How Does Diversity Matter for Teacher Education?

• Speakers: Lorna Hamilton (University of Edinburgh), Gert Biesta (University of Edinburgh and Maynooth University, Ireland), ML White (University of Edinburgh)
• Chairperson/Discussant: Ramsey Affifi (University of Edinburgh)/Laura Colucci-Gray (University of Edinburgh)
• When: 00 SES 11 A / Thursday, 24/Aug/2023: 1:30pm - 3:00pm 
• Location: James McCune Smith, 438AB [Floor 4]

The worldwide pandemic prompted unprecedented school closures and disruption for children and their teachers. However, this also meant that student teachers (preservice teachers) found themselves confronted by the need for the development of diverse forms of distance learning rather than teaching face to face in classrooms during practicums (Hamilton et. al., under review). This dramatic disruption to standard TE practices across the world created a space for potential innovation or even radical shifts with regard to the nature of school experience and should perhaps encourage us to rethink the nature and form of TE and its practicum components (Darling-Hammond and Hyler, 2020).

Within Scotland, substantial thought had gone into a review of TE in  2011 which reflected both a holistic notion of the teacher and her/his principles and values as well as structured competencies; the latter a common theme in 21^st century TE across the world (Pantic & Wubbels, 2010). Since the 90s, governments and other agencies involved in the education of new teachers have striven to identify measurable markers of quality. A common means of doing this has been with use of specific standards/benchmarks that new teachers could be measured against in order to establish a level of quality which would be acceptable to policy and other stakeholders.  These competencies provide drivers which shape student teachers to show the specific behaviours and, to some extent, common values that society believes are important in developing the ‘good’ teacher (Pantic & Wubbels, 2010).  However,the moment of opportunity created by the pandemic and lock downs, for a possible rethinking of aspects of TE, has prioritised practical responses and the development and use of technology (Carillo & Flores, 2020). Those involved in Teacher education, preservice teachers, school mentors and university tutors, were struggling to survive heavy workloads and the need for intensive pastoral support. Research carried out within the four countries of the UK and across Europe (Hamilton et. al., under review; Ellis et. al. 2020) highlighted the need for adaptation and flexibility on the part of student teachers during this traumatic period but there does not seem to be evidence yet of  transformational  thinking about Teacher Education experiences in a more fundamental way. 

Along with the technical elements that so many Education systems rely on to help grasp teacher quality through functional competencies, we are in danger of accepting the absence of the more nebulous aspects of teaching; the emotional, relational, epistemological and transformative qualities which help to shape a teacher, and which are unique to each.  Having survived the uncertainty and ambiguity of a pandemic, should we return to prioritisation of competency-led approaches to the education of new teachers, or should we embrace a more holistic and humanist engagement with them?

In this symposium, we propose to establish a picture of key challenges caused by numerous lock downs in the four countries of the UK and elsewhere during the recent pandemic and our responses to what we believe is a need for transformative conceptualisations of TE that engage with teaching not as a competency-controlled profession but as an exciting endeavour or as a transformational process steeped in values connected with the artistry of teaching and social justice.