(Re)conceptualising effective teaching in further education: an exploratory study

Abstract

Government-led reforms in the Further Education (FE) sector in the UK have highlighted the impact that FE institutions can have on national productivity and economic growth. This has resulted in growing calls to support the performance of FE teachers in the classroom. There is a paucity of research that has considered effective teaching practice within the unique context of FE. To address this gap, we sampled 90 full-time FE teaching staff, who participated in one of 12 in-depth focus groups, which aimed to: (a) develop a working definition of effective teaching in FE; (b) examine the characteristics of effective FE teachers; and (c) explore the process of effective FE teaching and the factors that may impact on this. Using thematic analysis, a definition was constructed that considered effective teaching practice to be a learner-centred process that facilitated learners' basic psychological needs resulting in a range of holistic outcomes. A number of effective FE teacher characteristics were also identified and categorised into four main themes: knowledgeable; professional skills; personal qualities; and interpersonal qualities. Finally, institutional-, learner-, and teacher-derived issues (e.g., institutional targets; learner expectations; teacher doubts over ability) were identified as factors that may influence the effectiveness of practice in FE. Our findings offer a unique insight into a context-specific conceptualisation of teacher effectiveness that can potentially support the training and development of FE teachers.

Classifying the Characteristics of Effective Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for Computer Science Teachers in the 16-18 Sector

“…The lack of research on the FE sector is surprising given the FE sector has been subject to major changes in recent years [17], and has been highlighted as playing a pivotal role by the English government in developing the next generation of employees with the right computing and digital skills for the future [30,47]. Furthermore, there are calls to support the performance of FE lecturers [88], and so effective CPD for CS teachers can help achieve these goals. However, the subject specialist elements of initial teacher training for FE lecturers has been weak [72], there are recruitment difficulties [5,30], and there are challenges preventing CS teachers taking part in CPD such as a lack of funding [4,14], a lack of time [92], and a heavy workload [72].…”

Raising the young teachers’ level of psychological readiness for professional and pedagogical activity in the conditions of supplementary professional education

“…Правительственные реформы в секторе дополнительного образования (FE) в Великобритании выявили влияние, которое учреждения FE могут оказать на национальную производительность и экономический рост. Это привело к растущим призывам поддержать работу учителей FE в классе [30].…”

A multiple linear regression-based study of the effect of college teachers’ teaching training on teaching performance

“…In addition, Smothers N et al argued that characteristics such as expertise, teaching skills, personal qualities and interpersonal qualities are expected of effective PE teachers and found through their study that conceptualizing teacher effectiveness can potentially support FE teacher training and development [16]. Jacob R et al investigated the impact of training on teachers' teaching to improve their mathematics teaching through this study for a comparative experiment, and the results showed that training could improve teachers' mathematical knowledge without affecting teaching practices and student achievement [17].…”