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Recent developments in initial teacher educationAnne Moran a & John Dallat ba Lecturer at the University of Ulster , Jordanstownb Lecturer in the Faculty of Education , University of Ulster , JordanstownPublished online: 18 Jul 2008.
To cite this article: Anne Moran & John Dallat (1996) Recent developments in initial teacher education, Irish EducationalStudies, 15:1, 68-80, DOI: 10.1080/0332331960150108
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68 Annual Conference, 1995
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN INITIALTEACHER EDUCATION
Anne Moran & John Dallat
The opening statement in the section of the Green Paper (Ireland 1992)entitled "The Teaching Profession" states "A well-trained andcommitted teaching force is essential in maintaining and enhancing thequality of education" (Green Paper, 1992, p.163). This is followed bya further statement which refers to the critical role of pre-servicetraining in influencing teacher performance (Green Paper, 1992,p.163). Both these sentiments were echoed around the same time bythe then Secretary of State for England and Wales, Sir Kenneth Clarke.In his address at the North of England Education Conference (January,1992) he concluded that the quality of education depends, above allelse, on the quality of the teachers (Clarke, 1992, p.45). He, too,referred to the initial training of teachers and questioned whether newteachers were being "adequately trained in the right way for success inthe classroom" (Clarke, 1992, p. 15). The solution proposed was thatstudent teachers should spend more time in the classroom guided byserving teachers.
This recent concern for initial teacher training can be tracedback to the publication of the White Papa Teaching Quality (1983). Thedocument, in addition to expressing concerns about the need for an allgraduate profession and for ensuring depth and rigour in initial teachertraining commensurate with graduate status, was concerned with puttingin place mechanisms for assuring quality. This was to be achieved bygiving student teachers adequate preparation in subject-specific and ageappropriate teaching methods and involve the active participation ofexperienced practising teachers. In order to satisfy this last requirement,staff from higher education institutions were to be obliged to undertakesuccessful, substantial and relevant experience in schools.
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Documents which followed Teaching Quality reiterated itscentral themes, namely, that teacher education was principally aprocess of learning the content of the subjects) to be taught, that itwas rooted in practice and that its practitioners needed to be activelyengaged in classroom teaching in schools. At no stage was there anyexplicit reference to an underlying theory of teacher learning. Insteadthere was a clear emphasis on classroom technique and taskproficiency, what Schon (1971) refers to as "technical rationality."The focus was very definitely on the clinical aspects of teaching andon the acquisition of technical competence.
Two further initiatives which conveyed similar views ofteacher education were the Licensed Teacher Scheme (LTS) and theArticled Teacher Scheme (ATS). The ATS, although jointlyadministered by higher education institutions (HEIs), local educationauthorities (LEAs) and schools, required teachers to spend 80% of theirtime in schools over a two year period. The LTS required noinvolvement at all by HEIs. A third, and most recent initiative permittedconsortia of schools to develop their own teacher education programmesand once again allowed no mandated role for higher education.
When these developments in teacher education areconsidered together, the sincerity of current government rhetoricabout partnership between HEIs and schools and about quality ininitial teacher education is called into question.
Momentum for the current reform of initial teacher training(ITT) came with the publication of Circular 9/92 in June 1992. Threecriteria for teacher education in England and Wales were specifiedand the first of these confirmed that schools should play a muchlarger part in ITT as full partners of HEIs.
The circular also drew particular attention to the increase intime to be spent by student teachers in schools:
...the minimum time students are to spend on thepremises of partner schools in full-time secondary PGCEcourses should be 24 weeks, in part-time courses 18weeks, in two and three year secondary undergraduatecourses 24 weeks and in four year secondaryundergraduate courses 32 weeks (DFE, 1992:3).
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It recommended that schools wanting to become involved inpartnerships should approach the higher education institution and thatthe latter should make explicit their development plans to the schools.They would also be required to clarify with schools, their criteria forforming partnerships and include the use of indicators as evidence ofquality of teaching and learning. Schools would have:
...a leading responsibility for training students toteach their specialist subjects, to assess pupils andto manage classes; and for supervising students andassessing their competences in these respects (DFE,1992:4).
The responsibility of the higher education institutions would bemerely that of:
...ensuring that courses meet the requirements foracademic validation, presenting courses foraccreditation, awarding qualification to successfulstudents and arranging student placement in morethan one school (DFE, 1992:4).
Within a few months of the publication of this circular, planswere underway in Northern Ireland (NI) to review the initial training ofteachers. In September 1992 three working groups were established bythe Department of Education in NI (DENI), each with a specific remit.The three issues to be addressed were the identification ofcompetences, the implications for the structures of ITT courses and thearrangements necessary to achieve continuity and coherence in trainingfrom initial through induction to inservice. When these groupsreported in March 1993, a fourth group, the Development Group, wasformed to consider the implications of the three previous WorkingGroups' recommendations. By June 1994 the "new" arrangements forthe training of teachers in NI were formally announced by the Ministerof Education and were to take effect in the 1995/96 school year. Thishas subsequently been revised and 1995/96 has been designated as atraining and development year, in which the higher educationinstitutions will assume full responsibility for the training of studentteachers, even though the period of school experience is to be extendedto 24 weeks for post-primary schools (DENI, 1995).
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In his address, the Minister identified the school-basedelement of training as crucial and referred to mentoring as providingeach teacher in training with "a competent, experienced and helpfulmember of staff ... to guide progress and help overcome problems"(DENI Press Release 1994). Given the importance to be accorded tomentoring, the quality of education will, therefore, be increasinglydependent upon the quality of those teachers who are designated asmentors, as well as on the way in which they are trained, supportedand managed in schools. Mentors and their roles need to be given ahigh priority in school development planning because the long termimpact of mentoring will undoubtedly depend on the extent to whichthe mentoring process is integrated into whole school developmentand, in particular, staff development. To be completely effective,mentoring needs to take place in an open and collaborative climateand involve all the staff.
The Department for Education (DFE) in their criteria foreffectively managed schools refer to:
a concern to build a learning environment for staff aswell as students. Teachers strive to improve on theirprofessional practice, they regularly discuss teachingmethods in detail, engage in joint planning, preparelearning materials together, are encouraged to shareideas, experiences and successes and both seek andgive advice (DFE, 1993).
If we want a quality teaching force, we mustencourage and motivate the professionalism ofteachers (Clarke, 1992 23).
Terms which have been used to describe such environmentsare professional development schools and schools as learningcompanies or learning organisations (Pedler et al, 1989, Murgatroyd,1992). In the reform plan of the Holmes Group (1990) the centralvehicle for realising new visions of teaching and teacher educationwas the professional development school, a new institution forcombining professional education, teaching for understanding andinquiry (Holmes Group, 1990). However, Lieberman et al (1991),based on their experience in working with professional development
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schools in the USA, challenge the concept of truly collaborativecultures and question both the nature of professional relationships andthe associated assumed improvement in teaching and student learning.Little (1990), too, shares these concerns and specifically challengestheir promise to improve teaching. While truly collaborative culturesmay not exist, a whole school philosophy which promotes and valuescollegiality and sharing of professional expertise, is more likely toprovide a stimulating, creative and supportive learning environment forstudent teachers.
As mentioned, mentors will become key players in thebuilding of a quality teaching force. What then is a mentor?
Mentoring Defined
Turner (1993), in describing the role of the mentor, refers to a personwho is capable of becoming:
Exemplar demonstrating teaching and managementtechniques; peer supervisor - observing and givingfeedback; curriculum management adviser -helping with lessons and longer term planning;supervisor of classroom research - encouraging thereflective practitioner; and also provider of aresource and consultancy service.
In other words, the mentor, as well as being a role model andconsultant for the student teacher, assists with the planning andevaluation of teaching and classroom research.
Maynard and Furlong (1993) propose a framework formentoring which incorporates similar responsibilities. They identifythree distinctive approaches:
1. the apprenticeship model;
2. the competency model;
3. the reflective practitioner model.
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In describing each of the three models they attest to theimportance of the mentor's role as a model and instructor in theapprenticeship and competency phases. The final phase proposes thatstudent teachers move beyond routines to develop a deeperunderstanding of the learning process, and consequently the mentor'srole in the reflective practitioner stage changes to that of co-enquirerwith the student teacher. The emphasis, too, changes from a focus onthe student teacher's training performance to a focus on children'slearning. Maynard and Furlong (1993) argue that, while eachapproach should be used successively, the earlier phases shouldcontinue to influence the student teacher's development. Althoughthey make no specific reference to the reflective process as integral toeither of the two earlier models, the apprenticeship and competencyphases necessarily involve some degree of reflection, discussion andexplanation of the practice being observed and emulated.
Mclntyre and Hagger (1993 perceive mentoring ascomprising a continuum of support for student teachers, ranging fromthe least to the greatest. They recognise four levels of support withinthis continuum namely:
zero level;minimal mentoring;developed mentoring;extended mentoring.
The stages are characterised by both the type and degree ofsupport afforded to the student teacher. The first two levels, zero andminimal, concentrate on supporting and supervising the studentteacher in the classroom while developed mentoring recognises that:
...a major part of the process of learning to teachhas to be that of clarifying, questioning, developingand testing these ideas, and complementing orreplacing them with new ideas which also need tobe tested (Mclntyre and Hagger, 1993).
Mclntyre and Hagger (1993) claim that mentors have muchto contribute to this process, by way of helping student teachersbecome aware of and question their preconceptions, offering themnew ideas and guiding them in the use and development of ideas
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obtained from other sources. Their model of extended mentoringplaces special emphasis on extending the mentor's role, so thatstudent teachers can take responsibility for determining their ownagendas for professional development, once they are deemed to haveattained competence. The mentor continues to support the studentteacher in a new kind of equal relationship. This emphasis on studentteachers assuming increasing responsibility for determining their ownprofessional development needs, in consultation with their mentors,implies a capacity to reflect critically on their practice.
In each of the models of mentoring discussed above,mentoring is envisaged as a developing activity in which the roles ofstudent teacher and mentor alter according to the phase of the studentteacher's development. It is the ordered combination of these phaseswhich leads to a structured approach to mentoring. Learning toteach, therefore, requires inter-related changes in knowledge, beliefsand attitudes and not simply the acquisition of a set of technicalskills. Ryle (1949) uses the term "intelligent" and "habitual" practiceto distinguish between these two contrasting approaches to teachereducation. He defines "intelligent" practice as an on-going process,which involves collaborative reflective mentoring of existingpractice, as well as the systematic analysis and testing of theories ofteaching. "Habitual" practice, on the contrary, simply involvesrepetition of previous performance.
The foregoing discussion highlights both the complexity ofthe mentoring process and the skills, abilities and commitmentrequired of the mentor, if the process is to be successful. Ourresearch into mentoring programmes in the United Kingdom foundthat the mentoring process is not without its problems, particularlywhen issues of quality provision are examined.
Research Focus
The research findings which follow, are based upon extensive reviewof the literature on mentoring and mentorship schemes and on casestudy analyses of six school-based I'll ' programmes in England andScotland which were visited by the authors, and chosen because oftheir successful, yet distinctive approaches to mentoring. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with both student teachers and
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mentors and all interviews were recorded and transcribed for analysis.The experiences of mentoring in the USA are also considered. A visitby the authors to Michigan State University in September 1994provided further research data for the study. The research processaimed to determine and examine those aspects of school-based trainingwhich were most successful as well as those which were problematic.
The following section uses some of this data to illustrate thekey issues which emerged. Most, if not all of the issues identified,had implications for the quality of the training the student teachersreceived: time for mentoring, training for mentors, quality assuranceand profiling and assessment. Although the choice of mentor was notspecifically selected as an issue, it too has implications for quality.
Quality Assurance Issues
A recurring issue in all of the schemes researched concerned the lackof time devoted to the mentoring process. Comments such as:
I have an hour and 10 minutes for the two studentsper week and it is never enough (Mentor).
We try to ensure that every mentor is guaranteedone period, 40 minutes per week to carry out his/herduties. At the end of the day ... what they do withtheir money is their responsibility (HEI Tutor),
A development officer for one of the schemes, estimated that£2,000 per pair of PGCE students would buy approximately the halfday substitute cover, which he considered was the minimumrequirements if mentoring was to be effective.
All of the schemes recognised the importance of institutingquality assurance procedures, but most admitted that it was an issuewhich they had not yet resolved. One tutor commented:
We have got very poor quality control ... it issomething that has concerned me (HEI Tutor).
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Another stated:
I don't know how we will ever come to terms with theissue of quality assurance because it is a schemedependent upon human resources and it is very muchto do with levels of commitment and that varies fromperson to person ... The quality assurance issue is avery big one ... somehow we're going to have to set upa minimum entitlement You'll have some studentscoming in and saying, well, my mentor spends threehours a week with me, is very, very helpful and otherssaying, I am lucky if I see mine for a V2 hour a week.So there has got to be some minimum entitlement forthem, but again the quality of that input you'll neverreally be able to measure (HEI Tutor).
Many of those interviewed discussed the possible use ofcontracts between schools and HEIs as a mechanism for ensuringaccountability. While the majority were not in favour of makingformal contractual arrangements, some acknowledged that it is an issuewhich needs to be addressed. In general, however, there was areluctance on the part of schools to establishing formal contracts, but asthe mentoring process becomes more widespread and formalised,quality control procedures and contractual arrangements will beinevitable. It will never be feasible to equalise contextual factors, but itshould be possible for schools and HEIs to agree and specify minimumentitlements for student teachers. The conditions within whichmentoring occurs are significant in determining the practice of mentors.
The issue of assessing student teachers has been surroundedwith anxiety, uncertainty and controversy. For many, concepts such asprofiling and competences are new and many mentors consider thatthey are ill-equipped to undertake this role. Some of the difficultiesexperienced are encapsulated in the following quotation:
I think the real difficulty that we have got to face atthe moment is the tension that the mentor findsbetween his/her role as guide, counsellor, instructorand assessor ... Where there is a problem we havegot to make a decision ... The mentor pulls away anddoesn't want to make that decision (HEI Tutor).
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Mentors also expressed a concern that they were unsure aboutwhat precisely they were assessing, as well as about the methods ofrecording their observations. The decision to introduce a commonprofile of competence is a reasonable one, in the sense that it provides astandardised framework for assessing student teachers, but it is notwithout its associated difficulties. The most notable of these is thecombined formative and summative purposes which it is intended toachieve. The notion of competence excludes any consideration ofdegrees of competence, yet a system of grading which is to be a part ofthe profile necessarily involves differentiation. However, specifyingthat a teacher is competent does not allow for discrimination to bemade between those student teachers who are deemed excellent andthose who are pronounced satisfactory. Perhaps a grading systemcould help to improve quality through providing an incentive forstudent teachers to aim for the best. A final issue which mentorsidentified was that assessments were discussed and negotiated withstudent teachers, and while they experienced difficulties with this attimes, they acknowledged that it was better than previous systemswhereby assessments were made externally and simply received bystudents.
The training was considered valuable, though most wouldhave welcomed further training in lesson observation and analysis,providing feedback and in assessing student teachers. The componentsof training programmes varied, but most included an outline and broadstructure of the programme, an exploration of the mentor's role and ofthe mentoring process, managing mentoring in school and profiling andassessment
One HEI tutor indicated the value she attached to mentortraining, not only in terms of the benefits for student teachers, but forpromoting the continual professional development of all teachers:
We are actually now working in every school in waysthat they want us to ... to take the skills that mentorshave acquired and develop them for working withNQTs and then beyond that... We obviously want tosee their partnership with us as going beyond theinitial stages of teacher education (HEI Tutor).
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Extending the Mentoring Concept
As indicated in the above quotation, mentoring has implications notonly for student teachers, but also for newly qualified teachers (NQTs).No one who is involved in the professional development of teachers willdeny that induction is a crucial formative phase in teacher development,not least because it is at this stage that the attitudes of teachers areformed and consolidated. Beginning teachers are not fully equippedwith all the knowledge and skills that are required to be a competentteacher. Many competences are only partially developed during initialteacher training and are designed to be acquired in the induction phase.Attaining competence is a gradual process which involves ongoingaccumulation and assimilation of knowledge and skills.
Research undertaken by Lambert (1992) with NQTs foundthat by far the most important factor that determines the success of theinduction phase is the quality and commitment of the people who aredesignated to supervise them. Sir Kenneth Clarke (1992) in hisaddress at the north of England conference emphasised:
What is even more important is that the newlyqualified teacher should have had the thorough,practical experience that can only come from schoolbased work under the supervision of servingteachers (Clarkel992, p.18).
The development of a mentoring culture in schools haspotential for extending the mentoring process to include furtherprofessional development for all teachers, i.e. the provision of acontinuous and coherent system of support for professionaldevelopment It could also offer professional continuity for appraisal,so long as the focus for appraisal is on professional developmentrather than on accountability.
Ultimately, it is intended that a profile of competence will beused by all students in training and all NQTs. The concept of a "rollingprofile" or professional development profile, has been discussed ashaving conceivable application for use with ah1 teachers. The potentialfor extending the concept of mentoring to include induction andinservice development, will be an important dimension once thepractice of mentoring in initial teacher training has become established.
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Conclusion
The decision to introduce a system of school-based training for studentteachers has not arisen from a real concern to improve the quality ofinitial teacher education, but rather from a desire to exert increasedpolitical and economic control over education. This is not to suggestthat a carefully planned and well resourced system of school-basedtraining, which is supported by mentors who have been properlytrained to undertake their role, cannot produce quality teachers. On thecontrary, the promise of mentoring resides in its ability not only toprovide experiential learning for student teachers, but to challenge anddevelop their cognitive interests in context and thus enable them to beconscious agents in their pedagogy. In other words, it aims tosimultaneously develop performance and intellectual processes.
School-based training is most effective where there is awhole school commitment to mentoring. If it is to be effective, it musttake place in an open and collaborative climate, involve all the staff,and be linked to staff and school development planning. Where sucha culture exists, the mentoring concept has further potential for NQTs,professional development and appraisal.
In response to the question posed by the title, it isconceivable that school-based training has the potential to produce aquality teaching force, but only when all the conditions necessary foreffective school-based mentoring are satisfied. An extended period ofplacement in schools supplemented by the support of a designatedmentor will not automatically result in enhanced student teacherlearning and performance in the classroom.
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