Life After the RAE

1. Life After the RAE Research and Teacher Education

2. Education UOA – the good news C 2000 individual entries 81 institutions 75% ‘international’ One quarter had a quality profile in which 50% or more was internationally excellent or world leading

3. The Good News ‘It is clear that the best departments can compete on equal terms with the strongest departments anywhere in the world…The high international standing of education in UK universities was strongly endorsed by the international members of the main panel’

4. But…..Education – one of the largest social sciences

5. Excellent But…. Nearly 3000 people not entered at all Many of those institutions – even highly successful ones – had a hidden and sometimes long tail. Some very small entries - 30% of entries listed fewer than 10 category A staff – median number is 13 81 institutions entered – there are 97 ITE education in the UK 6 of those entered don’t do ITE therefore 22 HEIs that offer ITE not entered at all

6. Variation of entry rates by institutions across different parts of the UK Scotland – all but one ITE institution entered and overall numbers were large Northern Ireland – 3 out of 4 ITE institutions entered Wales – 6 entries out of 7 institutions but only 37 individuals England – over 25% of ITE institutions not entered and early 20% of ITE in England goes on outside HEIs entirely .

7. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland 11 8 6 7 6 6 2 2 3

8. A further concern – research capacity ‘Of the 7,000 new students during the period, less than 4% were funded by OST/Research Council studentships…. Given the significance of research council studentships for ensuring the long term future of the discipline the 4% figure is strikingly low’

9. %age of academic and research staff with PhDs Source HESA 2005/6

10. Challenges and implications The REF???????

11. Challenges and implications Maintaining a commitment to research based professional education.

12. Challenges and implications The key challenge for Teacher Education now and in the future is to answer the question: ‘What is the essential contribution of HE?’ Developing and maintaining a scholarly culture is essential.

13. Topics and methods ‘Some more traditional areas were less strongly represented than previously e.g. … teacher education’ • Why might that be the case? • Panel noted a ‘broadening of the field’ • HE • Community and domestic arenas • Applied linguistics • Some expansion of the psychological field • Methodology – more sophisticated quantitative analysis and increased use of longitudinal studies • Evidence based systematic reviews.

14. ‘Driving these changes is a redefined internal economy in which under-funding drives a ‘pseudo-market’ in fee incomes, soft budget allocations for special purposes and contested earnings for new enrolments and research grants’ (Marginson 2007) Explanations The neo-liberal university Coming together of human capital theory + economic rationalism

15. Research funding is a highly sensitive market £316 million in total – staggering £101K per head £182 government – 57% Research councils £55 million 17% (including TLRP’s £38m) Government money is strongly policy driven Teacher education itself, as I have argued elsewhere, is no longer the key policy issue that it was for government funding

16. Agendas have moved on • Can see evidence of the research economy in the neo-liberal university • From government • Evidence based policy movement with its emphasis on large scale data sets • ECM • Other sources • Applied linguistics • ‘Foundation’ disciplines • A highly sensitive market

17. Two worries arise from the dominance of government funding ‘The quality of the best government sponsored and targeted research was excellent - both rigorous and effective in informing policy and with enough funding to sustain large multi-disciplinary teams over many years. However, other areas suffered in quality through being too closely tied to shifting government and government agencies’ priorities, tight timescales, a focus on description rather than analysis and limited theorisation. This loosened the links with social science and sometimes involved over-simplistic assumptions about teaching and learning.’

18. The other worry Educational research! We don’t need that.

19. Researching Teacher Education No longer a significant funding priority for UK governments But Highest priority internationally Tony Blair’s biggest educational legacy

20. Teachers Matter ‘All countries are seeking to improve their schools and to respond better to higher social and economic expectations. As the most significant and costly resource in schools, teachers are central to school improvement efforts. Improving the efficiency and equity of schooling depends, in large measure on ensuring that competent people want to work as teachers, their teaching is of high quality and that all students have access to high quality teaching’. (OECD 2005, 1)

21. The McKinsey Report (2007) says: Three things matter most: • Getting the right people to become teachers • Developing them into effective instructors • Ensuring that the system is able to deliver the best possible instruction for every child

22. Getting the right people to be teachers • 36,000 more teachers • 10% increase in starting salaries • TV campaign • Entry requirements raised • Diversification of routes • GTP • Teach First

23. Developing them into effective instructors Initial teacher training and early professional development are key: Internationally a strong interest in increasing government control of the structure and content of ITE ‘All of the better school systems we studied had integrated the practicum into their training programs. Boston England, Finland and Japan went further in increasing the amount of intensive practical support to new teachers and in finding ways to ensure that the support they are given is effective’

24. Ensuring that the system is able to deliver the best possible instruction for every child The Strategies + Targets + Performance Related Pay

25. Researching teacher education The continuing agenda. 10 key questions for teacher education in England

26. Question 1What is the role of ITE in improving the quality of teaching and learning in our schools?

27. Question 2Is the teacher supply model fit for purpose? Can it deal with: the impact of the economic downturn on supply; hidden and suppressed shortages; implications of changing gender and age structure within the profession; local pressures on school funding; impact of the collapse of the housing market on job mobility?

28. Question 3How do we get the right routes into teaching? 32 different routes Do they really bring different populations into teaching? What is the right balance of different populations entering the teaching profession? Is the quality the same for each route? Why do these routes have to be so separate – why are SCITT and EBITT still set up ‘in opposition’ to HEI based routes? And what, if anything, is the essential contribution of HE?

29. Question 4Do we get the best quality intake into the profession?

30. Is it time to abandon the BEd or dramatically increase its quality?

32. Question 5What do we know about the current quality of provision? The vast majority of programmes are now rated by Ofsted/TDA as ‘good’ - To what extent are courses different in terms of their aims, objectives, practices and outcomes?

33. Question 6Is our quality control fit for purpose? Can the current approach to quality control (standards, regulatory assessment frameworks, self assessment documents ) actually enhance quality beyond ‘good’?

34. Question 7Is there a link between teacher education quality and educational research?

35. Question 8Who are our teacher educators?

36. Question 9What makes for effective initial teacher education? Research shows: (a) expertise is very closely bound up with tacit thinking that in the normal course of events is not put into words; and (b) expertise is highly personal and it is highly complex

37. The contradiction

38. The weakness of the professional knowledge base of teaching itself

39. Question 10 How do we promote more innovation in the system? What sorts of innovation might prove productive?