1. Being a teacher educator in HE in FE contexts Pete BoydUniversity of Cumbria Simon AllanUniversity of Cumbria Paolo RealeCarlisle College Becoming a teacher educator: http://escalate.ac.uk/3662

2. Teacher educators in FE colleges Teacher educators may have maintained sufficient agency to mediate centralised policy on curriculum (Lawy & Tedder, 2009; Maxwell, 2009)‏ The place of teacher educators within their institution is a contested area (Crosland, 2009) ‏

3. Approaches to teaching HE in FE lecturers’ espoused views of teaching are dominated by student-focused approaches (Burkhill, Rodway-Dyer & Stone, 2008)‏ Partnership with a university department might be expected to be dominated by QA issues (Trim, 2001)‏

4. Teaching higher education in FE college workplace contexts In FE College contexts however… ‘…the culture of the now’ (Scaife, 2004)‏ ‘…the culture of the now’ (Scaife, 2004)‏ may mean that scholarship… ‘…dare not speak its name’ (Young, 2002)‏ ‘…dare not speak its name’ (Young, 2002)‏ Teaching and learning in higher education is underpinned by scholarship and engagement with research:

5. Methodology - Workshops working with teacher educators based in FE Colleges. - Survey piloted and distributed to college contacts in FE college TE teams in the north of England. - Interviews with teacher educators focusing on espoused pedagogy; views of practice, scholarship and identity.

6. Expansive workplace learning environments Collaborative and mutually supportive working. An explicit focus on learning at work with opportunities beyond departmental priorities. External opportunities,time to think differently and support to integrate off the job learning into practice. Able to participate in more than one working group and opportunities for boundary crossing. Support for local variation in ways of working. (Adapted from Hodkinson & Hodkinson, 2005)‏

7. Modelling in teacher education - Using teaching strategies that student teachers may reconstruct and use. - Explicitly reflecting on those strategies and their impact on learning. - Relating those strategies to learning theory. (Swennen, Lunenberg, & Korthagen, 2008)‏

8. Findings Student focus is a key value. Modelling is mainly showing 'good practice'. Review body (Ofsted) is a powerful driver. Partner university department mediates review body (Ofsted) influence and supports scholarship. Institutional management appears to reinforce review body (Ofsted) influences. Tension in recruiting students to courses that will challenge them and in training student teachers to be critically aware of that tension.

9. Implications Need to build closer relationships between institutional management and teacher education teams. Need for teacher educators to fully engage with their partner university department. Need to resolve contradictions between student needs and finanacial model. The accountability agenda within their workplace context appears to constrain and distort the pedagogy and identity of teacher educators.