Bill Bailey

Changing Teachers: A Critical Review of Recent Policies Affecting the Professional Training and Qualifications of Teachers in Schools, Colleges and Universities in England.

Abstract Significant policy change in the field of teacher training and development in England has affected teachers in all phases of education over the last decade. Increased government requirements for accountability and scrutiny have resulted in, for example, the introduction of professional standards for teachers in schools, colleges and universities. However, the content of these changes has varied and there are clear differences in their impact on each group of teachers. This article critically reviews the main changes affecting the teaching profession in each sector and clarifies the agencies involved, their roles and origins. The authors conclude that the governments piecemeal approach to teacher training and development has created some serious anomalies. These are illustrated by the current position of the further education teacher, in particular, whose work may overlap with the work of teachers in both of the other sectors.

Fostering ‘habits of reflection, independent study and free inquiry’: an analysis of the short‐lived phenomenon of General/Liberal Studies in English vocational education and training

In 1957, 12 years after the end of World War II, the Ministry of Education issued Circular 323 to promote the development of an element of ‘liberal studies’ in courses offered by technical and further education (FE) colleges in England. This was perceived to be in some ways a peculiar or uncharacteristic development. However, it lasted over 20 years, during which time most students on courses in FE colleges participated in what were termed General or Liberal Studies classes that complemented and/or contrasted with the technical content of their vocational programmes. By the end of the 1970s, these classes had changed in character, moving away from the concept of a ‘liberal education’ towards a prescribed diet of ‘communication studies’. The steady decline in apprenticeship numbers from the late 1960s onwards accelerated in the late 1970s, resulting in a new type of student (the state‐funded ‘trainee’) into colleges whose curriculum would be prescribed by the Manpower Services Commission. This paper examines the Ministry’s thinking and charts the rise and fall of a curriculum phenomenon that became immortalised in the ‘Wilt’ novels of Tom Sharpe. The paper argues that the Ministry of Education’s concerns half a century ago are still relevant now, particularly as fresh calls are being made to raise the leaving age from compulsory education to 18, and in light of attempts in England to develop new vocational diplomas for full‐time students in schools and colleges.

The Establishment of Centres for the Training of Teachers in Technical and Further Education in England, 1933-1950.

This paper examines the beginnings of courses of teacher training for teachers in technical and further education in England. First the development of the technical education sector and its distinctive part‐time nature is traced, alongside the activities of the three associations representing the colleges and their staffs. The views of these on the proposals of the Board of Education to introduce an experiment in technical teacher training in the late 1930s are considered. The wartime planning of technical teacher training as part of the emergency teacher training scheme is discussed, and the setting‐up of three centres for teacher training in technical colleges and their work up to 1950 are outlined.

Learning Support Workers in Further Education in England: a hidden revolution?

This article presents data from two small‐scale investigations of the employment of learning support staff in further colleges in England. The policy context after the incorporation of the colleges in 1993 and available data on these staff are reviewed. This is followed by a summary and analysis of findings from interviews with human resource managers in colleges and from job and person descriptions for these staff. Some benefits and implications of the employment of these staff are discussed.

Learners' Emotional and Psychic Responses to Encounters with Learning Support in Further Education and Training

ABSTRACT:  This article investigates the experience of individual learners who have been allocated learning support in the further education system in England. The particular focus is on interviewees’ constructions of their emotional and psychic experiences. Through the adoption of a psycho-social perspective, learners’ tendency to ‘idealise’ their learning support workers is understood as a strategy for coping with the anxiety generated by a range of previous experiences. The implications for policy-makers are discussed.

Vocational Education in Russia in the Transition to a Market Economy

This report does not attempt to survey the current situation in Russian vocational education. The diversity of the system and the absence of data makes that impossible. In the absence of fuller accounts, this report uses three brief contributions by individuals, at present involved in the administration and provision of vocational courses in Russia, in an attempt to provide insight in a time of radical change.

A new approach to teacher training: an evaluation of a further and higher education partnership

Abstract During 1992/93, a scheme was set up at the University of Greenwich in the School of Post Compulsory Education and Training to pilot a new way of delivering the one year full‐time pre‐service CertEd(FE)/PGCE(FE) course. The School entered into formal partnership contracts with 4 selected FE colleges and a combined team of University and FE staff collectively planned, taught and assessed many of the key course components. This article describes aspects of the national and local context which led to this development and evaluates its success. Some contrasts are drawn with school‐based partnerships and the potential of the model to meet some of the professions major concerns at a time of massive upheaval and change is discussed.

Training teachers for further and technical education: staff perceptions of changing demands and policies at Bolton from 1950 to 1988

This article examines the development of teacher training for teachers in technical and further education in England through the memories of the staff of Bolton Technical Teachers College, one of the first national centres set up for this purpose. After a brief account of the origins and the development of the college up to its merger with the Bolton Institute in 1982, the article summarises data obtained through interviews with former staff. These sections consider the staff’s perceptions of their work; the organisation and content of teacher training; and the culture of the institution. The article then considers these data in the light of the changing context of teacher training and of the work of further education colleges in England during this period.

Community, Change and Survival: Staff Attitudes at a Vocational Teacher Education College in Moscow.

The authors discuss staff attitudes at a vocational teacher education College in Moscow. A questionnaire and interviews given to the predominantly women staff reveal a strong sense of professional and personal commitment, sustained with growing uncertainty as the market economy threatens every aspect of their lives. Findings are related to recent studies of Russian women, to definitions of feminism, post-modernist debate on respect for diversity; on the need for values and the understanding of community.

The position of the corporate college

Changes of status, management, resourcing and curriculum are currently affecting schools of nursing and midwifery. Institutions of further education and higher education are also experiencing changes in these areas — mainly as a consequence of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. This chapter compares these changes with the intention of identifying the principal similarities and differences, in particular drawing out the important implications for those involved in health care education.