Transcript Slide 1
“The Lewisham Edge Project:
An apprenticeship
model for in-service vocational
teacher training”
Lewisham College
Edge Foundation
London South Bank University
Vocational learning
Edge funded research review...
• Practical and vocational learning continued to
be seen as second best
• Routes into higher education from vocational
learning remained poor
• Vocational learning processes were underresearched
• We knew relatively little about what works in
vocational education
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Vocational teaching, learning and
assessment
• Supply of practical skills teachers was hugely
inadequate
• Inspection grades for vocational teaching were lower
than for academic classes
• Existing methods of teacher training did not appear to
properly fit the needs of vocational teachers
• The current routes to the qualifications appeared to be
a barrier to new recruitment.
• Many in-service trainees struggled with the course
assessment
• There were few accredited CPD opportunities designed
for vocational teachers.
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Lewisham stakeholders
Employers wanted new teachers to be
Inspection ready
Skilled in subject specific pedagogy and delivery
Flexible – able to teach across a range of learners
Responsive to CPD requirements
Trainee teachers wanted their training to
Focus on teaching skills
Be personalised or customised to their needs
Focus on work based subject specialism
Be practical
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LSBU/Lewisham Programme
• In-service teacher training is work based learning
• Assessment is compelling if it is based on authentic work
based practice and experience
• Employers are responsible for teacher training as CPD
• Subject specialist mentors are the key localised teacher
trainers
• The ITT programme supports teacher training that is
personalised, carefully planned and linked to the
professional work context
• The ITT programme provides a centre for the crossfertilisation of ideas and development of study skills theorisation-through-reflection and practical innovation
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LSBU/Lewisham Programme
• Professional development plan– customisation and
planning with mentor contribution
• Micro-teaching labs and e-learning embedded
• Subject specialist mentors – managed by employer,
involved in assessment
• Practical assignments based on actual - work based
delivery
• Graded assessment of teaching and assignments
• “Practice Bank” - dynamic portfolio of evidence,
certificate includes transcript
• Mentor training and coordination
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The challenges
• Teaching of “theory” in vocational workshops,
salons and kitchens
• Developing and quality managing the input from
mentors - “every good teacher a teacher trainer”
• Development of varied and flexible assessment
opportunities which reflected the work based
experience of trainees
• Development of the pedagogy – through the
apprenticeships model
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Vocational pedagogy
• Work based learning, apprenticeships and
communities of practice – developing
expansive workplace opportunities
• Importance of action research from the start,
using humanities base
• Vocational subject specialism and vocational
awareness
• Teaching in the workshops... In the context
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Assessment
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Work based learning – work based assessment
Wide range of assessment
Professional discussion
Captured evidence for reflection and in depth
reflection
• Developing writing skills in a variety of ways
• Identifying the skills they will demonstrate
when they complete
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LSBU Certificate in Subject Mentoring
(Training the trainers)
• Observation of teaching – judgement,
evidence and impact.
• Own practice – delivering an outstanding
lesson in my subject
• Supporting and coaching an apprentice
teacher
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Building and extending
• Ann Lahiff and Lorna Unwin evaluation (IoE)
• Work with LSBU
• LONCETT investigation into
– Mentoring vocational teachers - vocational pedagogy
– Support for vocational mentors
– Value in vocationalism the complexity of vocational
learning and teaching
• LLUK/SVUK; Ofsted; IQER
• Skills Commission (Jan 2010) – 4
recommendations related to vocational pedagogy
and mentoring
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Still to be done...
• Working with employers to develop and embed the
vocational pedagogy (Expansive learning
environments).
• Building the equality and quality of subject mentoring
• Communication between tutors, mentors and
employers (fora)
• Systematic embedding of Literacy and Numeracy...
• Assessment... varied and differentiated
• APEL varied and accurate...
• Mentors progress to subject linked PTLLS delivery
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Working together
• Teaching
Beauty Therapy
Catering
• Mentoring
Technical language
Vocational mentor qualification
• Employers
Vocational PRU
London borough training providers
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“…The knowledge craftsmen possess is tacit knowledge –
people know how to do something but they cannot put what
they know into words.”
“Inarticulate does not mean stupid; indeed, what we can say in
words may be more limited than what we can do with things.
Craftwork establishes a realm of skill and knowledge perhaps
beyond human verbal capacities to explain; it taxes the powers
of the most professional writer to describe precisely how to tie
a slipknot”. (Richard Sennett, 2008)
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