Research Questions and Objectives

The lack of attention to the induction and professional learning needs of school-based teacher educators (SBTEs) is the driver for this study that focuses on identifying SBTEs professional learning needs. Many SBTEs do not recognize themselves a teacher educators of often not recognized as teacher educators by those that they work with (Livingstone 2014). This study is therefore timely in light of the fact that SBTEs take on increasingly larger roles and responsibilities in the initial and ongoing education of teachers in many jurisdictions.  

The study provides an international and comparative needs analysis through a survey of 1009 school-based teacher educators (SBTEs) in England, Ireland, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Scotland i.e. the countries participating in the International Forum for Teacher Educator Development (InFoTED).  

According to the European Commission, ‘if teachers are the most important in-school factor influencing the quality of students’ learning, the competences of those who educate and support teachers (teacher educators) must be of the highest order’ (European Commission, 2012: 52). Building on the recommendations of European Commission documentation (2012; 2013; 2015) that promote and support a shared vision and common understanding of what is meant by ‘quality’ in educating teachers and access to high-quality opportunities for continuing professional development (CPD) this study addresses two main research questions:

1. What professional learning activities do school-based teacher educators value?
2. How best can these activities be realized according to the views of SBTEs?

This current study of school-based teacher educators is the second international study from InFo-TED and complements the forum’s first international comparative needs analysis, carried out in 2015, of higher education-based teacher educators (see Czerniawski et al 2017; MacPhail et al 2019).  

Theoretical framework

Competing localized, internationalized and globalised understandings exist concerning the nature of what it means to be a professional teacher educator and what is meant by teaching ‘quality’ (Gewirtz et al 2009; Darling-Hammond and Lieberman 2012; Guberman et al 2020). In this study we use ‘teacher educator’ as the overall and inclusive term to encompass all types of people who are professionally involved and engaged in the initial and on-going education of teachers. Our broad definition of teacher educators follows that used by the European Commission (2013) who describe teacher educators as ‘all those who actively facilitate the (formal) learning of student teachers and teachers’ (p. 8).

Given the unique occupational position of teacher educators and the lack of formal focus on their professional learning, InFo-TED developed a conceptual model (Kelchtermans et al 2017) which starts from the idea thatmany (but not all) teacher educators are ‘second order practitioners’ (Murray & Male 2005) i.e. ex-school and/or college teachers.  The model is composed of three elements. ‘Growth and empowerment’ is at the core of the conceptual model, acknowledging that teacher educators have good reasons (whether affected at a personal, local, national and / or global level) for doing their job in the way they are doing it. ‘Dynamics of professional learning’ focus on a non-exhaustive list of the content domains that ought to be included in opportunities for teacher educators’ professional development (e.g., social and technological change, diversity in society). ‘Professional stances’ focuses on the extent to which teacher educators’ sense of professional self or identity is reflected in their actions, e.g., critical and enquiry oriented, research informed. The model provides the essential shared language if colleagues from across different institutional and international borders wish to engage in collaborative research, improvement of practice or discussions with policy makers regarding teacher educators’ professional development.  

Methods At present there are few systemic routes for SBTEs ongoing learning and little research documentation of these routes (Czerniawski et al 2017; Livingstone 2014; Ping et al 2018; ). As part of a wider set of strategies designed to address this discrepancy, an electronic survey on school-based teacher educators’ professional learning needs has been distributed among InFoTED’s network of participating countries with a view to carrying out an international and comparative needs analysis. There are quantitative and qualitative features to the methodology associated with this electronic survey. The construction of the survey includes multiple-choice questions; rating scales (Likert) and ranking scales; and comment boxes. As noted above the purpose of the survey was to identify what professional learning activities do school-based teacher educators value and how best those activities could be realized. The survey consisted of 99 questions exploring themes emerging from our conceptual framework including their professional lives as teacher educators; their professional learning opportunities; and the extent to which they value and engage with research as part of their roles supporting student and qualified teachers. Data from closed questions has been imported into IBM SPSS with open-ended data imported into Excel for thematic analysis (Charmaz 2006). Data sources, evidence, objects, or materials Each member of the InFoTED Council has facilitated this international survey in her/his home country with separate national/university ethical procedures adhered and followed in each national location. In all cases the survey has been translated into the dominant language within each participating country. Targeting school-based teacher educators, opportunity, snowball and purposive sampling (Patton 1990) have been deployed for recruitment to this online survey. Each member of the InFoTED network is nationally and internationally recognized for the work they do in teacher education. This means that they have been able to draw on a range of professional networks (e.g. AERA; the British Educational Research Association; the Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers) including subject and professional associations.

Headline survey results reveal that: • 87% of the SBTEs reported they received some preparation for their role with many receiving more than one type e.g. 46% reported they had participated in a specific teacher education programme; over 30% received on-the-job guidance and supervision and the same percentage had informal preparation by colleagues. • SBTEs reported a mean level of satisfaction with their professional learning opportunities of medium–high (i.e. 4.87 on a 7-point scale). • SBTEs professional learning interests were divided into: academic Interests (e.g. writing and publishing for students and teachers); pedagogical Interests (e.g. coaching and mentoring students and teachers; integrating ICT), and learning with colleagues (e.g. informal learning conversations) • SBTEs interest in each type was medium-high (M= 3.96, 4.85 and 5.10, respectively) • SBTEs most valued professional learning activities included personal reading, informal learning conversations and observation with/of colleagues. • SBTEs responses concerning research were divided into: attitudes towards research utilization (e.g. ‘My SBTE role is informed by research’); actual involvement in research (e.g. ‘I was actively involved in research and presented at conferences’); and schools’ support of research (e.g. ‘School leadership encourages me to conduct research’). • SBTEs’ attitudes towards research utilization are positive (M=4.70 on a 7-point scale) however their level of actual involvement is medium-low (M=2.71). The survey revealed significant differences in findings between countries. For example, the level of interest in academic activities was lower in Scotland, The Netherlands, England and Norway than in Ireland, Israel and Portugal. The level of interest of working with colleagues was lower in Israel, Norway and Portugal than in other countries. These findings require further systematic inquiry into SBTEs’ roles as they are performed in different regional contexts. Such inquiry may explain their different professional learning needs and form a basis for evidence informed policies.

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