Making Teachers in Britain: Professional knowledge for initial teacher education in England and Scotland

Educational Philosophy and Theory, Vol. 38, No. 3, 2006

© 2006 The AuthorsJournal compilation © 2006 Philosophy of Education Society of AustralasiaPublished by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA

Blackwell Publishing LtdOxford, UKEPATEducational Philosophy and Theory0013-1857© 2006 Philosophy of Education Society of AustralasiaJune 2006383Original Article

Making Teachers in BritainIan Menter, Estelle Brisard & Ian Smith

Making Teachers in Britain: Professional knowledge for initial teacher education in England and Scotland

I

M

*,

E

B

**

&

I

S

**

*

University of Glasgow;

**

University of Paisley

Abstract

There is an apparent contradiction between the widespread moves towards a uniform andinstrumentalist standards-based approach to teaching on the one hand and recent research-based insights into the complexity of effective pedagogies. The former tendency reflects apolitically driven agenda, the latter is more professionally driven. Tensions reflecting sucha contradiction are evident in the debates over initial teacher education (ITE) policy andpractice in many parts of the world.

This article examines aspects of ITE policy in two contiguous parts of the UnitedKingdom, England and Scotland. The authors draw on a comparative study carriedout during 2002–2004, particularly on an analysis of key contemporary policy documents,in order to consider some of the similarities and differences that are apparent in thesetwo countries. It is argued that while features of national culture, tradition and insti-tutional politics have a significant role to play in the detail of the approaches taken,there is nevertheless evidence of significant convergence between both countries in oneaspect of the determination of initial teacher education, the definition of teaching throughthe prescription of standards, which set official parameters on professional knowledgerequired for entry into the profession. This, it is suggested, reflects trends associated withneoliberal ‘globalisation’.

Keywords: Initial teacher education, devolution in the UK, standards inteaching, professional knowledge, globalisation

1. Introduction

This article draws from a two-year study based at the University of Paisley, entitled‘Convergence or Divergence?: Policy and practice in initial teacher education inScotland and England’. In essence, this study seeks to examine the extent to whichITE in these two contiguous countries is becoming more or less similar in the wakeof significant devolution within the UK, since 1998 (see Paterson, 2000; Pickardand Dobie, 2003; Bryce and Humes, 2003). Such a research focus may also betaken as one case in the wider debate around the impact of globalisation onnational educational policies and practices.

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Ian Menter, Estelle Brisard & Ian Smith

© 2006 The AuthorsJournal compilation © 2006 Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia

The study adopted a socio-historical approach to comparative research thatallows for the research objects to be considered in a dynamic perspective. In orderto take into account the complexity and the dynamic nature of initial teachereducation policy and practice, as socio-cultural processes, we adopted a culturallysensitive approach that is similar to what Humes (1986) refers to as a socio-cultural approach. A central part of our approach therefore involves the examina-tion of the interplay between recent history, culture and initial teacher educationpolicy and practice. Taking into account the dynamic nature of the processes understudy requires us to go beyond an analysis of institutional contexts and to givesome consideration to key institutional bodies and actors who essentially act asmediators between the macro and the micro levels.

The research method selected for this study is exclusively qualitative and theproject comprises three strands: a historical, a policy and a practice strand which,we hope, provide three complementary and meaningful perspectives on the objectof study. In all three strands, participants’ own perspectives are seen as key tounderstanding teacher education practices in different national settings. A principalaspect of the fieldwork in all three strands therefore involved collecting keyactors’ accounts thereby placing the emphasis on the lived experiences of keypeople ‘inside the system’, whether they be policy makers or teacher educators, inaddition to the analysis of administrative, policy or institutional documentation.The historical strand focuses on developments in ITE in both countries over thelast twenty years or so.

In this particular article however, we are concerned with the question of profes-sional knowledge, interrogating some of our documentary data in order to assesssimilarities and differences in the ITE ‘policy rhetoric’, that is the ways in whichthe work and role of teachers is officially defined in the two countries. We examinekey documents that set out the framework by which people may qualify as a teacherin each country.

Our concern is to identify the underlying values that define teaching in eachcountry in order to consider the extent to which teaching is understood as the sameactivity. There is considerable evidence that the restructuring of teaching is a globalphenomenon (Smyth

et al.

, 2000; Morrow and Torres, 2000; Robertson, 2000))and it is our aim here to gain insights into British approaches to restructuringthrough seeking to identify what professional knowledge is deemed to be essentialin these two countries. Such a comparative approach (described as a ‘home inter-national’ by Raffe

et al

., (1999)) may provide new perspectives on the debatesaround restructuring. In the post-devolution context, this may also be seen as anexercise in determining the extent to which the national level of policy-makingcontinues to be dominant (see Green, 1997, Ozga, 2004; Menter

et al.

, 2004).There are other recent perspectives introducing further complexities in inter-

preting the relative influence of national and global factors on the development ofeducation systems.

For example, it has been suggested by a number of commentators that educationsystems ought to become increasingly responsive to local contexts and needs, as theworld becomes increasingly ‘balkanised’. Parker (1997) for example suggests:

Making Teachers in Britain

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Post-modern teachers will construct pedagogy out of local interests andconcerns where worth and value is set within a narrative in which itsplayers have a stake and a voice. (pp. 151–152)

Similarly, learning theorists suggest that teachers will need an increasingly sophis-ticated and research informed understanding of how young people learn in orderto operate effectively in a knowledge-based society in which electronic communi-cation makes instant transfer possible (Edwards

et al.

, 2002); and where learningis recognised as ‘situated’ and may take place most effectively within ‘communitiesof practice’ (Lave and Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 2000).

In undertaking an inter-nation comparison of this sort, some cautionary notesare necessary. Firstly, the two national contexts for the study—although contiguous—have a number of very different features. The population of England is approxim-ately nine times that of Scotland and hence the number of teachers being preparedfor qualification is very different in the two countries. Certain geographical areasof England have been affected by very severe difficulties in recruitment over recentyears. While recruitment has not been without difficulty in Scotland, the problemshave tended to be more localised and/ or specialised.

Secondly, Scottish education policy has never been directly controlled fromWestminster/London. Prior to devolution, the Scottish Office and it predecessorshad responsibility for mediating policy and for developing specific Scottishversions of initiatives from the south (see Paterson, 2003). This factor has enabledScotland to develop a very distinctive approach in a number of key areas, such ascurriculum and assessment and indeed teacher education. Thus, in spite of bothcountries being part of the United Kingdom, the kind of historical, cultural andpolitical caveats that should sensitise any comparative study are just as relevant here(Crossley and Watson, 2003).

2. Initial Teacher Education in England and Scotland

The somewhat turbulent recent history of initial teacher training in England hasbeen well documented over the past decade (e.g. Gilroy, 1992; Furlong

et al.

, 2000).Since the mid 1980s there has been a series of central government interventionsthat have gradually increased government control of the processes by which onemay become a teacher. There was a series of government circulars which by 1998had led among other things to the creation of a national curriculum for ITT andthe definition of a series of standards, the achievement of which was necessaryin order to qualify (Mahony and Hextall, 2000). The period was also characterisedby the active participation in these processes by two key bodies, the Teacher Train-ing Agency, established in 1994, to fund and approve provision and the inspectionagency, Ofsted, established in 1992, which has played a major part in assessing theextent to which particular courses or institutions were providing high quality.

There has also been increasing diversification in the nature of pre-service pro-vision, with school-centred and employment-based routes being added to the moretraditional Higher Education (HE) led programmes such as Bachelor of Education

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(BEd) and Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) courses. But even thesemore traditional routes are varied now, with BEds of from two to four years induration, PGCE courses which may be ‘flexible’ and/or part-time and may be oneor two years long. In summary, although the traditional routes still provide themajority of new teachers in England, there is now a host of routes of entry to theteaching profession, which have various levels of participation and involvementfrom different stakeholders, including some which have no HE involvement at all.

Unlike in England, the Scottish provision has so far not opted for alternativemodels of initial teacher education and only offers the more traditional concurrentand consecutive primary and secondary programmes, although some provision forpart-time PGCE courses has recently been made. Recent developments in Scotlandhowever have also included the development of series of standards, which in thecase of initial teacher education, included the definition in 1993 of a number ofcompetences which beginning teachers were required to demonstrate by the endof their course. The key institutional development in Scotland was the series ofmergers between colleges of education and universities, which meant that by 2001,initial teacher education was provided by just seven institutions, all of which wereuniversities. A major report on pay and conditions of teachers in 2000 (known asthe McCrone Report, Scottish Executive, 2000), which led to a significant settle-ment in 2001 (Scottish Executive, 2001), included a number of comments aboutinitial teacher education. This led to a two-stage review of initial teacher education.The first part was undertaken by a consultancy, and was published in 2001(Deloitte & Touche, 2001). The publication of the second stage of the review isawaited currently, but this time the review has been undertaken by a committeecomprising representatives of a range of stakeholders.

The governance and regulation of ITE is very different in Scotland, with fundingbeing through the generic higher education funding council, on advice from theScottish Executive’s Education Department (SEED). Accreditation of provisionis undertaken on behalf of the Executive by the General Teaching Council forScotland. This is an entirely separate process from quality assurance activitiesundertaken by inspectors, which currently do not lead to any grading of individualcourses or providers (Kirk, 2000).

3. Key Documents

Following our brief description of each of the national backgrounds, we now turnto the key policy documents which set out the statutory requirements for coursesof initial teacher education as well as a governmental vision of the newly qualifiedteacher in each country. In England the key document is

Qualifying to Teach

,first published in 2002, following a much fuller consultation process than hadpreviously been undertaken by the TTA (TTA, 2004a). This is augmented by alengthy handbook of guidance that was updated in Spring 2004 (TTA, 2004b). InScotland, the key documents are

Guidelines for Initial Teacher Education Courses inScotland

(The Scottish Office, 1998) and

The Standard for Initial Teacher Educationin Scotland

(QAA, 2000).


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In our analysis of these documents, we focus on how the work of a teacherappears to be understood. In this article, we take these documents to best representthe official or state view of what a teacher is or should be.

A. England

Compared with some earlier documents on Initial Teacher Training (ITT) fromvarious Secretaries of State for Education, the 2002 publication

Qualifying to Teach

is concise and attractively presented. The earlier documents, six GovernmentCirculars issued from 1984 to 1998 (DES, 1984, 1989; DfE, 1992, 1993; DfEE,1997, 1998) had all been written in the dry and legalistic language which mightbe expected, but also becoming increasingly lengthy, and more detailed andprescriptive in tone.

On the inside cover of

Qualifying to Teach

it is stated that:

The document is relevant to anyone involved in initial teacher training,including trainee teachers, qualified teachers and those who employ andsupport newly qualified teachers. All those directly involved in initialteacher training should have access to it. The document should be usedto establish a common framework of expectations and will help to promotethe highest professional standards for everyone coming into the teachingprofession. (TTA, 2004a)

The foreword to the document is signed by both the Secretary of State for Educa-tion and Skills and the Chief Executive of the TTA. The Introduction states:

Teaching is one of the most influential professions in society. In theirday-to-day work, teachers can and do make huge differences to children’slives: directly, through the curriculum they teach, and indirectly, throughtheir behaviour, attitudes, values, relationships with and interest in pupils.Good teachers … understand that all their pupils are capable of significantprogress and that their potential for learning is unlimited. But teachinginvolves more than care, mutual respect and well-placed optimism. Itdemands knowledge and practical skills, the ability to make informedjudgements, and to balance pressures and challenges, practice and creativity,interest and effort, as well as an understanding of how children learn anddevelop. (TTA, 2004a, p. 3)

The language of this introduction is radically different from that which character-ised earlier circulars. It is indeed imbued with the voice of marketing. It is a verygood example of the discourse that has characterised the ‘spin’ of public sectordiscourse since the arrival of New Labour in government (Gewirtz

et al.

, 2004).This perhaps reflects the fact that it was recognised by then that it is no longeradequate only to regulate, but that particularly in a context of teacher shortages,it is essential simultaneously to promote teaching as an attractive occupation.However, the preceding circular, 4/98 (DfEE, 1998), had no such statement aboutthe role of the teacher in society. Thus, while the words have been carefully chosen

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to create a positive image of teaching, it is a considerable step forward to be explicitabout this (similar to the statement of values which introduces the English NationalCurriculum 5–16 revision of 1998 (DfEE/QCA, 1999)).

The main body of the document is divided into two sections, one setting out the‘Standards for the Award of Qualified Teacher Status’, the second setting out‘Requirements for Initial Teacher Training’. These are organised under the follow-ing headings:

The Standards for the award of Qualified Teacher Status

S1 Professional values and practiceS2 Knowledge and understandingS3 TeachingS3.1 Planning, expectations and targetsS3.2 Monitoring and assessmentS3.3 Teaching and class management

Requirements for Initial Teacher Training

R1 Trainee entry requirementsR2 Training and assessmentR3 Management of the ITT partnershipR4 Quality assurance

Under S1 there are eight statements, beneath the general heading of ‘understandingand upholding the professional code of the General Teaching Council for England’.The first four of these relate to demonstrating respect for pupils and their parents/carers, the other four relate to wider professional responsibilities within the schooland the profession, including:

S1.7 They are able to improve their own teaching, by evaluating it,learning from the effective practice of others and from

evidence

. Theyare motivated and able to take increasing responsibility for their ownprofessional development. (italics added)

S2 deals with subject knowledge, but also with the wider framework of theNational Curriculum, such as citizenship, ICT (information and communicationstechnology) and the SEN (special educational needs) Code of Practice. The finalpoint is:

S2.8 They have passed the Qualified Teacher Status skill tests innumeracy, literacy and ICT.

In other words, in addition to successfully completing the programme of studyoffered by the provider, there are three national tests that all trainees must sit andpass in order to gain QTS.

1

S3 emphasises teachers having high expectations and being well planned. It alsorefers to the need to work with other adults in the classroom. There is alsoreference to a range of equal opportunities issues, including the need to ‘takeaccount of the varying interest, experiences and achievements of boys and girls,


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and pupils from different cultural and ethnic groups, to help pupils make goodprogress’ (S3.3.6) and to challenge stereotyped views and bullying or harassment(S3.3.14).

The Requirements set out what it is that providers must offer to ensure that theycan continue to offer their programmes. The first and second parts outline traineeentry requirements and some parameters concerning the amount of time to bespent in schools on the various programmes. R3 is interesting in that it requiresproviders to work in partnership with schools, involving them in planning anddelivering the programmes, selecting trainees and assessing them. Specifically, it isstated that all providers must:

R3.2 set up partnership agreements which:

—make clear to everyone involved each partner’s role and responsibilities

—set out arrangements for preparing and supporting all staff involved intraining

—make clear how resources are divided and allocated between thepartners:

It is interesting to note that where the provider itself is a school or consortiumof schools (as in some SCITT schemes), there is no requirement that they workin partnership with a university or college. It is also worth noting that there is noreference here to local education authorities.

R4 makes it clear that providers have front line responsibility for their ownquality assurance, indeed,

All Providers must:

R4.1 ensure that their provision complies with the Secretary of State’scurrent Requirements for initial teacher training.

In other words, it is—somewhat tautologically—a requirement that providerscomply with the requirements! There is no reference at this point in the documentto how that compliance is actually externally checked through the processes ofinspection by Ofsted (although that is mentioned in the introductory sections).

The conciseness of the main document is compensated for by the 107 pages ofsmall print which constitutes the accompanying

Handbook of Guidance

. The uneasysettlement between prescription, control and regulation on the one hand andprofessional autonomy, innovation and creativity on the other is very evident inthe Introduction:

The Standards and Requirements in

Qualifying to teach

give providersincreased flexibility in the way they design their programmes, andencourage increased use of professional judgement. The purpose of thisHandbook is to help providers as they exercise this judgement and to helpthem maximise the opportunities for development that

Qualifying to teach

offers. … The guidance is non-statutory and will be kept under review.(TTA, 2004b, p. 1)

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This document is clearly designed to be read by providers and sets out in consider-able detail and using exemplars, the fuller implications of each of the Standardsand Requirements.

B. Scotland

The 1998 document from the Scottish Office sets out a list of competences whichbeginning teachers must acquire. However at the start of the document there is avery clear statement of priorities for ITE:

The overall aim of courses of initial teacher education is to preparestudents to become competent and thoughtful practitioners, who arecommitted to providing high quality teaching for all pupils. … Throughteaching and by example, they must be able to foster their pupils’ personal,social, emotional and moral development and encourage them to takepleasure in learning. The courses should assist students to reflect on theirpractice and its impact on pupils and assist them to consider the ways ofimproving their effectiveness as teachers. They should be informed abouthow to access and apply relevant findings from educational research.Students should be able to: consider the needs of their pupils beyond theconfines of the classroom; help pupils prepare for the next stage in theireducation; and identify how the educational experience will help pupilsprepare for the world of work and the wider responsibilities of citizenship.(Scottish Office, 1998, para. 2)

Detailed requirements for each qualification (BEd, PGCE, primary, secondary,etc) are then set out before the competences which courses ‘must enable studentteachers to acquire’ are listed. They are listed under the following headings:

1. Competences relating to Subject and Content of Teaching2. Competences relating to the classroom

2.1 Communication and approaches to teaching and learning2.2 Class organisation and management2.3 Assessment

3. Competences relating to the school and the education system4. The values, attributes and abilities integral to professionalism.

However, as indicated above, this government document was soon to be addedto by the benchmark statement produced by a working group consisting of sevenHEI representatives (one of whom chaired the group), two GTCS representatives,one person from an education authority, two head teachers, one HMI and anobserver from the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA).Furthermore, it is worth noting in passing that quality assurance relating to thebenchmark was to be achieved through a process of ‘collaborative review’ involvinga similar range of stakeholders, rather than through inspection by Oftsed as inEngland.


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While a benchmark statement for Education Studies had been prepared earlierby the QAA (under the same chairperson and which applies to all under-graduate courses in this field across the whole of the UK), no equivalent bench-mark for ITE was developed in England. This is thus a distinctively Scottishdevelopment within the UK. Indeed it could be seen in policy terms as a verystrategic move to retain significant control of ITE within HE in Scotland, bycontrast with the developments in England. Certainly the introduction and otherparts of the document take great care to position the statement in relation tothe earlier competences document:

Attention has been paid to the national requirements for ITE and thedocument incorporates the competences in the

Guidelines for InitialTeacher Education Courses in Scotland …

(QAA, 2000, Introduction)

However the explicit achievement of this document is to take the concept of thebenchmark statement (from QAA) and to develop it into the first of what was tobecome a series of standards for teaching in Scotland, namely the Standard forInitial Teacher Education (SITE).

The benchmark information is based on a vision of the newly qualifiedteacher who, having successfully completed a programme in InitialTeacher Education in Scotland, can function as an effective facilitatorof pupils’ learning, is committed to professional development andreflection and is able to engage collaboratively with colleagues in theprofession, with other groups and agencies, and with various membersof the communities served by education. … The benchmark infor-mation therefore specifies the standard of skills, abilities, knowledge,understanding and values which programmes should address and assess.(QAA, 2000, p. 1)

The document lists twelve ‘core professional interests’, including:

• having a secure knowledge and understanding of the subject area(s) for which (s)hewill be responsible;

• engaging with current educational issues and contributing to the processes of cur-riculum development, staff development and school development;

• promoting equality of opportunity among all people in an inclusive society, andactively taking steps to counter discrimination;

• taking responsibility for and being committed to their own professional developmentarising from professional reflection on their own and other professional practices;

•

using research and other forms of valid evidence

to inform choice, change and prioritiesin promoting educational practices and progress. (italics added)

But in addition to these core professional interests, programmes will also ‘beexpected to’ provide students with an understanding of ‘key educational prin-ciples’. Eight such principles are listed. Among these, programmes will be expectedto:

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• draw on a wide range of intellectual resources, theoretical perspectives and academicdisciplines to illuminate understanding of education and the contexts within which ittakes place;

• encourage students to engage with fundamental questions concerning the aims andvalues of education and its relationship to society;

• provide opportunities for students to engage with and draw on educational theory,research, policy and practice;

• promote a range of qualities in students, including intellectual independence andcritical engagement with evidence.

There are three aspects of professional development that programmes need todevelop.

2

These have a number of sub-sections, as follows:

1. Professional knowledge and understanding1.1 Curriculum1.2 Education systems and professional responsibilities1.3 Principles and perspectives

2. Professional skills and abilities2.1 Teaching and learning2.2 Classroom organisation and management2.3 Pupil assessment2.4 Professional reflection and communication

3. Professional values and personal commitment (QAA, 2000, pp. 8–21)

C. Comparison

In comparing the English and Scottish official definitions of what it is to becomea teacher, we can identify a number of similarities, a number of differences, butalso some aspects that appear to demonstrate both similarity and difference.

In both countries there is a clear statement of the role of the teacher in schoolsand in the broader society. There is a broadly common use of language concerningstandards and achievement, a shared view that better defined stipulation of whatnew teachers should be able to do will lead to improved achievement and attain-ment in schools. Standards sometimes refer to the new teachers themselves but oftento pupil performance as well. The documents also share a concern with curriculum,beginning teachers’ subject knowledge and assessment. Classroom managementskills are a high priority in both sets of documents.

Areas which demonstrate similarity and difference simultaneously include entryrequirements (which we have not described in detail above), where it is certainly


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the case that minimum qualifications in maths and English are set out, but the Scottishrequirements for secondary subject entry are by and large much more precise thanthose in England.

The recognition of the need for the active participation of schools in partnershipwith providers is evident on both sides of the border. However, there are very explicitrequirements in England relating to these partnerships, which are not defined atall precisely in Scotland.

Finally, some of the most apparent differences include the following.The deployment of ‘spin’ in the English documents (Gewirtz

et al.

, 2004); thelanguage of marketing is much more apparent in

Qualifying to Teach

than it is ineither of the Scottish documents.

The description of the process of becoming a teacher as ‘training’ in Englandwhereas it is a process of ‘education’ in Scotland; this was perhaps inevitable onceschool-based training was introduced in England and so the learner teachers couldnot be described as students in any conventional sense of the word. Thus, all learnerteachers are described as trainees in England, whereas they are all students inScotland, every one of them being registered at a University.

There is a much more explicit commitment to a strong intellectual componentin the process in Scotland than in England, including frequent reference to researchand theory in Scotland (the previous English document, Circular 4/98, did makereference to research but it has been removed from 02/02 and replaced by a moreambiguous reference to ‘evidence’ as pointed out in italics earlier).

Similarly, there are stronger, explicit statements about teachers’ commitment andvalues (particularly in the areas of inclusion and equality) in Scotland, includingstatements on teachers’ responsibility to combat discrimination; in England theequivalent areas are couched in much milder, less ‘politicised’ language.

There are national ‘skills tests’

in addition

to the ITT programme in England,which may be seen as demonstrating a lack of trust in providers’ ability to ensurethat the programmes themselves can guarantee the development of these skills in alltrainees.

There appears to be greater recognition of ITE as the first stage of a professionaldevelopment continuum in Scotland through the use of inter-related sets of stand-ards at various phases of professional development (especially since the introduc-tion of the one-year induction scheme to replace the former two-year probationaryperiod), with Standards for Full Registration, Chartered Teacher and the proposedStandard for School Leadership (Headship), all being based on similar approaches.The Standards for QTS, Advanced Skills Teachers and Headship in England, havenot emerged from an overall framework for career development.

Finally, it is worth noting that a recent report commissioned by the EuropeanCommission on the initial training and transition to work of teachers in Europe(lower secondary) (Eurydice, 2002) underlined the special importance attached,in Scotland, to the acquisition of communication skills in relation to behaviour

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management and to cross-cultural communication specifically. Of the few countriesin which training in work with multicultural groups of pupils is envisaged, Scotlandhas the most detailed recommendations with particular emphasis placed on thesociology of migrant populations and methodology of cross-cultural learning aswell as the provision of practical training in multicultural classes. Both Englandand Scotland however, are among the few countries to place particular emphasis onpractical training in behaviour management and school discipline as well as generalmanagement and organisational skills.

In summary, it appears that the overall nature of teacher professionalism inthe two countries appears to be based on a more ‘extended’ approach in Scotlandwith a relatively ‘restricted’ approach in England, to use Hoyle’s early distinction(Hoyle, 1972, as reported by Stenhouse, 1975).

4. Discussion

Scotland and England present two different policy contexts for education andteaching. As we indicated above, the education systems of the two countries havebeen distinctive throughout history, including the period from 1707 to 2000, whenthe Act of Union set out the fundamental settlement of governance within Britain.Since the creation of the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Executive, there hasbeen even greater formal devolution of policy in many (though not all) areas ofdomestic policy, including education. The whole of the UK is of course part of theEuropean Community where since the 1990s, a European dimension in educationand some degree of commonality in teacher education were being sought as partof the community’s wider political and social strategy (Galton and Moon, 1994,p. 12). The EU’s involvement in education and commitment to promoting qualityof provision across member states was officially legitimated by Article 126 of theMaastricht Treaty, and together with the OECD, it is seen as playing an influentialrole in disseminating supranational policy discourses and standardised policysolutions to individual member states (Novoa; 2000; Henry

et al.

, 2001; Lawn &Lingard, 2002) Thus we might expect to see some degree of ‘harmonisation’ at thelevel of UK countries’ policy rhetoric, general objectives and modes of governanceof education and teacher education.

If our analysis of the key policy documents in initial teacher education inEngland and Scotland is correct, then how might the differences in the ways inwhich teaching and teachers’ professional knowledge are defined best be explained?Much scepticism has been directed towards the ‘mythology’ of Scottish educationwhich makes the dual claim that Scottish education is superior and that it is moregenuinely ‘comprehensive’ (i.e. open to all) and/or meritocratic (see, for example,Humes and Bryce, 2003; Paterson, 2003). Yet, it is difficult to offer an explanationof the more extended professionalism and the greater academic component in theway in which teaching is seen in Scotland, without reference to the relative culturalstanding of teaching, teacher education and education in the two countries. The‘discourse of derision’ (Ball, 1990), which was so directly targeted at teachers inEngland in the 1980s was not a feature of Scottish popular discourse over the


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same period. Many aspects of conservative education policy during the Thatcherand Major years were strongly resisted in Scotland (see Paterson 2003). Keyfeatures of the Scottish policy community are very different from England—including the long history of a General Teaching Council, the strong dominationof one teachers’ union, the absence of a TTA or an Ofsted, which can explain howScotland was able to moderate or mediate prior to devolution, some of the changesproposed south of the border.

However, the situation regarding initial teacher education/training is not static ineither country. In England current developments include the emergence of a muchless caustic relationship between the university providers and the TTA, continuingattention to developments in partnership, including partnership promotion and theidentification of ‘training schools’ (Brisard

et al.

, 2005). However there is littlesign that any significant shift in teachers’ professional knowledge is occurring.The strongest signs of a move towards a more research oriented approach featuremuch more within the area of CPD than in ITT (but see Patrick

et al.

, 2003, whoexpress concern on this subject).

Furthermore, we must ask whether the adoption of a standards/competencesapproach in both countries is of greater significance than the differences whichwe have identified. Certainly the notion that an intellectual and creative processsuch as teaching can be described, indeed defined, through a list of observablebehaviours does imply a form of ‘technicism’. Indeed criticism of such ‘technicism’has been put forward forcibly in Scotland as well as in England (see Stronach

et al.

, 1996; Furlong, 1995 or Whitty & Willmott, 1995). The continuing commit-ments to theory, research and social justice which appear to characterise theScottish approach may in reality be but a modernist palimpsest on an underlyinginstrumentalism, whereas, at least in its most recent manifestation, somethingequivalent is provided by the careful branding (‘glossification’) of teaching inEngland. It is certainly the case in both countries that there is little encouragementto take risks or to be experimental in one’s approach to teaching, whether at thebeginning of one’s career or later.

Olssen

et al.

(2004) associate managerialism in professional work with theneoliberalism which has permeated public policy in the ‘advanced’ societies.Teachers—both in schools and in post-compulsory education—have become partof a high accountability, low trust society. They suggest that:

The specification of objectives, performance reviews and other manage-ment techniques may encourage teachers to behave in ways that areantithetical to certain fundamental educational values such as altruism,intellectual independence and imagination. Moreover, we argue that therestoration of a culture of trust and professional accountability withinall educational institutions is a necessary prerequisite for the maintenanceof a robust and prosperous democratic society. (p. 197)

Certainly, by this reading, the differences which we have detected above betweenEnglish and Scottish policies would seem only to reflect different gradations ofneoliberal influence, as indicated by the common commitment to a standards

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based approach to the technical skills of teaching. Certainly such ‘fundamentaleducational values’ are more prevalent in Scottish policy discourse and one can atlast identify them there, whereas in the English discourse surrounding initialteacher training at least, they have been obscured, if not obliterated. However,even in Scotland, such values would appear to be under some pressure, particularlythe values of independence and imagination. What Ball (2004) has called ‘authenticteacher professionalism’ is at least threatened in Scotland (see Ozga, 2004), butnot (yet) extinguished as he suggests it is elsewhere, including in England, althoughthis perhaps stems more from the continuing cultural tradition of hierarchicalmanagement of schools, in spite of the ‘delayering’ which has been implementedas part of the McCrone reforms (MacDonald, 2004).

Elsewhere we have reported on the discourse of some of the professionals whomwe interviewed, who have the lead role in ‘delivering’ initial teacher education/training programmes in England and Scotland (Menter

et al.

, 2006, forthcoming).What emerges in that analysis is that the discourses employed by university basededucators on either side of the border consistently show more explicit commitmentto values such as these (often articulated through a notion of ‘reflective practice’in teaching) than the discourse deployed by school-based teacher trainers in England(i.e. those working on school-centred and employment-based routes).

When we compare the two initial teacher education/training systems, the natureof the involvement of the university sector does appear to be a defining factor.In England the Ofsted reports on school-based approaches have indicated someconcerns about the quality of provision (e.g. HMI, 2002). In future stages of ourresearch we will be seeking to identify whether these apparent differences arecarried through into the field of practice for the students and beginning teachersin their classrooms. In principle the creation of standards and competences ismeant to ensure consistency of achievement for all teachers, but do those who haveengaged with a HE-based approach during their preparation demonstrate anyadditional features and/or are their competences applied in a different way?

5. Conclusion

In an earlier consideration of English and Scottish approaches to the ‘modernisation’of teaching, in the context of

established

teachers who are several years into theircareer, the evidence suggested that the Scottish approach was strongly ‘develop-mental’ by contrast with the ‘performative’ and ‘assessment oriented’ approachsouth of the border (see Menter

et al.

, 2004). In considering now in the presentpaper the way in which teachers are initially formed on either side of the border,we can see some similar tendencies, but also some interesting differences from thatearlier comparison. Perhaps because this pre-service stage of teaching is necessarilyprocess-oriented we can see much more recognition of a developmental approachin England than was evident in looking at policies relating to experienced teachers.But at the same time we can also see a much more performative element in theScottish arrangements than was the case when looking at later career development.This may be explained by the establishment of common systems of standards in

Making Teachers in Britain 283


both countries that require some form of outcome criteria, for the purpose ofensuring that individuals have achieved it. Convergence at this level could be seenas a response to a perceived need for more uniform patterns of training which wouldcorrespond to national and international quality standards as well as facilitatequality control itself (Eurydice, 2002, p. 41).

However, even though the processes are broadly similar, the intended outcomes,both as expressed in official documents and as expressed in the words of teachereducators do appear to display some significant differences. While technical ration-ality has had its impact in both countries, a traditional modernist discoursecontinues to be visible in Scotland, whereas in England, technical rationality is onlyslightly obscured by traces of post-modern packaging. In neither country do we seethe full blown radical reconstruction of teaching along the lines which Parker (1997)has argued is necessary to meet the demands of the post-modern world in whichhe at least lives:

Postmodernism issues in a plurality of educational dialogues, practices,ends and values. This will involve education and teacher-educationinstitutions in becoming less like departments of science and more likedepartments of literature; less like the factory production line … and morelike a fashion house, where the multiplicity of styles coexist … (p. 149)

The university remains the most important site of struggle in teacher education.It is clear from the recent history of ITT in England that politicians of a neo-liberal persuasion (initially in the Conservative Party, later in New Labour) weredetermined to reduce the influence of the academy on teaching. The apparentlyparadoxical move in the opposite direction in Scotland—that is, the amalgamationof colleges of education with universities—is better seen as a rationalising confir-mation of the HE base for ITE, which has brought its own problems for thoseuniversities (see Brisard et al., 2004 and Ozga, 2000).3

Young (1998) makes a call for the ‘reflexive modernisation’ of teaching (notdissimilar to Edwards et al.’s (2003) call for ‘rethinking teacher education’), inwhich universities would play a crucial role:

The responsibility of those based in universities is not just to critique thebureaucratic character of recent reforms. It is also to articulate realalternatives and how they can raise standards and support a new teacherprofessionalism which puts learning at the centre of the curriculum ofteacher education. (p. 167)

On neither side of Hadrian’s Wall,4 can we see learning being put at the centre ofthe teacher education curriculum, in spite of the frequent references to ‘the learningsociety’ and the ‘knowledge-based economy’ by politicians and others. Such concepts,Ball argues, are but ‘potent policy condensates’ which reflect the increasing coloni-sation of education policy by economic policy imperatives (Ball, 1998, p. 122).What we do see is a common urgency to be precise about what it is that teachersare required to know and to be able to do. There is a drive in both countries towards‘standardisation’. The significant differences between the two sets of definitions of

284 Ian Menter, Estelle Brisard & Ian Smith


the teacher reflect a different nexus of power and control in each country and adifferent cultural positioning of teachers, teaching and, indeed, public education.

Notes

1. See Mahony, Hextall & Menter (2001) for an appraisal of the significance and impact of thesetests.

2. These three aspects are also used in the definition of other standards, including those for FullRegistration (at the end of the induction period), Chartered Teacher and School Leadership.

3. Looking at the 1992 Circular in England, Ozga (2000) comments: The policy document expresses the determination to locate professional formation in acompetence-driven mode and to place control of the formation with the schools and away fromthe HEIs. (p. 28)

4. Hadrian’s wall is an historic (Roman) barrier between England and Scotland.

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