Dr Nick Mead Oxford Brookes University School Direct

Dr. Nick Mead, Oxford Brookes University School Direct: training apprentice teachers or developing morally and politically engaged professionals? Seminar paper Middlesex University 15/2/17 nmead@brookes. ac. uk

Background Something of worth is at stake: The impact of standards-based teacher education on the relationship between trainee teachers’ personal moral and political values which lies both at the heart of professional identity and autonomy and critical and strategic professional knowledge ‘Commitment, judgement and authenticity within practice are sacrificed for impression & performance’ (Ball 2003)

Theoretical position 1 – Phronesis (practical wisdom) and the relationship between trainee teachers’ personal moral and political values: § Flyvbjerg’s reassertion of Aristotle’s concept of phronesis – value-based vs rule-based rationality § Development of trainee phronetic dispositions § The tension between phronetic processes and instrumental techne – disconnect between the moral and political (Carr & Kemmis 1986) § Eg the challenge of creating an inclusive classroom (Carr 2007)

Theoretical position 2 – Citizenship Education Crick’s understanding of citizenship education and the relationship between trainees’ personal moral and political values: § Crick (1962) Crick Report (1998) morality is the activity of politics itself § For trainees this is the process in which phronetic dispositions inform autonomous moral decisionmaking, leading to political action in the classroom and the flourishing of the identity of teacher as citizen

Research question, methodology & findings Research question – can standards -based ITE enable personal moral & political values to flourish? Method - a theory-testing case study method offering fuzzy generalisations and vicarious experiences (Bassey 1999; Stake 1995) Findings: inhibitors in process, pedagogy, provision Mead (2003) B. Ed/PGCE university opportunities Mead (2004) B. Ed/PGCE placement opportunities Mead (2007) GTP work-based opportunities Mead (2010) policy impact on opportunities - ECM

Outcome – the importance of context School-based teacher education and the selfrealisation of the identity of the trainee teacher as citizen: Eg – black African trainees authenticating their pedagogy through the incorporation of their cultural values into their teaching rationale (Mead 2007) Eg – a student-led Iraq war protest in school (Mead 2004, 2010) Eg – Teach First trainees’ commitment to pupils’ needs reflects the shared vision of their training context (Ofsted 2016)

Recommendations The self-realisation of the trainee as citizen requires a new interpretation of three key aspects of ITE: 1. Process – not a reductionist model of knowledge but the development of moral agency (Brown et al 2016) 2. Pedagogy – interrogative pedagogy dialogic mentoring 3. Provision – not quantity of time for atomised elements but coherence rooted in the school’s shared vision for social justice and inclusion

Conclusion: a challenge to School Direct schools The reinterpretation of process, pedagogy and provision requires training to be fully embedded in the rationale and purpose of the school : - A school in which all participants have the potential to be agents of social change - A school in which the relationship between personal moral and political values is not appropriated in order to meet instrumental standards - A school which problematizes the relationship between its vision for social justice and the investment of personal moral and political values by all participants in that vision

References Ball, S. (2003) The teacher’s soul and the terrors of performativity, Journal of Education Policy, 18 (2), 215 -228 Bassey, M. (1999) Case study research in educational settings, (London: Sage) Brown, T. Rowley, H & Smith, K. (2016) (eds) The beginnings of school-led teacher training: new challenges for university teacher education, school Direct research project final report, Manchester Metropolitan Univ. www. esri. mmu. ac. uk/resgroups Carr, D. (2007) Character in teaching, British Journal of Educational Studies, 55 (4) 369 -389

References Carr, W. & Kemmis, S. (1986) Becoming critical: education, knowledge & Action research, London: Falmer Press Crick, B. (1962) In defence of politics (London: Sage) Flyvbjerg, B. (2001) Making social science matter: why social inquiry fails and how it can succeed again (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) Mead, N. (2003) Will the introduction of professional values put the heart back into primary teacher education? Pastoral Care in Education, 21 (1), 37 -42 Mead, N. (2004 a) The provision for Personal, Social, Health Education (PSHE) and Citizenship Education in school-based elements of primary teacher education, Pastoral Care in Education, 22 (2), 19 -26

References Mead, N. (2004 b) The management and impact of a Student-led Iraq war protest in a fresh start school, Pastoral Care in Education, 22 (4), 6 -12 Mead, N. (2006) The experience of black African religious education trainee teachers training in England, British Journal of Religious Education, 28 (2), 173 -184 Mead, N. (2007) How effectively does the graduate teacher programme contribute to the development of trainee teachers’ professional values, Journal of Education for Teaching, 33 (3), 309 -322 Mead, N. (2010) Conflicting conceptions of participation in secondary school citizenship, Pastoral Care in Education, 28 (1), 45 -57

References Mead, N. (2011) The impact of Every Child Matters on trainee secondary teachers’ understanding of professional knowledge, Pastoral Care in Education, 29 (1), 7 -24 Ofsted (2016) Ofsted reports on all Teach First regions, www. teachfirst. org. uk/news/our-trainingrated-outstanding-ofsted QCA (1998) Education for citizenship and the teaching of democracy in schools (Crick Report), London: QCA Stake, R. (1995) The art of case study research, Thousand Oaks: Sage