The Role of Research in Teacher Education:Reviewing the Evidence

UCET CPD Committee, 18 February 2014Interim Report

of the BERA-RSA Inquiry

Improving the quality of teachers – a universal quest that puts teacher education centre stage.

The BERA-RSA Inquiry – our question

• What should the contribution of research be:

• To Initial Teacher Education• To CPD• To school improvement?

Research MIGHT contribute:

• To content with programmes drawing on research informed knowledge;• By informing the design and structure of teacher education

programmes;• Teachers might be equipped to engage with and be discerning

consumers of research;• Teachers might be equipped to conduct their own research.

Our aims• Shape debate – by collecting and reviewing evidence about the role

which research-informed teacher education plays in promoting school improvement;• Inform policy – within Government and the education sector by

making recommendations to develop the relationship between research and teacher education; • Influence practice – developing practical approaches to connect

researchers, teacher educators, teachers and others.

Our principal questions• Mapping provision: What is the position across the UK and

internationally?

• Philosophical reflections: What a priori arguments can be made about the contribution of research to professional learning?

• Review of the evidence: What is the empirical evidence for its impact on teacher and student learning and school improvements?

• What are the implications for policy and practice?

The 7 commissioned papers:The contribution of research to teacher education - 1. In different parts of the UK2. In different high performing educational systems internationally3. Philosophical reflections 4. In integrated ITE programmes based on ‘research-informed clinical

practice’5. In Continuing Professional Development6. In building collective capacity for improvement at a school and system

level7. Teachers’ perspectives

Other sources of evidence• Submissions – 32 responses – from higher education institutions,

professional associations, training providers, policy analysts and teachers;• Reference Group - 19 leading organisations involved in education,

including experts in teacher education policy and practice from each of the four nations;• Special advisers - Graham Donaldson, Carmel Gallagher, Sir Alasdair

Macdonald, Lord David Puttnam and Sir Alan Steer; • Feedback from public events – including BERA and UCET conferences

2013.

This Interim ReportWe combine summaries of the 6 completed papers with evidence from our consultationThe robustness of evidence is variable:However, there is:• Substantial evidence that research has a major contribution to

effective teacher education – in many ways• Also evidence that it improves the quality of students’ learning in

schools

Inquiry Paper 1Policy and practice within

the UK

Professor Gary Beauchamp, (University of Cardiff), Professor Linda Clarke (University of Ulster), Dr Moira Hulme (University of Glasgow) and

Professor Jean Murray (University of East London)

Policy and practice within the UKIncreasing diversity across the UK in terms of:

• Routes into teaching• Standards and competences• The role of higher education

Scotland and Northern Ireland- strong role for researchWales – an ambiguous role for researchEngland – nature of teaching is contested and (perhaps) diminishing role for research

Inquiry Paper 2The role of research in international

policy and practice in teacher education

Dr Maria Teresa Tatto, University of Michigan

The role of research in international policy and practice in teacher educationA comparison of research in teacher education in 4 countries

McKinsey 2010• Chile - fair• USA - good • Singapore - great • Finland - excellent

Can’t make causal connection but: • Chile and the US - fragmented

and market oriented systems with no coherent policy• Singapore and Finland – highly

coherent systems –research is embedded throughout the TE system– strong emphasis on research based knowledge informing practice

Inquiry Paper3The contribution of research to teachers’

professional learning- philosophical understandings

Professor Christopher Winch (King’s College, London), Dr Janet Orchard (University of Bristol) and

Dr Alis Oancea (University of Oxford).

The contribution of research to teachers’ professional learning- philosophical understandingsThree different conceptions of the teaching – based on different conceptions of professional knowledge – practical, technical, theoretical – each is partial.

• Teacher as ‘craftsperson’ – tacit knowledge • Teacher as ‘executive technician’ – what works• Teacher as ‘professional’ – critical reflection

Research can enhance both technical and practical knowledge

Inquiry Paper 4Review of ‘Research

Informed Clinical Practice’ in initial teacher education

Dr Katherine Burn and Trevor Mutton, University of Oxford

Review of ‘Research Informed Clinical Practice’ in initial teacher education• Schemes, based on the medical

model of ‘clinical practice’• Integrating practical engagement

in schools with research-based knowledge in carefully planned and sequenced ways.

• They examine:• Oxford Internship scheme - • US Professional Development

Schools and Teachers for a New Era (TNE), • Glasgow and Aberdeen,

Melbourne• System-wide approaches • Netherlands and Finland

‘Research Informed Clinical Practice’• ‘Clinical practice allows them to

engage in a process of enquiry: seeking to interpret and make sense of the specific needs of particular students, to formulate and implement particular pedagogical actions and to evaluate the outcomes’. • Student teachers are encouraged to

develop and extend their own decision-making capacities or professional judgement.

The evidence?• Clinical preparation helps to

determine teacher effectiveness and clinical experience has a positive effect on beginning teachers’ learning and confidence.• Crucially, however, it is the

quality of the clinical experience that matters.

Inquiry Paper 5The contribution of research

to teachers’ professional learning and developmentPhilippa Cordingley, Centre for the Use of Research and

Evidence in Education (CUREE)

Inquiry Paper 6Teacher quality and school improvement: what is the

role of research?

Dr Monica Mincu, University of Turin

Teacher quality and school improvement: what is the role of research?• Teachers matter and schools make the most difference for students

from deprived backgrounds; • Practitioner engagement in and with research contributes to school

improvement: • through the sharing of information about effective practice; • by involving practitioners in the testing of new ideas and • in the design, delivery and monitoring of interventions.

Teacher quality and school improvement: what is the role of research?But:• initiatives to use research and evidence are fragmented in the UK

cf Finland and Canada;• there are many barriers to engagement with research – especially

time and demands of accountability.

Perhaps one of the key tasks for policy-makers in the UK is to reappraise the balance between capacity building activity and accountability mechanisms, to ensure that the foundations are in place for a research-rich system at all levels.

Conclusions – so far • That teachers and teacher educators need to

engage with research and keep up to date;• That teachers and teacher educators need to be

equipped to engage in enquiry-oriented practice;• That requires clinical preparation, through

carefully designed programmes of initial teacher education;

• This then needs to be sustained throughout teachers’ professional careers, so that disciplined innovation and collaborative enquiry are embedded within the professional culture and become the established way of teaching and learning in every school.

There is good evidence

Is that what we have at the moment?

• Across the UK there are pockets of excellent practice• No coherent system from beginning ITE, to Induction to CPD• While the use of data has increased over the last twenty years, there

now needs to be a greater emphasis on creating ‘research-rich’ and ‘evidence-rich’ (rather than simply ‘data-rich’) schools and classrooms. • How do we develop national strategies to ensure that happens?

Next steps