Bob Burstow

Providing for the professional development of teachers in England: a contemporary account of a government-led intervention

The complex nature of the work of a teacher in England was thrown into fresh relief in 2010 by the marked contrast between the outgoing New Labour administration and the incoming Coalition. The paper addresses the false dichotomy between views of teaching as craft and teaching as profession and proceeds to a consideration of the actuality of the middle-ground. It then seeks to place the bespoke (and short-lived) Master’s in Teaching and Learning degree within its recent historical and philosophical context. We consider its validity within a meaningful developmental cycle and its continuation as a significant addition to the available professional development resource.

Leaders’ views on the values of school-based research: contemporary themes and issues

In 2004, McLaughlin, Black-Hawkins and McIntyre published a literature review that explored the ways in which individual teachers, whole schools and groups of networked schools were engaging in practitioner research and enquiry. In the light of significant changes to the education landscape, the empirical research in this article provides an account of engagement with 25 school leaders to explore what schools are doing in the area of practitioner ‘research’ or ‘enquiry’ today. Although teachers in schools may both use research and generate findings, this research was particularly concerned with the generation of professional knowledge through research and enquiry in schools in England today. A sample of school leaders was interviewed to establish their current approach. Findings include questions about the effects on teachers’ dissatisfaction in the face of a revealed gap between actuality and idealism, the possible evolution of a new teacher-educator population and the effects on those working in higher education as they address the shifting needs of twenty-first-century teacher education. As school-based research continues to be a factor, this represents a timely scoping of the thinking of school senior leaders and considers the implications of this developing practice.

Studying and Learning in Initial Teacher Education in England

England hat in letzter Zeit eine gewisse Reputation als Brennpunkt fur Bildungsreformen gewonnen. Die Geschwindigkeit, mit welcher neue Reforminitiativen und -programme eintreffen, um schlieslich wieder ersetzt zu werden, ist bemerkenswert. Dies gilt fur die Lehrerausbildung ebenso wie fur alle anderen Bereiche des Bildungswesens. Der folgende Beitrag dokumentiert die verschiedenen Wege der Qualifizierung fur den Lehrerberuf in England zum Zeitpunkt seines Entstehens. Diese verschiedenen Wege werden anschliesend aus unterschiedlicher Perspektive verglichen, so hinsichtlich der Kosten der verschiedenen Programme, ihrer Wirksamkeit, der Drop-out-Raten im Anschluss an die Qualifizierung und schlieslich hinsichtlich ihrer jeweiligen bildungspolitischen Bedeutung. Der Beitrag schliest mit einigen Uberlegungen zu den zukunftigen Entwicklungsmoglichkeiten dieser unterschiedlichen Qualifizierungswege fur den Lehrerberuf.

Understanding ethics in school-based research

Abstract The notion of the ‘teacher as researcher’ has been in the education lexicon since the mid-1970s. School-based research, we suggest, is currently enjoying something of a renaissance, flourishing within the emerging, complex school landscape. This empirical research engages with 25 school leaders to explore the ways in which research-active schools are aware of, and using, ethical guidance in their research practices. In light of a dramatically changed educational landscape, we argue that the time is ripe for a discussion with teachers about ethical considerations and approaches to research. While this research takes place in England, the findings are relevant to international audiences, grappling as they do with issues of professional practice, research practice and understandings of ethical issues in school-based research.

Disentangling What it Means to be a Teacher in the Twenty-First Century: Policy and Practice in Teachers’ Continuing Professional Learning

The work of teachers has always been subjected to criticism and increasingly to the demands of government. So, if the economy ‘demands’ a different kind of workforce, then education, and by implication, teacher education, has to be changed to meet this requirement. In this chapter, we think about how these reforming attempts are to be understood, specifically in the case of teachers’ continuing professional learning. We begin by looking at continuing professional learning along three ‘axes’: the origin of the programmes, the beneficiaries of the programmes, and the implied view taken of the teachers in the construction and delivery of the programmes. Working from this base we will then develop and present a new tool for viewing the variety of major continuing professional learning programmes in England over the last 20 years. This reveals something of both New Labour’s and the Conservative Coalition’s attitude to teachers and teaching in the light of the policy approaches that were taken. The model developed here also has the potential to be a useful tool for any group wishing to take an informed approach to planning a continuing professional learning programme.

Handbook of school improvement: how high-performing principals create high-performing schools

approached in recent education reform. All Systems Go will appeal to those who have followed the Fullan journey and thinking on change. The global projects he has been involved in are due to his earlier work and this book offers the practical working behind the theory. It is important for education leaders at all levels to consider how necessary and required changes can be introduced, planned and have an impact on the system. For those completing studies in change management, this is a must as it takes change theory to another dimension. The attractiveness of the book is that it is for everyone interested in a powerful approach to sustainable school system change.