The quality conundrum in initial teacher education

Brooks, Clare

doi:10.1080/13540602.2021.1933414

Cited by 18 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…In the field of ITE, there have been increasing calls for a research‐based approach to programmes. There is a concern that the value of research is being diminished by predominant structures of accountability, as perceived tensions between these structures and the role of research within a programme (Brooks, 2021a; Darling‐Hammond, 2020; Mayer, 2017). This ultimately is associated with pre‐service teachers being short of what has been called ‘research capacity’ (Brooks, 2021b).…”

Section: Current Understanding Of the Research‐teaching Nexusmentioning

confidence: 99%

What do we know so far about the research‐teaching nexus in Initial Teacher Training? Findings from a systematic review

Yu-qian

Newton

Moger

et al. 2023

Review of Education

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Initial Teacher Education (ITE) Programmes comprise campus‐based teaching sessions and school practice. This article carries out a systematic review from the context of Initial Teacher Education programmes in Higher Education, using the term ‘nexus’ to summarise the various ways research is integrated into campus‐based teaching, and the various forms of research‐informed teaching in school placement within ITE programmes. The review focused on empirical studies, written in either English or Spanish between 2015 to 2022, that report on this nexus—17 articles written in English met all the inclusion criteria, but none written in Spanish. The nexus is manifested on three levels: the intended level (related to courses), the implemented level (concerning campus‐based teaching), and the impact level (among pre‐service teachers). The nexus appears on the intended level through how courses and associated focal points for pedagogical practice are engineered and systematically designed to integrate research and teaching. On the implemented level, the nexus emerges in teacher educators' emphasis on epistemic connections between research and current school practice, and this highlights the identities of teacher educators and their professional development needs. On the impact level, the nexus means achieving harmony between, on the one hand, what pre‐service teachers have learnt from researching and, on the other, real social contexts—cognitively, affectively and self‐efficaciously. Discussion of these results provides a working definition of the research‐teaching nexus: for both teacher educators and pre‐service teachers to use the products and processes of research to enhance the effectiveness of teaching, either in campus‐teaching or school placement practice.

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Section: Current Understanding Of the Research‐teaching Nexusmentioning

confidence: 99%

What do we know so far about the research‐teaching nexus in Initial Teacher Training? Findings from a systematic review

Yu-qian

Newton

Moger

et al. 2023

Review of Education

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“…According to Dilshad (2010), the quality of school education largely depends on the quality of teachers prepared in teacher education institutions. The education system is as good as its teachers-thus, the teacher is the most critical factor in determining students' achievement (Basaza, 2006;Obama, 2006;Brooks, 2021).…”

Section: Teacher Education and Quality Of Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Analysis of a Teacher Education Programme at a Namibian Tertiary Institution

Junias¹,

Kambeyo²,

Katukula³

2022

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Teacher quality is a crucial element of quality education, and it is dependent on the quality of teacher education. Thus, this study analyses the teacher training programme at a Namibian university to determine its quality. Four quality determining components were analysed: students and teacher educator qualities; curriculum materials; teaching and learning process; and teaching practice. This qualitative study employed a single case study design. Four research instruments were used to collect data: document analysis, focus group interviews, questionnaires, and observations. The sample comprised one hundred and sixty (160) pre-service students, one (1) focus group of fifteen (15) graduates, sixteen (16) teacher educators, and three (3) focus groups with a total of thirty (30) pre-service students. The significant findings of this study were that average students enrol for the teacher education programme because of extrinsic and other motives other than intrinsic and altruistic reasons. In addition, the teacher education curriculum was found to be overcrowded with fragmented modules. Further, the subject matter content was not aligned with the school curriculum; students exit with little subject matter knowledge. The study also found that the assessment of pre-service students lacked authenticity as assessment questions do not test the understanding and application of knowledge. Additionally, the lecture method dominated the pedagogies employed, promoting rote learning. Another factor was poor teaching practices characterised by inadequate time allocation and lack of mentoring support from the school. Thus, a lot is desired from the teacher education programme; hence, the study recommends a longitudinal study to be carried out involving all higher education institutions in Namibia that offer a teacher education programme to see if the findings would be the same.

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“…Debates about how teacher educators 'should' be preparing classroom teachers is a recurring focus of international policy for example, in Australia (Alexander and Bourke 2021), New Zealand (Brooks 2021), the UK (Mutton, Burn, and Menter 2017;Mutton et al 2021) and the USA (Darling-Hammond 2010; Fuller and Stevenson, 2018), where policymakers have increased centralisation, with generic curricula that prescribe how preservice teachers learn to teach in practice. ITE in general, and school placements especially have been frequently (re)positioned as a technical apprenticeship, where pre-service teachers train to become teachers (Curtis, Martin, and Broadley 2019;Mutton, Burn, and Menter 2017;Mutton et al 2021).…”

Section: Classroom Readiness As a Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Reflecting on 'classroom readiness' in initial teacher education in a time of global pandemic from the perspectives of eight university providers from across England, UK Introduction Notions of 'quality' are at the heart of much discourse in education policy making nationally and internationally (Clarke 2014) with concern over teacher education quality having grown since the publication of comparison tables emerging from international testing (such as the Programme for International Student Assessment -PISA). In response to these international comparisons, many policymakers have asserted that high-quality teachers are a key feature of a high-quality education system (Brooks 2021). However, the term remains variably defined and understood (Goodwin and Ling Low 2021), with terms, such as 'teacher quality' and 'teaching quality' used interchangeably (Churchward and Willis 2019).…”

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confidence: 99%

Reflecting on ’classroom readiness’ in initial teacher education in a time of global pandemic from the perspectives of eight university providers from across England, UK

Rushton

Murtagh

Ball-Smith

et al. 2022

Journal of Education for Teaching

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In the context of a decade of change and reform in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) policy making, we assess the impact of the substantial changes caused by Covid-19 affecting ITE from the perspectives of eight university providers in England. Whilst previous research has documented the impact of the first period of lockdown in the UK, initiated in March 2020, we draw on the conceptual framework of classroom readiness to consider the continued and variable disruption caused by Covid-19 on ITE programmes in England during the period September 2020 -June 2021. Through a participatory workshop, which included identifying key questions, group discussion and written reflections with teacher educators working across eight institutions, we assess the changes to preservice teacher education provision over this period, with a focus on postgraduate programmes. We identify that the nature and implementation of school visits and the role of technology and digital pedagogies are key areas of change during the pandemic period, whilst continuity in the value and strength of school and university partnerships remain. We consider the ways in which ideas of developing 'classroom readiness' have been informed and shaped through changes to teacher education brought about during the pandemic period. We argue that conceptualisations of classroom readiness need to be grounded in reflective professional learning in the context of collaborative professional communities so to enable pre-service teachers to become adaptable pastorally engaged subject specialists. We reflect on how learning from this period might be incorporated into future international ITE programmes and policy.

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The quality conundrum in initial teacher education

Cited by 18 publications

References 31 publications

What do we know so far about the research‐teaching nexus in Initial Teacher Training? Findings from a systematic review

What do we know so far about the research‐teaching nexus in Initial Teacher Training? Findings from a systematic review

An Analysis of a Teacher Education Programme at a Namibian Tertiary Institution

Reflecting on ’classroom readiness’ in initial teacher education in a time of global pandemic from the perspectives of eight university providers from across England, UK

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