland Canada New Zealand Australia Ireland Korea United Kingdom Japan Sweden Belgium Austria Iceland Norway United States Denmark Switzerland Spain Czech Republic Italy Germany Hungary Poland Greece Portugal Luxembourg Mexico 420 440 460 480 500 520 540 560 50 75 100 125 150 Variation expressed as percentage of average variation across the OECD Mean performance in reading literacy. r = 0.04 Low quality High equity Low equity High quality Source: OECD (2001) Knowledge and skills for life, Appendix B1, Table 2.3a, p.253, Table 2.4, p.257.

Are our current and future educators able to produce equitable outcomes for children of different ethnic, racial, cultural, class & language groups?

Message No: 1 We need to improve minoritised students’ achievement. This needs to be a priority goal for educators. Do we and student/ teachers know how to set and measure achievement goals for minoritised students? Do we know what to do with the information if and when we get it?

Challenge Number 2

Teacher Positioning the increasing irrelevance of deficit positioning as a theoretical space from which to develop teaching practice.

In Te Kotahitanga we have identified that when teachers are located within deficit positions, they blame others for educational disparities they exhibit feelings of helplessness and they reject their personal and professional responsibility and agency

When teachers actively reject deficit and blaming explanations; They accept personal and professional responsibility for their part in the learning relationship; They are clear that they have agency; they are active agents of change. They know how and what to do in their classrooms. They report being re-invigorated as teachers.

Message No. 2

Professionals accept responsibility for their actions. The plague of blame needs to be replaced with a culture of agency Teachers need to know how to change their practice through using evidence.

Challenge Number 3.

The call for evidence the increasing demand that critical reflection must be evidence-based rather than assumption-based (Rubie-Davies, 2006). That is, evidence should inform educators’ problem-solving, and inform changes that need to be made to their practice. student experiences are extremely useful to inform and modify our practice.

Message No. 3 Can we and our students/teachers use data to identify how minoritised student’s experiences, participation and learning is improving. Data such as; Student Experiences of Being Minoritised Student Participation absenteeism suspensions engagement Student Achievement

Challenge no. 4

Realisations about learning The increasing realisation that learning involves constructing knowledge with others rather than receiving it from others. The increasing realisation that knowledge is not gender or culture-free and that it is always created and promoted for a purpose, and often these purposes promote the language, culture and values of those in power

Message no 4 The increasing realisation that teachers can construct contexts wherein students are able to bring their cultural experiences to the learning conversation.

Challenge No. 5

Relationships between sectors of the profession

the increasing demand for relevance between pre-service education and in-service education, professional development, teaching practice and research. international research that identifies little if any linkages between pre-service teacher education and in-service practice.

The increasing concern about the frailty of the ‘silo’ model for preparing pre-service teachers. The continued criticism of tertiary teacher education providers from their graduates, their profession, the public and the media.

Message No.5.

The need to develop pre-service and in-service professional learning opportunities so that participants are able to integrate the theory and practice of teaching and learning (using evidence for formative purposes) in a systematic manner so that they can practice what they learn.

The Challenge of Research Challenge No. 6 The Challenge of Research

Recent PBRF report states: 75% of staff involved in teaching degree level courses are not involved in research. The area with the lowest quality of research and with the lowest assessed research performance is Teacher Education.

Therefore If change is necessary to address disparities And research is a major way of informing and promoting change through the systematic production of evidence to inform our practice And if Teacher Educators are not involved in research, what mechanism are they using to inform their practice?

Message no.6.

We as teacher educators may not have a means of addressing the status quo which is maintaining the disparities that we say we want to reduce.

Challenge No.7 Professional Learning. We know that professional learning is best when;

Professional Learning. it is on-site, ongoing, continuous, supported, and research driven. it emulates the learning relationships that are intended for classrooms. it is based on feedback and collaborative problem-solving.

Message no.7.

The need for Professional Learning Opportunities Pre-service/ teachers need to receive objective analysis and feedback of their classroom interactions in an ongoing manner upon which they critically reflect in a collaborative, problem-solving setting. Pre-service/ teachers need to learn to use evidence of student participation and achievement to inform their practice, (to change classroom interaction patterns for instance).

Challenge no. 8. The challenge of theorising from Culturalist positions Structuralist positions They appear to provide necessary but not sufficient conditions for theorising… however, neither of these groups allows for an adequate understanding of how power relations that exist in the wider society are played out in classrooms on a day-to-day basis.

An example of theorising from a relational discourse. Problem: How to understand why many teachers are not able to reach Maori learners, despite having good intentions From a relational discourse, Bruner (1996), identifies that teaching and learning contexts are created as a “direct reflection of the beliefs and assumptions the teacher holds about the learner “ (p47) “Our interactions with others are deeply affected by our every day intituitive theorizing about how other minds work” (p45)

This means that: Our mental images and understanding of others drive our actions If we think of people having deficiencies we will act as if this were the case The relationships we develop will be negative and unproductive and vice versa

Teachers draw from a variety of discourses to explain their experiences, Some discourses offer solutions, others do not, just like some have more power than others, It is the discursive position that teachers take that is the key to their being able to fulfil their aspirations to make a difference for learners, A critical appraisal of one’s discursive positioning is fundamental to educational reform…

Ma Te Runga Rawa koutou, e tiaki, e manaaki. r.bishop@waikato.ac.nz