Connecting Personal and Professional Learning Narratives in Teacher Education: Implications for Policy

Author(s):

Mike Hayler(presenting / submitting)Keith Turvey(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

10. Teacher Education Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

10 SES 01 A,

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-08

13:15-14:45

Room:

VII. Előadó [C]

Chair:

Maeve O'Brien

Contribution

The international implications of policy change for teacher education are illuminated in this paper which will share analysis of the design, planning, teaching of, and responses to, a post- graduate module for pre-service primary school teachers. At the University of Brighton, we have developed a pedagogical model of professional learning that exploits the personalisation and connectivity that professional blogs can yield, to construct a meaningful narrative of professional development that blends university and school-based learning. This paper will consider the developing role and contribution of higher education to the education of student teachers through analysis of their and their tutors’ experiences of this module, as they struggle to conform to required, practical change in a creative and productive way.

This research was designed to closely consider the development of emerging teacher identities and how these can be captured by narratives of professional learning. Our aim has also been to examine the quality of the contribution that professional blogs can make in this development, in order to explore and analyse their credibility as a vehicle for the process of professional learning and growth. The paradoxical trend towards increasing ‘personalisation’ and ‘connectivity’ through the web and mobile devices (Traxler, 2010) challenges the parallel growth of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and their alleged potential to ‘revolutionise’ the knowledge economy through their supposed scaling-up of education in terms of access and reach (Barber, Donelly and Rizvi, 2013). Concerns about quality and low student completion rates illustrate the on-going problematic area of these latest regenerations of online learning. This paper is in antithesis to productivity-driven approaches to education seeing the potential of the internet and digital technologies in developing practices of personalisation and connectivity to construct new knowledge and develop professional identities.

Our wider aim is to contribute to the discussion about the ways in which change in teacher education in a range of countries, including France (Le Café Pédagogique, 2011), Sweden (Goodson and Lindbald, 2010) and Finland (Kansanen, 2010) is being communicated, implemented or imposed and to consider how university departments of education are responding to these changes. Our contribution to this discussion is framed by the recent reforms in policy and funding in England, where the political aspiration has been to shift control of ‘teacher training’ away from universities and into schools (DfE, 2010; McNamara et al, 2014).

Method

A narrative methods approach was implemented in this research in order to explore participants’ qualitatively different perceptions of their experiences during and at the end of a learning module. This module introduced innovative new methods of teaching, learning and assessment in teacher professional learning as part of a one year post-graduate pre-service teacher’s course. Data was gathered and analysed through: • Group interviews with a sample of student groups • The student teacher collaborative blogs provided a rich source for data from which a thematic analysis was carried out on a sample of blogs • Student written evaluations and reflections upon the module • Module tutors were invited to record a summary of their experiences of the module.

Expected Outcomes

Thus far our work in progress highlights three central themes emerging from the analysis of data which we have termed as: 1) Journeying: in which changes in conceptual understanding about teaching and learning are entwined with the growth of student teachers’ professional identity and critical reflection on their experience. 2) Belonging: in which student teachers are seen to be uniquely positioned in terms of not school and not university, and recognising their need for what we term communities of narrative and practice. 3) Situating: in which student teachers and tutors engage with wider discourses in teacher education/training to reflect on how macro-level theory and policy is refracted at the micro level through practice. 4) Connecting: in which the process of collaborative blogging is significant in its capacity to provide a catalyst and vehicle for the expression and synthesis of narratives of professional learning.

References

Barber, M., Donnelly, K. and Rizvi, S. (2013) 'An Avalanche is Coming: Higher Education and the revolution ahead', London, Institute for Public Policy Research. Facer, K & Selwyn, N (2013) Towards a Critical Politics of Education Technology, London, Palgrave MacMillan. Kansanen, P. (2010). ‘Horrible dctu: The success story of the Finnish school system.’ In Liimets, A. (ed) Cultures of Thought, self-development and Educational Cultures, pp95-110. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. Le Café Pédagogique (2011). Formation des enseignants: aujourd'hui un champ de ruines et demain? http://www.cafepedagogique.net/lexpresso/pages/2011.02/0702_ Audoc_Formation.aspx Goodson, I.F., and Lindblad, S. (eds) (2010) Teachers’ Professional Work and Life Under Restructuring in Europe. Rotterdam: Sense. McNamara, O., Murray, J. and Jones, M. (2014) Workplace learning in Teacher Education. London: Springer. Traxler, J. (2010), Distance Education and Mobile Learning: Catching Up, Taking Stock, Distance Education, 31(2) 1- 6

Author Information

Mike Hayler (presenting / submitting)

University of Brighton

Education

Brighton

Keith Turvey (presenting)

University of Brighton

Education Research Centre