In a number of countries across Europe there are moves towards teaching becoming a ‘masters-level’ professional.  The policy context in Scotland is strongly supportive of this. Donaldson’s (2010) influential report Teaching Scotland’s Future highlights  the need for  teachers to become ‘extended professionals’, able to act as agents of change within schools and  ‘masterliness’ is seen as a key attribute of the extended professional. However, in order to secure systemic improvement and benefits for pupils the development of extended professionalism, and the masterliness which is assumed to underpin this,  needs to be conceived within a theory/practice nexus which embeds teacher professional learning in sites of practice and this, in turn, necessitates partnership between schools, local authorities, and universities.

A number of theoretical orientations contribute to the reconceptualization of professional learning as occurring in and through practice, including socio-cultural theories and socio-material theories (see Fenwick et al, 2012), but a key idea is the need to see the workplace as a ‘pedagogic site’ (Zukas, 2012) within which practitioners’ knowledge is continually evolving in relationship with others (others which may be conceived as both animate and inanimate). Yet traditionally, work-based or practice-based learning linked to masters-level has been seen  as the individual acquisition of skills which does not necessarily lead to  organizational change (Lester and Costley, 2010). There is thus a need to develop models of university accredited professional learning that support individual and organizational change and build capability and capacity in educational systems. 

In response to this we have developed a model of accredited practice-based professional learning, in conjunction with four partner local authorities (LAs),  which seeks to develop the capacity of practices to support masters-level learning for teachers, thereby contributing to sustainable professional development. The overall Masters programme structure being developed combines university taught modules with modules undertaken in schools. But crucially, and innovatively, the development of the model is predicated on a  partnership approach, guided by a working group comprising university and LA staff which seeks to move beyond the traditional ‘service provider’ relationship between universities and LAs. Furthermore, the practice-based element of the programme  includes a support structure provided by our LA partners.  Partnership is therefore an inherent feature of both the development and the implementation of the programme.

This paper focuses on the development of the support structure and in particular on the  role of what we have called  ‘Critical Colleagues’ (CCs), members of staff drawn from across our partner LAs, who support students undertaking the course.  First we set out how, in partnership with our LA colleagues, we developed this role. A major concern  was to move  beyond an instrumental approach to coaching/mentoring which, research indicates, tends to reinforce the status quo (Langdon, 2013). Rather we adopted the metaphor of ‘educative mentoring’ (Feiman-Nemser, 2001) in which both parties seek to challenge and interrupt thinking around practice conceived as an ethical endeavour. In this paper we consider the extent to which the CC, as a member of staff of the local authority and therefore ‘inside the whale’ (Orwell, 1969), can take on the role of critical challenger of practice necessary for the role of the ‘educative mentor’.  Next, we explore the practices developed jointly by the CC and students as this relationship develops and we consider the extent to which the role is shaped by CC and students’ perceptions of practice. Finally, we consider the implications of this for masters-level practice-based learning.

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