Bernadette Youens

Repositioning Students in Initial Teacher Preparation A Comparative Descriptive Analysis of Learning to Teach for Social Justice in the United States and in England

Discussions of learning to teach for social justice generally focus on the social commitments, institutional structures, course content, and pedagogical processes that support prospective teachers. Missing from this array of foci is a consideration of how school students are positioned within teacher preparation and how their positioning and participation can inform prospective teachers’ preparation to teach for social justice. In this article, the authors present a comparative descriptive analysis of two projects, one based in the United States and one based in England, that provide opportunities through which prospective secondary teachers are prepared to teach for social justice through direct dialogue with secondary students focused on issues of teaching and learning.

Harnessing the potential of pupils to influence school development

The recent focus on pupil involvement in all aspects of education, including the school improvement agenda, has led to an increasing number of pupils being consulted on various aspects of school life and involved in a range of peer support schemes. Accompanying the proliferation of pupil involvement has been the development of training initiatives to provide pupils with the necessary skills to carry out their new roles. In this article, we focus on how schools can further develop pupil involvement beyond the current level, which generally consists of school councils, peer mentoring projects and supporting student teachers. The article is based on the experience of one secondary school which embraced pupil voice initiatives and then recognized that there was a population of skilled and articulate ‘professional pupils’ in the school. The potential benefits and challenges to the school in harnessing the skills of this group of pupils in future school development are discussed.

Promoting Collaborative Practice and Reciprocity in Initial Teacher Education: Realising a "Dialogic Space" through Video Capture Analysis.

This paper explores the potential of video capture to generate a collaborative space for teacher preparation; a space in which traditional hierarchies and boundaries between actors (student teacher, school mentor and university tutor) and knowledge (academic, professional and practical) are disrupted. The study, based in a teacher education department in an English university, is contextualised in the policy context of school–university partnerships. Video capture is used as a vehicle to promote dialogue and collaborative practice between partners during school-based elements of a teacher preparation course. Analysis highlights the power of this space to promote reciprocal learning across the partnership.

Subject knowledge development by science student teachers: the role of university tutors and school‐based subject mentors

Following the introduction of a National Curriculum for Science, all secondary science teachers in England need to be prepared to teach all aspects of a broad and balanced science curriculum. This is the second paper in which we explore science student teachers’ subject knowledge development during a one‐year postgraduate teacher preparation course. In this qualitative study we explore the role of university tutors and school‐based subject mentors in science student teachers’ subject knowledge development as perceived by student teachers, school‐based subject mentors and university tutors. The findings reveal that student teachers are reluctant to use university tutors and school mentors for subject knowledge development because they are aware of their assessment roles. The role of the university tutor in subject knowledge development is perceived as one of facilitation and of developing student teachers’ sense of professionalism. School mentors perceive that they do provide support for subject knowledge development and they are largely unaware of any potential conflict arising from their assessment role. The findings of the study are discussed in terms of the nature of student teachers’ professional learning in communities of practice. The implications for mentor training programmes are considered.

Strategies Used by Science Student Teachers for Subject Knowledge Development: A Focus on Peer Support.

The demand on science teachers in England and Wales in terms of their own subject knowledge has increased significantly since the 1980s. This has created pressure on pre‐service educators to adequately prepare pre‐service teachers regarding their science knowledge, during a very intensive course. This qualitative study explored the perceptions of students about the range of strategies they use to facilitate their subject knowledge development during a one‐year postgraduate initial teacher education course, with a particular focus on their use of peers. The majority of the pre‐service teachers used their peers in a range of different ways to develop their own knowledge and understanding of science. They valued this support highly and believed that with enhanced tutor facilitation, peers could be used to greater effect. These findings are discussed in terms of the demands of a highly regulated, standards‐driven model of teacher education and the desire to encourage the development in our students of a sense of professionalism characterised by both autonomy and collegiality.

Re‐forming the teaching work force: the case of the academic coach

This article reports the findings of a study of the experiences and expectations of a cohort of 13 ‘Academic Coaches’, appointed to temporary teaching support roles in challenging inner city secondary schools. The discussion of this particular initiative is located in a broader consideration of the work and conditions of para‐professionals as the UK teaching workforce is remodelled, and in the career patterns and choices of people attracted into teaching and teaching related roles. Conclusions are drawn about the importance of professionalizing these newly emerging roles. An important aspect of professional recognition, and one which is in danger of being overlooked in the current political climate, is the sustained involvement of teachers at school level in defining the professionalism of extended and newly created support and teaching roles.

Move over Nelly: lessons from 30 years of employment-based initial teacher education in England

ABSTRACT Recruiting, preparing and retaining high-quality teachers are recurrent themes of local, national and international education agendas. Traditional university-led forms of teacher education continue to be challenged, and defended, as nations strive to secure a teaching force equipped to achieve high-quality learning outcomes for all students. One commonly adopted policy solution has been the diversification of teacher preparation routes: the alternative certification agenda. In this article, we examine the entire history of one alternative route in place in England from 1997 to 2012, the Graduate Teacher Programme. Using one example of an employment-based programme, we argue that opportunities to engineer innovative and creative spaces in the face of the current teacher preparation reform agenda need to be seized. This case study, which is contextualised in both the international debates about alternative teacher certification routes and the current policy agenda in England, demonstrates the extent to which successive administrations have failed to learn from the lessons of the past in the rush to recycle policies and claim them as their own.

Silenced voices: the disappearance of the university and the student teacher in teacher education policy discourse in England

Abstract The teacher preparation landscape in England has been subject to radical policy change. Since 2010, the policy agenda has repositioned initial teacher preparation as a craft best learnt through observation and imitation of teachers in school settings. Simultaneously, a market-based approach to the recruitment of pre-service teachers has led to significant changes for prospective entrants to the profession. In the enactment of policy between 2010 and 2015, the roles of universities and voices of prospective teachers were systematically silenced. Using critical discourse analysis, we demonstrate how both actors have been positioned in, and have accommodated and resisted, the current policy discourses. These findings highlight the importance of problematising and understanding these emerging issues at local and international levels.