Richard Holme UCET October 2014 Professional learning through University and local authority partnership

Total value – £1.7m 19 projects in total Approx 1500 funded places* A range of providers inc Universities, LAs, Tapestry, City & Guilds and EIS union Range from Award bearing – full MEd/MSc Participant numbers range from 2 teachers to 275 in single project *Some teachers may feature more than once in a project, or in more than one project Scottish Government funded project

Projects include: Delivery of M level online learning opportunities Delivery of award bearing Masters (individual 20credit modules to full MEd/MSc) GTCS professional recognition APL for LA credit rated courses to integrate with Masters Professional learning through University and local authority partnership

Practical issues within University systems Option to submit – but issues for reporting pass levels Integration into regular Masters cohorts – a possible positive benefit Some Council/LAs far better set up to manage projects Much greater demand than normal on admissions tutor/programme director inc lots of pre-project queries about RPL Lessons from recruitment to projects co- ordinated by University of Dundee

Reflection upon Practice module (30credit) then choice of Mentoring or Leadership modules (both 30credit) Participants from an existing CPD group Some successful candidates will be invited to work as associated tutors Range of participants including some with Masters credits or full Masters already High attendance and participation so far, including from those not intending to submit for formal assessment (32/32 and 25/32 at first two twilight sessions) University of Dundee projects Fife Council

Reflection upon Practice module (30credit) then Working toward Inclusion module (30credit) Participants from 7 learning community groups Need informed by LA ‘intelligence’ information on ASN levels amongst pre-school children Some successful candidates will be invited to work as associated tutors University of Dundee projects Dundee Council

Various options – including modules in Reflection, Early Years, Developing Mathematical thinking or Research Skills (each 30credit) Participants from Fife, Perth & Kinross, Dundee and Angus Council/Las High emphasis on Action Research within these modules Some successful candidates may be used as future LA trainers University of Dundee projects Angus Council

Online survey of participants via Dundee projects Potential sample of 132 teachers Currently open for responses Assessing motivation for M level learning Identifying reasons for credit bearing submission Hope to identify level to which being a researcher motivates/matters to practicing teachers Hope to present interim findings at UCET conference Research study

Evans (2014) critically evaluates various models for Professional Development And proposes a component structure which includes: behavioural, attitudinal, intellectual development And suggests behavioural change (including processual, procedural, productive and competential) are usually main focus for PD PD is multidimensional – needs to avoid treating teachers as a ‘homogenous group’ and ‘one size will not fit all’. Areas to investigate further: Theoretical consideration of PD

Do these projects treat teachers as a ‘homogenous group’ and assuming ‘one size will not fit all’? From informal observations there is some presence of attitudinal and intellectual development Research Methods participant commented on positive experience of being able to discuss epistemological and ontological I don’t think I could discuss Marxist feminism in the staffroom! This raises an issue...

Do Universities and other providers have an agenda here? Teachers are given support with planning research, ethics approval and formative feedback with academic writing However, for these projects research is still conducted on individual teacher basis Bevins and Price (2014) consider relationships between academics and teachers when considering collaborative action research and conclude: A bungled attempt at collaboration has the potential to drive development backward. (p. 282) Risks of this approach to developing ‘teachers as researchers’

y Questions, comments or thoughts?