Transcript Teach First attenuated? Perceptions of a ‘distinctly

Teach First attenuated?
Perceptions of a ‘distinctly different’
teacher training route from within
the mentoring crucible.
David Cameron
Institute of Physics
[email protected]
www.stimulatingphysics.org
@David_Cameron76
@TakeOnPhysics
Outline
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Teach First: a distinctly different route
Mentoring and school-based ITT
Research questions
Conceptual framework: the mentoring crucible
Methodology
Summary of findings
Illustrative examples
Conclusions
Implications
Teach First
• Described by Ofsted as ‘distinctly different’ (2008)
• A variant of other employment-based teacher training
routes
• Several distinctive features:
– A central mission with three elements:
• Socio-economic disadvantage
• High achieving graduates -> teaching
• Leadership development
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The Summer Institute
A national ‘brand’ with national and regional management
School placement process
Enhanced support for trainees from university tutors
Cost
Teach First: analysis
• Evidence of positive impact by TF trainees and teachers
– Positive contribution to schools and children’s learning
(Hutchings, et al., 2006b)
– Positive impact on pupil achievement; larger impact with more
TF teachers (Muijs, et al., 2010)
• Has attracted criticism over:
– Cost of the programme (Savage, 2012)
– Implications for teacher professionalism (Leaton Gray & Whitty,
2010)
– Perceived reproduction of middle-class privilege (Smart, et al.,
2009)
• Small numbers (2012-13, c.2.75% of ITT in England), large
visibility and weight, often cited as exemplar in ITT
Mentoring and school-based ITT
• Initial teacher training (ITT) is
becoming increasingly located in
and the responsibility of schools,
rather than higher education
institutions (HEIs)
• A trend since the 1970s,
supported by all successive
governments
• Mentoring has shown to be
central to ITT outcomes,
especially school-based or
employment-based routes
(Hobson, et al., 2009)
• Mentoring most variable element
in the quality of ITT programmes
(Hutchings, et al., 2006a)
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James Report (1972)
DES circular 3/84 (1984)
Elton Report (1989)
Articled Teacher Scheme (1990)
DFE circular 9/92 (1992)
School-Centred ITT(1994)
DFEE circular 10/97 (1997)
Graduate Teacher Programme
(1998)
‘Training Schools’ (1998)
DFES Requirements for ITT (2002)
‘Teaching Schools’ (2010)
School Direct training routes (2012)
Research questions
• I sought to explore the process of mentoring
in the Teach First programme
• What – if anything – is distinctive about this
process and how do those involved in
mentoring Teach First trainees perceive and
relate to the Teach First programme?
– Actions, identity construction, epistemological
frameworks…
Conceptual framework:
the mentoring crucible
• Derived from the theoretical traditions of:
– Schön, Kolb, Brookfield, Mezirow, Daloz, Eraut,
Knowles, Lave & Wenger, Cunningham
– Relating to learning, adult learning, work-based
learning and teacher training/mentoring.
The mentoring process…
The mentoring process can be understood as a complex interaction
between trainee teacher and mentor, in which both are involved in a
reflective cycle of learning which is constantly moving between action,
knowledge, experience, cognition and decision-making. It is a process
involving professional adults, and thus relies on the trainee teacher’s
orientation to learning but also the mentor’s greater knowledge and
experience to facilitate the process, which may involve challenging the
trainee’s preconceptions of teaching and what it is to be a teacher; it is
work-based learning, unstructured and not limited to formal or
scheduled events or meetings but occurring throughout the schoolbased experience. The mentoring process occurs around and between
the competing pressures and priorities of the school in which it is set,
and is held within a substantial structure of ‘architectural support’.
…as a crucible
Like the mixing of molten
metals within a crucible, it can
seem to be chaotic, intense,
challenging but is ultimately a
creative and, in an alchemic
sense, a transformative
process; it is not a specific
mechanism, but rather the
intangible, transient,
unsystematic, non-linear and
unstructured space between
words and actions where a
new teacher’s professional
identity is forged.
Methodology
• Part of a wider research project
• Mentor Interviews
– 11 phone interviews with Teach First mentors
• London and Yorkshire & the Humber
• Mostly ‘professional mentors’ – e.g. AHT, DH
– Sampling: various methodological implications
• Information-oriented selection
• Paradigmatic cases
• Motivations for accepting invitations
Summary of findings (1)
• Mentors did perceive certain elements of the
Teach First programme as distinctive:
– Academic profile & qualities of the trainees
– Low retention: large investment by the school for
2 years in the classroom
– Summer Institute: ambivalent about its outcomes
– TF placed higher expectations and pressures on
trainees
– Support provided by HEI tutors was important and
based in personal relationships
Summary of findings (2)
• However:
– Mentors perceived the TF ‘mission’ as incidental
– The centrality of the school: its approaches, philosophy and
circumstances dictated the nature of mentoring
– Teach First is one of many routes the school is working with in
ITT
– No ‘Teach First model’ of mentoring Teach First trainees
– School as corrective to the excesses and deficiencies of the
Summer Institute
– Mentors excluded from some elements of the TF programme
(Summer Institute, recruitment and placement)
– A diversity of actions, approaches and conceptual constructions
of mentoring seen in the schools.
Illustrative quotes (1)
• ‘We could not have recruited people from Oxford and
Cambridge with firsts and two-ones in their subject
areas… we didn’t have that kind of profile.’ (Isabelle)
• ‘They go through a rigorous screening process, they’re
not just looking for somebody with good qualifications,
but in terms of their philosophy about education…
They’re excellent learners. They react very positively
to constructive feedback.’ (Edward)
• ‘We feel we’re very lucky with our five participants but
already we’re wondering how many of them will
actually stay in teaching, we reckon that only two will
stay, which is a shame because… it is a lot of time and
it is a lot of resources and a lot of effort.’ (Charlotte)
Illustrative quotes (2)
• ‘The one thing I don’t like is the wind-up they do on the Summer
School, in terms of the impact they’re going to make. Well, that’s
not going to happen in the first six months. Sometimes that’s quite
a shock for them. Apparently it’s a bit “rah-rah”, the Summer
School.’ (John)
• ‘I came across people this year who didn’t have a clue how to write
a lesson plan, and I just thought, you’ve just spent six weeks
together in the summer, what on earth did you do?’ (Helen)
• ‘I’ve realised what it is they have to do, the expectations of the
lesson planning, the essays they’ve got to produce, the
commitment they’ve got to show to teaching… The expectations
made upon them are so high that… it’s difficult if they’re having a
bad period… I do find myself saying to people that they can’t have a
life or any kind of baggage because life can’t get in the way.’ (Helen)
Illustrative quotes (3)
• ‘We contribute to it [the Teach First mission] in regards of, you know,
working in a school where I’m here for the kids, I’m here for them to do
better, to aspire and have ambitions. I do that regardless of Teach First.’
(Georgia)
• ‘And after school we run… what we call DIAL, it’s “Drop In And Learn”, and
all my NQTs, GTPs and Teach Firsters, beginning teachers, whatever I’ve
got, and more experienced staff who wish to join, so to session which are
facilitated by my AST.’ (Isabelle)
• ‘They come in very driven and idealistic, so I’m a bit of a reality check. I
give them some advice that’s quite comforting for them to hear, because
they’re quite naive in many ways.’ (Brian)
• ‘The school is much more practical and much more, you know, the
realities of that theory. We kind of shape that, but… we make them
bespoke. It’s got to be very bespoke to that school because there will be
particular aspects of that school that’s going to impact on their teaching
and learning.’ (Brian)
• ‘It’s quite an unusual situation, where someone’s coming into your school,
they’re a trainee teacher but they’re going to take on 80% of a timetable
and stay with you for two years, and it’s someone you’ve never met.’
(Helen)
Conclusions (1)
• The conceptual
framework:
– Different approaches to
mentoring; different
views of Teach First.
– Different identity
construction as teachermentor; different
mentoring process
– Different trainee teacher
identity construction?
Conclusions (2)
With the school and the mentoring process taking such
an important role in the shaping of the Teach First
trainee’s professional identity, there is a likelihood that
the distinctiveness of the Teach First programme –
particularly the Summer School, the messages it delivers
about the Teach First mission, the expectations for
change placed on trainees and the emphasis on
leadership skills as well as teaching practice – is diluted or
attenuated as the mentors work with different models of
teacher education, or even subverted if the mentors are
not personally or professionally aligned with the
programme.
Implications
• For how Teach First engages with schools and
mentors
• For how Teach First is, will be or should be
funded and managed
• For how Teach First mentors and trainees can
use these findings to reflect on their own
practice and professional development
Many thanks
David Cameron
Institute of Physics
[email protected]
@David_Cameron76
@TakeOnPhysics
www.stimulatingphysics.org