Ian Hextall

‘Building Schools for the Future’: reflections on a new social architecture

The Labour Government launched the ‘Building Schools for the Future’ programme (BSF) in February 2003 with the aim of refurbishing or rebuilding all secondary schools in England over a 15‐year period, with an anticipated budget of £45 billion. In this article, we locate BSF in a wider public policy context which has already had important implications in other sectors of public provision. The local improvement finance trusts (LIFTs) initiative within the National Health Service (NHS) is of particular relevance to this discussion both because it reflects contemporary developments within New Public Management and because it also reveals new ways of extending and developing the private finance initiative (PFI) approach to public provision. We shall also consider the purposes and ‘delivery’ mechanisms of BSF and identify some of the key commentaries which have been provided by parliamentary reports and other evaluations. Although still in the early stages of its implementation, the BSF is of such significance for the future shape and form of educational provision that it is important to begin the process of considering possible directions and dimensions for a research agenda which will provide a secure empirical and analytical foundation on which to base discussion.

Sounds of Silence : the social justice agenda of the Teacher Training Agency

This article deals with the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) and the implications of its activities for social justice. We argue that the conception of what constitutes the effective teacher is being reshaped by the TTA in line with particular responses to demands for the United Kingdom to become more competitive in the global economy. Teachers responsibilities in relation to social justice are evacuated as the true purposes of schooling and the need for effective teachers are redefined. We further argue that the teaching profession is being increasingly differentiated in ways which are likely to disadvantage particular groups of teachers. We conclude the article by exploring the ways in which issues of representation, governance, policy steer and accountability connect with wider debates in the public sector both in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.

Mapping the Field of Teacher Education Research: Methodology and Issues in a Research Capacity Building Initiative in Teacher Education in the United Kingdom

This article discusses the first stages of the work of the Teacher Education Group (TEG) in building research capacity in teacher education research and identifies the potential of the model adopted for future European initiatives in the field. The TEG work is part of the second phase of the Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP), based on an embedded social practices model of research capacity building. The article opens by outlining the broad context of research capacity building initiatives and identifying general factors which create concerns about the sustainability of teacher education research in the United Kingdom. It then describes the initial impetus, within the TEG, for the creation of an up-to-date annotated mapping of current research in teacher education and outlines the practices used to generate the model used for the mapping. In conclusion, the article discusses some of the methodological, ethical and epistemological issues raised by the mapping exercise and the challenges ahead in disseminating and embedding the initiative.

Widening access to the teaching profession: perspectives from Scotland

This paper draws from a systematic literature review carried out for the General Teaching Council for Scotland on Widening access into the teaching profession. The paper first sets out a rationale for seeking the creation of a teaching profession that is demographically representative of the wider population. It is suggested that eight dimensions of representativeness are significant and the inter‐relationship between them is discussed in the context of the concept of multiple identities. Consideration is given to what is known about the composition of the teaching workforce in Scotland, before a framework for developing a strategy for improving representativeness is offered. Four areas for action are identified. Finally it is suggested that the same framework and areas for action may be applicable in any country where there is concern about the unrepresentative composition of the teaching workforce. Cet article sappuie sur une étude commissionnée par le General Teaching Council Ecossais et qui consiste en un état des lieux de la recherche portant sur la démocratisation de laccès au métier denseignant. Cet article expose dans un premier temps les fondements qui légitiment la création dune profession enseignante qui se veut le reflet démographique de la société quelle sert. Les auteurs identifient et mettent en relation huit principales dimensions de cette ‘représentativité’ quils analysent en référence à la notion ‘didentités multiples’. Dans un deuxième temps, les auteurs examinent la composition du corps enseignant écossais et proposent une stratégie doptimisation de sa ‘représentativité’ dans le contexte social écossais qui sappuie sur quatre domaines daction. En conclusion, les auteurs considèrent lapplicabilité du cadre danalyse et des quatre domaines daction identifiés à dautres contextes nationaux où la question de la démocratisation de laccès au métier denseignant se pose. Dieses Referat basiert auf einer systematischen Literaturanalyse, die für den Allgemeinen Schottischen Lehr‐ und Unterrichtsrat (General Teaching Council for Scotland) entwickelt wurde. Der Inhalt des Referats beschäftigt sich mit der Frage, wie die Zugangsmöglichkeiten zum Lehrberuf in ihrem Umfang erweitert werden können. Das Referat begründet zunächst, wieso es erstrebenswert ist, dass der Lehrberuf im demografischen Sinn einen breiten Bev—lkerungsquerschnitt repräsentiert. Hierbei werden acht signifikante Dimensionen der Repräsentation genannt und die Wechselbeziehungen dieser im Kontext multipler Identitäten besprochen. Anschlieβend wird, basierend auf den bekannten Fakten, die Zusammensetzung des schottischen Lehrpersonals untersucht. Zuletzt wird ein Rahmen für die Entwicklung einer Strategie zur Verbesserung der Repräsentation angeboten, wobei vier Handlungsbereiche identifiziert werden. Dieser Rahmen für die Entwicklung einer Strategie zur Verbesserung der Repräsentation und die damit verbundenen Handlungsbereiche sollten auch in anderen Ländern, wo es ebenfalls Mängel in der Komposition des Lehrpersonals gibt, anwendbar sein. Este artículo se base en una revisión sistemática de la literatura sobre la ampliación del acceso al magisterio realizada para el Consejo General de Enseñanza de Escocia. El artículo empieza con una explicación del porque buscar la creación de un magisterio demográficamente representativo de la población en general. Se surgiere que hayan ocho diferentes dimensiones de representabilidad que sean significativos y se discute la interrelación entre ellas en el contexto del concepto de identidades múltiples. Se considera lo que se sabe sobre la composición del magisterio en Escocia, antes de ofrecer un marco para el desarrollo de una estrategia para aumentar la representabilidad. Se identifican cuatro campos de acción. Finalmente se surgiere que el marco y los campos de acción puedan ser aplicables en otros países donde haya preocupación sobre la composición no representativa del magisterio.

The TEG Bibliography: Having Knowledge and Using It--Next Steps?

This paper acknowledges and refers to the recent online release and updating of the Teacher Education Group (TEG) bibliography. It offers a brief summary of how and why it was felt necessary to create the resource, what it covers and how it can be used. Broader issues of what skills and prior understanding a naïve user of its various search facilities might need are raised. It is suggested that additional pedagogically focused tools will need to be developed and suggests what these might be. Finally the paper argues that for the Bibliography to be used more widely, further development work will be needed, focused around the provision of user tools and support materials.