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The Role of the Tutor in InitialTeacher EducationM. Elizabeth Smith aa Lecturer in Education, School of Education , TheUniversity , Oxford Road, Manchester, M15 9PL, UKPublished online: 19 Aug 2010.

To cite this article: M. Elizabeth Smith (2000) The Role of the Tutor in InitialTeacher Education, Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 8:2, 137-144, DOI:10.1080/713685520

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Mentoring & Tutoring, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2000

The Role of the Tutor in Initial TeacherEducationM. ELIZABETH SMITHLecturer in Education, School of Education, The University, Oxford Road, Manchester,

M15 9PL, UK

ABSTRACT The roles and responsibilities of tutors in initial teacher training in higher

education institutions were drastically changed by the implementation of Circular 9/92,

(Initial Teacher Training (Secondary Phase), DfE, 1992). Eight years on there is little

time for the study of educational theory on the one-year Post Graduate Certi® cate of

Education course, which has become predominantly competence based. This empirical study

is an evaluation of the university-based provision made for student teachers by the tutors in

one institution. It suggests that whilst provision to enable skill development was made

available, opportunities for theoretical underpinning of practice were not provided to a

satisfactory level. The appropriateness of this situation is discussed in the current climate of

the need for an `evidence-based’ profession.

Background

For decades there was mounting concern at the control by higher educationinstitutions (HEIs) of initial teacher education (ITE) in England and Wales. Themain thrust of this concern was that HEIs did not prepare students appropriately forpractical teaching; that they were over-concerned with the theoretical underpinningof practice rather than the practical skills required in the classroom. It was felt thatschools should have more input and be given greater responsibility for the trainingof teachers. This criticism had both professional and political origins (DES, 1972;Callaghan, 1976; Warnock, 1985; Her Majesty’s Inspectorate, 1988; O’Hear, 1988;Hargreaves, 1990; Lawlor, 1990; Elliott, 1993a). In 1994 the Government insti-gated the current system whereby schools took a much greater part in the trainingof student teachers, and the HEIs a reduced responsibility (DfE, 1992). HEIs wererequired to develop courses which involved partnerships with schools, and resultedin student teachers spending two-thirds of their course physically in schools wherethe teachers were to be involved in the training programme. The student teacherswere also required to follow a competence-based model of ITE.

This study describes the evaluation of the provision made by Post GraduateCerti® cate in Education (PGCE) tutors for the training of secondary school studentteachers under this new regime in one institution.

ISSN1361-1267 print; 1469-9745 online00/020137± 08Ó 2000 Taylor & Francis Ltd

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138 M. E. Smith

Initial Teacher Education at the University

The university’s present secondary PGCE course was developed to meet therequirements of Circular 9/92. Student teachers are required to spend two-thirds oftheir time in schools, a principle to which the tutors were largely sympathetic (Reid,1996), although it was clear from the start that this would restrict the amount ofinput by tutors in the theoretical underpinning of educational practice. This studywas initiated to evaluate the new role of the tutors as a result of the changes. Theuniversity-based curriculum was divided into eight areas:

1. `Role of the tutor’ concerns the administrative duties of the tutor, includingsuch activities as interviewing, selecting suitable and appropriate school experienceplacements and reference writing.

2. `Progression’ examines the student teacher experience as classroom skillsdevelop over the period of the course.

3. `Coherence’ considers the extent to which the student teachers were requiredto re¯ ect on practice and apply information supplied in the university to theirclassroom and school experiences.

4. `Using the university’ s/school’s/college’ s strengths’ includes access to resources,and information about research carried out by tutors and the academic communityin general. An educational and professional studies (EPS) element of the courseconsists of a series of keynote lectures by members of the university staff and otherexperts in their ® eld. Each lecture is followed by workshops facilitated by subjecttutors. The tutors provide the link between the issues raised in theory and theirapplication in the classroom. The EPS component is based on the principles that:

· to be able to operate as a successful teacher, knowledge and understanding ofeducational issues as well as mastery of classroom skills is required;

· the relationship between theory and practice is dynamic and the two are interre-lated; and that

· opportunities need to be provided for student teachers to re¯ ect on key educa-tional issues (Keen, 1996).

Topics for inclusion in the EPS programme include general educational issuessuch as special education needs, teaching gifted children, multicultural issues ineducation, assessment issues, child protection issues, psychology of learning anddevelopment and language issues in education.

The curriculum and methods (C&M) programme is subject speci® c and as suchvaries in content and emphasis between subjects. C&M programmes provide oppor-tunities for student teachers to become aware of and discuss the educational issuesunderpinning subject teaching and learning. In the ® rst term the emphasis is onpreparing student teachers for their ® rst practice. The work is therefore set incontext and made relevant to the student teachers’ needs. Knowledge and skillsspeci® c to the subject are provided, for example including different types of safetytraining in science and technology, audiovisual techniques in modern foreign lan-guage and language and literature studies for English student teachers.

5. `Variety of experiences’ includes micro-teaching, information regarding differ-

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Role of the Tutor in Initial Teacher Education 139

entiation, teaching styles and the enhancement of student teachers’ subject knowl-edge. Micro-teaching and sharing knowledge is a strong element in all subjects. Thisallows student teachers to enhance their communication skills, gain knowledge frompeers who have expertise in speci® c areas and also to foster those skills which arevital to good teaching; teamwork, leadership, and collaborative working.

6. `Conferencing’ is carried out between student teachers and tutors as a whole-group activity, with a small number of student teachers or with individuals . Thecontent of the sessions is driven by the needs of the student teachers and is basedon an initial audit of student teacher needs, which enables individualised pro-grammes to be developed. The sessions may be a forum for providing information,discussing course requirements such as assessment items, supporting and/or chal-lenging student teachers in developing their teaching skills or informally monitoringthe partnership by listening to concerns and acting on information provided. Groupconferencing sessions allow the student teachers to share experiences and in this wayprovide a means of peer support and enables the dissemination of good practice.Individual sessions allow tutors to build up personal relationships with the studentteacher. Whilst mentors and teachers in schools, for the most part, form excellentworking relationships with student teachers, there are times when support is neededwhich cannot be given by the mentor who has prior allegiance to the school or thepupils within that school. The tutors, whilst taking account of the views of mentors,schools and pupils, have primary allegiance to the student teachers. Kane andCampbell (1993) recognised this as a problem encountered during the training ofteachers in the Articled Teachers Scheme.

7. `Competences’ (now called `Standards’ ) are the criteria which all studentteachers must satisfy if they are to be awarded Quali® ed Teacher Status. Themajority of these criteria are related to skill acquisition. Student teachers arerequired to acquire skills to a satisfactory level and provide evidence that this hadoccurred. A document, the `Record of Achievement and Development’ (RoAD)allows student teachers’ developing competences to be tracked and is used bystudent teachers, mentors and tutors. It enables individual student teachers to takean active role in planning their own learning by requiring them to set their ownpersonal targets, and so is designed to encourage a degree of professional andpersonal empowerment.

8. `Assessment and evaluation’ of the student teachers’ practical skills are carriedout by mentors and moderated by tutors. Assessment of the student teachers’understanding of educational issues is carried out by university tutors and lecturers.The student teachers are required to produce EPS and C&M portfolios of work andsince September 1998 an information communications technology (ICT) portfoliohas also been required.

The Balance between Theory and Practice

The student teachers are with tutors in the university for short periods of timebetween extensive school experience placements. The tutors are required to preparethe student teachers for practice. They also need to develop a balanced curriculum,

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140 M. E. Smith

which not only includes training in practical skills, but also provides an element ofeducational theory. Prior to the implementation of Circular 9/92 the university hada long tradition of providing training directly related to the practice of teaching(Robertson, 1990), strongly underpinned with appropriate theory on which goodpractice in the classroom was founded. The new dilemma for the tutors lay in thefact that most saw themselves as teacher educators not teacher trainers, yet thelegislation appeared to be designed to reduce this aspect of HEIs’ role. The problemfacing the tutors was one of obtaining a balance between training student teachersin classroom activities and providing appropriate educational theory, a dilemma alsorecognised by Dunne and Bennett (1997).

Methodology of the Study

The study utilised surveys to assess student teachers’ and tutors’ perceptions of theprovision made by the university. Of the 151 student teachers following the course,132 of them and all of the 11 tutors made returns. The survey was in the form ofchecklists, which covered the eight curriculum areas outlined above, and these werecompleted independently by student teachers and tutors.

Results

A multiple analysis of variance was carried out to compare all the student teachers’responses to the checklist questions with those made by all tutors (see Tables I andII). Tutors gave more positive responses than student teachers, but this differencewas not signi® cant (F 5 2.70; NS). However, differences were identi® ed betweencurriculum areas (F 5 4.20; P , 0.01). There was no signi® cant interaction betweenthe two main effects (F 5 1.73; NS), indicating a consistency of perception betweenstudents and tutors. This suggests that although some curriculum areas are per-ceived to be signi® cantly better taught than other areas, there is a commonality ofperception between students and staff as to which these are.

A further analysis aimed at identifying which curriculum areas (in which subjects)were being addressed more successfully than others was carried out using studentteachers’ responses only, because of the relatively small number of tutors (n 5 11).A one-way analysis of variance was used to investigate the perceived differences inprovision for the curriculum areas; the results are given in Table III. This shows asigni® cant difference between areas (F 5 17.46; P , 0.01). When the mean scoreswere examined the following trend was identi® ed (see Fig. 1).

TABLE I. Analysis of variance of scores by person and curriculum area

Source SS DF MS F P

Person (student teacher/tutor) 0.36 1 0.36 2.7 NSCurriculum area 1.34 7 0.19 4.2 0.01Person 3 area 0.56 7 0.08 1.73 NS

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Role of the Tutor in Initial Teacher Education 141

TABLE II. Mean scores

Student teacher Tutor

Current area Mean SD Mean SD

1 0.81 0.13 0.81 0.112 0.95 0.11 0.83 0.153 0.71 0.34 0.77 0.264 0.66 0.18 0.79 0.125 0.84 0.24 0.96 0.106 0.85 0.20 0.93 0.107 0.78 0.38 0.91 0.208 0.81 0.24 0.95 0.13

The area perceived by student teachers to be least well addressed during thecourse was found to be area 4, `Using the university’ s strengths’ . The application ofa Scheffe test demonstrated that this area was perceived to be addressed signi® cantlyworse than all other areas except area 3, `Coherence’ . The latter was considered tobe signi® cantly different from area 5, `Variety of experiences’ , area 6, `Conferencing’and area 2, `Progression’ . The Scheffe test also identi® ed area 2, `Progression’ asbeing addressed signi® cantly better, in the view of student teachers, to all other areasexcept area 6, `Conferencing’ .

The student teachers felt that the area of the curriculum largely concerned witheducational theory and its assimilation was addressed signi® cantly less well than allother areas. If the assumption that a score of 0.8 represents an appropriate `level of

TABLE III. Analysis of variance of student teachers’ scores between curriculumareas

Source SS DF MS F P

Between areas 7.27 7 1.04 17.46 0.01

FIG. 1. Mean student teachers’ scores ranked by curriculum area.

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142 M. E. Smith

TABLE IV. Analysis of variance of student teachers’ scores between subjects inarea 4

Source SS DF MS F P

Between groups 0.42 5 0.08 2.94 0.01

TABLE V. Mean student teachers’ responses by subject for area 4

Subject Mean SD

Modern Foreign Languages 0.56 0.19Economics 0.6 0.16Science 0.67 0.17Mathematics 0.69 0.19English 0.71 0.17Technology 0.75 0.14

mastery’ , than all the scores in all subjects in this curriculum area were low, andsome signi® cantly lower than others (see Tables IV and V). The mean responses ofstudent teachers varied from 0.56 for modern foreign languages to 0.75 for technol-ogy, and the Scheffe test identi® ed this difference as signi® cant. It would thereforeappear that, according to student teachers, the theoretical underpinning to practicewas not addressed appropriately in any subject and was signi® cantly worse in somesubjects than in others.

In an attempt to further investigate this, 48 student teachers were asked to do thefollowing:

Write down one piece of educational theory that you have learned duringthe course, give the name of the researcher involved and state where youlearned about this theory.

Of the student teachers asked to do this, 63% were able to state correctly onepiece of theory, with 59% able to name the researcher involved. Only 36% ofstudent teachers stated that the tutor had been involved in providing or helpingthem acquire the information.

Discussion

These results suggest that the role of the tutor has indeed moved towards that oftrainer and away from that of educator, as Wilkin (1990) supposed it would. Thereis a powerful argument that much will be lost from ITE if this balance is notreadjusted (Booth, 1990). Elliott (1993b) has developed the theme that studentteachers need to be taught educational theory as a knowledge base from which theycan practice more effectively. Holligan (1997) was able to demonstrate a convinc-ingly positive correlation between classroom performance and knowledge of educa-tional theory. Moreover, initial teacher educators in mainland Europe recognise the

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Role of the Tutor in Initial Teacher Education 143

importance of theory in underpinning practice, it forming a stronger element inEurope than in England (Moon, 1998). Student teachers themselves also see learningabout educational theory as important. As early as 1982, when the Department ofEducation and Science invited the University of Cambridge Department of Educationto evaluate the success of school-based courses, the student teachers sampled duringand on completion of the course were shown to value this school-based approach andthe practical experience they gained. However, they also valued the input of educa-tional theory, a majority of students perceiving the study of educational theory asimportant provided it was placed in the context of the classroom and was relevant totheir needs in schools (Furlong et al., 1988). They wanted time to re¯ ect on practiceand to discuss with tutors, teachers and peers. Areas of their training in which they feltleast prepared were where the school had taken responsibility and little contributionhad been made by tutors (Furlong, 1990). This positive attitude towards theory wasalso identi® ed by the Of® ce for Standards in Education (OFSTED, 1993) whoreported that two-thirds of newly quali® ed teachers (NQTs) inspected viewed theeducational studies programme they had followed during their ITE courses fa-vourably. Teachers also, for the most part, see an understanding of theory andre¯ ection on practice as important in improving teaching (Reid, 1999).

The present Government wants:

¼ a world-class education service for all our children. Every pupil shouldbecome literate, numerate, well-informed, con® dent, capable of learningthroughout life and able to play an active part in the work force and thecommunity. All pupils should have the opportunity to become creative,innovative and capable of leadership. Pupils will need education for a worldof rapid change in which both ¯ exible attitudes and enduring values havea part to play. (DfEE, 1998)

Whether such high aims can be achieved by a teaching profession which has thenecessary knowledge and skills to control the behaviour of pupils, give informationand mark and assess work but who believes itself to a have limited understanding ofwhy particular teaching strategies work (or not), how pupils learn, or how to re¯ ectmeaningfully on practice, evaluate its effectiveness and so manage its own improve-ment, is a matter of concern.

The present method of training student teachers with its extended periods ofpractice, is not without its merits. But it does call into question once again the roleof the universities in ITE. Pring (1999) argues that:

Universities should, above all, be places where scholarship and research ofhigh standard are encouraged, teaching conducted in the light of thatscholarship and research, and autonomy preserved in the pursuit of both.

This article is a small contribution to such research, but the removal of autonomyby the imposition of a national curriculum for initial teacher training makes itdif® cult for university teaching in this ® eld to be `conducted in the light of(appropriate) scholarship and research’ . The current review of Circular 4/98 is oneopportunity the universities should welcome in making their case to Government.

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