Session Information
10 SES 04 B, Research on Teacher Educators
Paper Session
Contribution
Central to the theory and practice of teacher education are questions about the purpose of teacher education. What constitutes good teacher education? What do teacher educators need to know and do in relation to what teachers in general need to know and do? Existing paths into teacher education continue to rely upon outdated notions of ‘time serving’ which assume that many years of experience of teaching is not only a necessary but also a sufficient pre-requisite to becoming a teacher educator. The same model of entry assumes that a programme of induction, supported by a period of mentoring by more experienced teacher educators is enough to guarantee the development of appropriate standards of professional knowledge, a sufficient grasp of educational theory and a clearly justified notion of what good educational practice is and what it is not. This signals the need to develop a planned and structured career path into this specialist branch of teaching. There is little if any normative agreement about what that path should be.
In this paper we argue for the centrality of the discipline of education to the organisation and delivery of teacher educator programmes. We examine the historical context where education has variously been framed as an incoherent amalgam of other disciplines including, theology, psychology, sociology, philosophy, history and business management. We explore how the discipline of education could be conceptualised. We consider how the questions and research about education generated by these related disciplines can be interrogated from an educational perspective. We illustrate the theoretical discussion in the context of the recent development of a Master of Arts degree for professional teacher educators. In these ways, we argue that both the investigation and improvement of current teacher educator practice and the education of future teacher educators could be facilitated in dialogue with notions of the discipline of education.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Biesta, G. (2007). ‘Why ‘‘What works’’ won't work: evidence-based practice and the democratic deficit in educational research’, Educational Theory, 57(1): 1-22. Biesta, G. (2009b) Disciplinarity and Interdisciplinarity in the Academic Study of Education: Traditions of Educational Theorising. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the British Educational Research Association, Manchester, 2-5th September 2009. Biesta, G. (2009). ‘Values and ideals in teachers' professional judgement’ in P. M. Sharon Gewirtz, Ian Hextall and Alan Cribb (ed.) Changing Teacher Professionalism. London: Routledge, pp. 184-193. Biesta, G. (2009). ‘Good education in an age of measurement: on the need to reconnect with the question of purpose in education.’ Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, (21), pp. 33-46. Korthagen, F. A. J., Kessels J., et al. (2001). Linking Practice and Theory. London, Routledge. Harrison, J. and Yaffe E. (2009). ‘Teacher Educators and Reflective Practice’ in A. Swennen and M. v. d. Klink (ed.), Becoming a Teacher Educator. London, Springer, pp. 145-162
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