Scottish Teachers for a New Era is a partnership project, linked to Teachers for a New Era in the United States, researching a new model of teacher education with a view of “increasing pupil gains”. This paper describes the process of epistemological interrogation of the notion of pupil gains. It is argued that grappling with the notion of pupil gains requires questioning the notion of evidence and thus also revealing competing educational discourses and power relationships characterising the educational landscape at both national and international level. This research describes an inquiry into the language and practices which can support a re-conceptualization of pupil learning within a participatory epistemological framework. In an era in which professionals are assessed on their performances, and productivity is an indication of the well-being of a nation, pupils’ learning experiences in school are also taken as an indicator of ‘productivity’ to inform quality assurance procedures. In this picture, knowledge is considered as a ‘commodity’ to be transferred, assembled and accrued. However, questions are raised about the utilitarian discourses underpinning this view of education which determines what is to be included or excluded as part of learning, and dictates much of what is assumed to be the role of teachers (Biesta, 2007). In a growth-based model of education, learning is assumed to be a simple process of acquisition of notions, which can be stored in the memory. The task of the teacher is that of ensuring transmission of correct information. Testing is the act of checking the extent to which students have memorised given representations, effectively revealing nominal learning, based on formulas and scripts. In contrast, another model of learning is based on empowerment and awareness, such as the ability to make informed decisions and take appropriate actions. Learning is recognised as involving participation of the students with their contextual reality, and the cognitive system is in dynamic relationships with the system of social representations (Clement, 1994). The epistemological posture of the teacher, the system of social relationships and the teaching strategies are central to turning learning from memorisation to a process of personal engagement, dialogue between multiple, legitimate forms of knowledge and perspectives, openness towards the other and deepening of awareness. But what kind of educational practices can support such an expanded and dialogical view of learning? How do teachers see themselves in this renovated framework? And what language do we need to interpret this learning process?

Data are collected as part of an initial exploratory study in three different contexts of teachers’ practice: teacher action research projects; student teachers’ assignments and a pilot project investigating school learning from the primary school pupils’ perspective. Meta-analysis is carried out to bring forth educational values and epistemological categories, interconnections between social and disciplinary representations and reflections/observations of the stakeholders on their own learning, to identify the nature of capabilities - analytical, linguistic, operational and so forth - which are acquired as part of a reflective and participatory learning process.

As argued by Edwards (2007) the economic, political and cultural challenges of globalization processes have made evident that education is not in a position to mandate the future. One option is that of giving value to different types of knowledge, and how these can support collective search and inquiry. This contribution explores some of the emerging themes in relation to the definition of pupil gains and the potential for these to inform the development of approaches which can be used as a set of alternative tools by teachers and schools for looking at pupil learning.