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Conditions for effective teacher educator professional learning
Ann MacPhail, University of Limerick REGIONAAL MULTIPLIER EVENT VLAANDEREN – NEDERLAND 16 January 2018
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Survey quantitative results Follow-up interview data
Aim of today’s multiplier event: Input for critical reflection on the enhancement of (conditions for) teacher educator development in NL and Flanders Section 1 Survey quantitative results Section 2 Follow-up interview data Section 3 Case study example
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Nuances / subtle differences
ITE in universities and / or colleges of education and / or employment-based courses Level of school teaching experience (if any) / Boundary-crossing ITE courses approved / not approved by professional bodies Move towards a Masters level profession Widening of access to teaching / diversity Professional standards for teachers / teacher educators National requirements for registration as a teacher educator
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Keep in mind … … to consider different 'types' of teacher educators, regardless of the country in which they reside. This is not to deny the different country contexts and nuances but rather to avoid getting too caught up in what a particular sample from a particular country reported.
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Teacher educators’ professional learning
European agenda for improving the quality of teacher education (EC 2010, 2013, 2015) Teacher educators’ professional learning is under-researched Few systematic routes for teacher educators’ ongoing learning Two forms of professional learning; in-service programmes and continuous experiential learning (Lipowski et al., 2011) Positioned within a complex amalgam of the biography, identity work, skills, values and dispositions embedded within different learning communities (Feiman-Nemser, 2001)
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Section 1: Quantitative results
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Comparative professional learning needs analysis
Research questions: Questionnaire: (i) Professional learning preferences (ii) Factors considered before a professional learning activity is engaged in (iii) Research dispositions and experience (iv) Role description and background information Qualitative responses: (a) What are your most important professional learning needs? (b) What professional learning would best meet these needs? (1) What professional learning activities do higher education-based teacher educators value? (2) How best can these activities be realized?
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The sample
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Academic degree
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Teaching experience (prior to TE)
No Yes 3% 97% Scotland 5% 95% England 22% 78% Norway 25% 75% The Netherlands 26% 74% Ireland 73% Israel 41% 59% Belgium
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Academic Interest* (activities characteristic of research universities)
* Lines represent significantly different groups (Tukey HSD<.05)
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Educational Interest. (teaching & teacher education activities &
Educational Interest* (teaching & teacher education activities & content areas) * Lines represent significantly different groups (Tukey HSD<.05)
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Learning needs and learning opportunities
Codes Reduced workload; sabbatical/study leave; managing workload Research reading/conducting research/academic writing and thinking; discussion with colleagues; new programmes Availability (or not) of time Research seminars, workshops, courses; collaborating with colleagues; work in and with groups Two levels – (i) how to conduct research and (ii) how to extend research profile Research skills Courses and training workshops; personal coaching and mentoring Online learning; social networking and social media Use of ICT/online learning/social media Coaching and mentoring; collaborating with colleagues Two levels – (i) begin writing and (ii) increase publication rate/quality Publish research/academic writing University courses, workshops, seminars, conferences, ITE colleagues Up-skilling in new pedagogies; generic teaching and learning strategies; class management; new procedures and systems Consideration of pedagogical principles/delivery
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Discussion Teacher educators far from being a homogenized professional group Extent to which teacher educators ever develop an integrated professional profile, i.e., teacher/practitioner AND researcher Two types of professional learning needs arise; (i) educational capacities related to day-to-day remit, and (ii) requirements for progressing an academic career Collaborative professional learning communities for teacher educators Preference for professional learning opportunities that are continuous and based around experiential learning Allocating designated time for proper induction and professional learning
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Conclusion Teacher educators have a genuine passion to learn with and from colleagues and peers, and to become part of a learning community of like-minded individuals, albeit with different professional trajectories
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Gerry Czerniawski, Ainat Guberman & Ann MacPhail (2016): The professional developmental needs of higher education-based teacher educators: an international comparative needs analysis, European Journal of Teacher Education, DOI: / Gerry Czerniawski, Donald Gray, Ann MacPhail, Yvonne Bain, Paul Conway & Ainat Guberman (2018): The professional learning needs and priorities of higher-education based teacher educators in England, Ireland and Scotland, Journal of Education for Teaching, DOI: /
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Consider … enhancement of (conditions for) teacher educator development in NL and Flanders
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Section 2: The professional development of higher education based teacher educators: realities and needs
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Purpose: Objectives: to trace the professional development of higher education based experienced teacher educators across a number of countries in order to reveal influencing factors and affordances conducive to professional development throughout their career significant when considering that many teacher educators acquire their expertise after taking on the position of teacher educator, especially if their background lies solely in either school teaching or research
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Teacher educator context
No abiding guidelines defining who teacher educators should be, what they are expected to know, and be able to do (EU 2013; Goodwin et al. 2014; Lunenberg & Hamilton 2008). Teacher educators are usually recruited from two sources, working as teachers or working as researchers in universities. Teacher educators need to fulfil diverse roles, each of which requires professional learning (Lunenberg, Dengerink, & Korthagen 2014; Vanassche, Rust, Conway, Smith, Tack & Vanderlinde 2015). Teacher educators must act as mediators between the academia, schools and communities. Increasing demand in recent years that they engage in research and contribute to the development of knowledge in their field (Murray 2010; Swennen, Jones, & Volman 2010; Lunenberg et al. 2014; Tack & Vanderlinde 2014).
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Teacher educator professional development
Teacher educators’ professional development is still an under- researched area (Lunenberg et al. 2014). Most of the existing research deals with beginning teacher educators (for example, Berry 2007; Loughran 2013; Murray & Male 2005) whereas very little is known about the professional development of experienced teacher educators.
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Remaining questions … How do teacher educators perceive their professional development? What areas seem to them as crucial in order to provide high quality teacher education? What factors enhanced or hindered teacher educators professional development? What are their current professional learning needs?
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50 experienced higher education teacher educators;
Sample: Interview questions: 50 experienced higher education teacher educators; (15 from England; 10 from each of three countries – Ireland, Israel and Norway; 5 from The Netherlands) (i) background and demographics, (ii) professional learning opportunities, and (iii) teacher education and research.
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Preliminary results (i) self-initiated professional development (ii) the importance of experiencing professional development through collaboration with peers and colleagues (iii) accessing opportunities to improve teacher education teaching practices, and (iv) the inextricable link between teaching and research and consequently the need to upskill in research skills.
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(i) self-initiated professional development
"There are no professional development opportunities unless you devise them yourself" (Israel) “If I see anything that I think is potentially a possible contributor to what I do on a normal daily basis, I would try and engage with that. It’s very self-driven though and I have to admit” (Ireland) “A lot comes down to whether the individual wants to really engage with the professional learning opportunities that might be there or not, or whether they wait for them to be handed to them on a plate” (England)
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“I’d be quite satisfied with the [professional learning] opportunities that are offered but they’re not tailored specific to the [teacher education] profession exactly. For example, there are fantastic opportunities at university level around access to professional learning in terms of research. They're generic to the academy, equally so in terms of teaching, in terms of there is fantastic space offered to academics around sharing of good practice and best practice in the area of teaching and learning and assessment (…) I suppose in terms of my level of satisfaction in professional learning opportunities in teacher education, I would have to say I wouldn't be as satisfied with that because I think the opportunities are much more limited (…) If I was to be totally honest, I actually can’t even think of professional learning opportunities specifically in the area of teacher education (…) my level of satisfaction wouldn't be as high with the generic opportunities that are afforded to academics generally” (Ireland)
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(ii) the importance of experiencing professional development through collaboration with peers and colleagues “Well, when assessing teacher educators throughout the country, you also read a lot about the professionalization activities that those people do and how they shape and concretize that in their own institutional education, yes and I am very excited about that” (The Netherlands)
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However … “My [preference for] learning with colleagues in environments that tend to be challenging but safe (…) looking at the notion of learning environments that will push and pull but are not judgmental” (Ireland) “Among my colleagues I’m supported by some, but there’s a kind of competition” (Norway) “ (…) collaboration I think can be a barrier because if it was just me I’d just get on and do it, as it were” (England)
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(iii) accessing opportunities to improve teacher education teaching practices
"I still feel they’re [teacher education practices] kind of traditional, the ways of doing it, the lecturing (…) and lack of resources, always (…) and we don’t have the opportunities to develop our own teaching in the teacher education as much as I’d like to" (Norway). “I think about pedagogical innovations and design in teaching and new ways of thinking about teaching (…) help me teach better (…) and give me new perspectives on teaching and learning” (Ireland).
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However … introducing and encouraging student teachers to use innovative pedagogies although the subject curriculum being taught in schools was so dated that it would not necessarily embrace such pedagogies not all those who identify as teacher educators have undertaken a teacher education related degree, whether as an undergraduate or at postgraduate level and / or taught in schools up-skilling teaching opportunities aimed at general staff and hence ‘simplistic’ to teacher educators
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(iv) the inextricable link between teaching and research and consequently the need to upskill in research skills “I want to ensure that my teaching is both research informed and evidence based. In order to do that, I need to do whatever I can to try and keep abreast of any recent developments” (Ireland) “I think if I had excellence as a teacher without research I’d be missing a piece of the jigsaw” (England) “Part of my contractual job anyway as an academic at a university. I do kind of worry a little bit that those who often talk about research do so as if it’s privileged to teaching and I don’t think it is. I think both are as important as each other” (England)
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However … “Our leaders in teacher education (…) are speaking in two tongues. They say ‘We want you to do research’ but they don’t prioritise what is necessary to get the time to do effective research” (Israel) “I can see the value of more researched based knowledge. Knowledge becomes more nuanced and the understanding is elaborated. However, I am not sure that teacher education has benefitted from it” (Norway)
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Significance of findings
Initial findings reveal that teacher educators need to participate in professional development activities to perform their complex roles, yet the literature conveys that current policies do not address their needs (Goodwin et al., 2014). It is therefore imperative that we take this opportunity to consider the appropriate support structures that need to be enacted (within and across countries) if teacher educators are to be supported in their professional learning needs.
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Consider … enhancement of (conditions for) teacher educator development in NL and Flanders
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Section 3: The role of the teacher educator and research
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Teacher education and research
If teaching and teacher education are to be taken seriously, need to be research-based / informed / ‘public intellectuals’ (Coachran-Smith, 2005; Hargreaves, 1996) Re-positioning of teacher education and associated programmes to be ‘research driven’ / develop a research disposition / consumers and producers of research (Barnett, 2011; Tack and Vanderlinde, 2014 ) Pressure from universities for teacher educators to focus on securing research funding and increase publication output (Furlong, 2013; Stern, 2016) ‘dual economy’ – research and teaching (Christie & Menter, 2009; Munn & Baron, 2008)
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Irish teacher education and research
Small-scale studies Focus on ITE Research outputs International Review Panel (Sahlberg, Furlong & Munn, 2012) Enhance teacher professionalism and practice by increasing the research capacity of providers of ITE. Development of critical mass of (research) teacher educators through reduction in number of institutions to form ‘centres of excellence of education’.
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Irish interview sample
TE qualification School teacher Masters / PhD School teacher / Work Teacher ed. (& PhD) Subject-specific PhD / Post-Doc. Academic TE qualification MA & PhD Teacher ed. Subject-specific Work Teacher ed. PhD TE qualification School teacher Teacher ed. & Post. Doc. Subject-specific TE qualification School teacher Masters & PhD Teacher ed.
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Extent to which you use research
“I am an active user of research, but I wouldn't be an active producer of research”. (Interviewee E)
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Extent to which you actively conduct research
“ (…) if I was to become competent as a teacher educator researcher, it requires a huge amount of effort. I know the amount of dedication it takes to develop a specialism in a topic and, to be honest, I want to continue growing my own expertise and scholarship in the work I do currently. It would take me a huge effort, I'd have to sacrifice some of that perhaps to become on my own as a teacher educator.” (Interviewee B)
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Extent to which you value role as a teacher educator-researcher
“I love research. I think it's a key element of your role as a teacher educator at any level. (…) Research is really important, first of all, because I'm a teacher and it's really important that I keep abreast of current trends, developments, what are the key players saying, the type of content that I'm delivering (…) I suppose I use evidence and research hugely to inform my practice. I also obviously use research to actually assess my own practice in terms of how I as a teacher perform so research is very much built into my teaching.” (Interviewee D)
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Extent to which you value role as a teacher educator-researcher
“I feel under pressure to do research (…) I suppose I've been at it [teacher education] a long time. I also say there's only so much I can do. We work for very long hours, and I do feel under pressure, I do (…) People say things to you like, "We need to raise our profile." That kind of thing. Like, to be told, when you've been working in an area for 18 years, where everybody knows you, where something like that you've done has been so positively received, to be told to raise your profile I find quite insulting, to be honest.” (Interviewee J)
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Considerations … a highly selective sample.
… believe they should be doing research in their current role in higher education. … capable of both doing and presenting their research with and to others. To note: … value research as essential for the teaching profession (and not necessarily the teacher education profession). … less engaged with or familiar with research on the preparation of future teachers (as in specifically teacher education research).
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Starting point … “I've given no time to my professional learning needs (…) I'm trying to actually be honest in terms of it's not something that is high on my agenda in terms of my professional needs. I always want to maintain as high a standard in terms of teaching and learning and assessment as I can so anything that I think can make me a better teacher (…) I would always say that there is room in my professional needs for anything that could contribute to making me a better teacher, equally so in terms of my research (…) To be honest, I don't think I've even the language to talk about my professional learning needs [around research]. I actually don't even have the lexicon to say, I don't. It's not a conversation I'm used to ever hearing.” (Interviewee D)
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Consider … enhancement of (conditions for) teacher educator development in NL and Flanders
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