Session Information
23 SES 08 C, Teacher's work, Training and Professionalism (Part 2)
Paper Session. Continued from 23 SES 07 C.
Time:
2009-09-30
08:30-10:00
Room:
HG, HS 16
Chair:
Ingolfur Asgeir Johannesson
Contribution
This paper explores some of the tensions and contradictions arising from the rapid increase in numbers of a group of para-professionals in UK education generically termed Teaching Assistants (TAs) and the expansion in roles of these workers. Such developments will be of interest to colleagues in other European countries who are facing similar changes. Between 1997 and 2007 TA numbers increased by more than 100,000 (full-time equivalents) in contrast to a rise in teacher numbers of 36,000 (FTE). The roles performed by TAs in schools have also changed, including TAs taking on roles previously seen as the preserve of qualified teachers (for example, in providing cover for whole class groups). Several such changes occurred following the signing of a National Agreement (DfES 2003), amongst the stated intentions of which was to focus teacher attention back towards the ‘core’ role of teaching, but which, paradoxically, simultaneously have made more porous the boundary between qualified teacher and assistant roles: between professional and para-professional
Alongside the rapid expansion in TA numbers and the expansion of the TA role there have been changes in the manner in which the assistant role is viewed in relation to the teacher role. The replacement of Teacher Training Agency with the Training and Development Agency (drawing both teachers and support workers within its remit) and the development of a ‘progressive framework’ (TDA 2007) for career progression from teaching assistant to teacher are examples of the shifts in policy discourse.
With reference to empirical research, we explore some of the tensions that these developments have engendered, and weigh up the benefits and threats that the rise of teaching assistants poses for educational professionalism. For TAs we find that these developments offer opportunities for self and career development to a grouping which may not have had good educational opportunities or high career expectations in education when they were at school. As such, these developments offer some forms of emancipation and upward social mobility. For teachers, the picture is less clear, with empirical evidence suggesting that in concrete working situations, the relations between TAs and teachers can be mutually supportive, with complementarity of roles perceived (Garland 2008). However, taking a discourse analysis perspective, we find that there is a blurring of the boundaries between ‘designated’ teachers and other educational workers that, when looking at the issues in terms of critical theory, would suggest a loss of professional esteem for teachers.
Method
We have carried out a policy discourse analysis based on Foucault’s notion of the discursive formation (Foucault 1972). This entails analysis of policy documentation, government statements, workforce agreements, professional standards for teachers and teaching assistants, etc in an attempt to map the totality of the official discourse in relation to teachers and teaching assistants and their roles in the context of workforce reform. This is related to empirical data from an in-depth study (Garland 2008) of teaching assistants in primary schools in the north of England and in turn linked to research reports and scholarly articles on the subject of workforce reform in England and on related matters such as teacher and teaching assistant formation and professional development.
Expected Outcomes
This paper is part of ongoing research with the aim of analysing current and future policy discourse and direction regarding teacher formation in England. It will lead to further empirical study in England. It will also feed into ongoing work on developing research projects with other EU states which explore the structural changes in educational workforces that appear to be an inevitable consequence of the continuing rationalisation of the professions.
References
DfES (2003a) Time for Standards – Raising Standards and Tackling Workload: a national agreement, London: DfES Foucault, M., (1972), The Archaeology of Knowledge, London, Routledge Garland, I. (2008) Workforce Reform: Exploring the Boundaries Between Teacher and Assistant Roles, PhD Thesis, University of Sheffield TDA (2007) The Revised Standards for HLTA Status http://www.tda.gov.uk/support/hlta/resources_2007.aspx Visited 1.5.08
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