Peer Learning Cluster ‘Teachers and Trainers’ Peer Learning Activity Reykjavik 21 – 24 June 2010 THE PROFESSION OF THE TEACHER EDUCATOR The theme of the session Systemic issues: on coherence, leadership, responsibility and ownership Fragmentation versus unity within in teacher education and relations with stakeholders Jón Torfi Jónasson School of Education, University of Iceland

Some personal concerns The channels for research on education to the field of education are very narrow The discussion on educational issues is confined to special groups and disseminates much too slowly Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

A personal statement – a point of departure On the whole we are best served by building up a body of skilled professional teachers but also other professionals who work as strong teams in harmonised but diverse institutional settings (normally schools). The paper is on several issues related to this, but this presentation is preoccupied with the problem of fragmentation. Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

The question about the education of teachers How are these professionals educated, by whom and in what context? And who are they who care? Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

Issues Fragmentation versus unity Fragmentation versus coherence Depth versus coverage But where do we see the fragmentation? Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

Categories at issue with reference to fragmentation Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

Categories at issue with reference to fragmentation Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

Categories at issue with reference to fragmentation Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

Categories at issue with reference to fragmentation Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

Categories at issue with reference to fragmentation Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June A unifying agent is a sensible option?!

This unifying agent has two main roles To ensure that everything is tied together, forms a holistic frame, produces a reasonably harmonised professional who has a strong professional identity. To ensure that all the relevant bits are there; to make sure that crucial parts of the formation of a professional are not missing. Let us return to the question of fragmentation from these two perspectives. Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

With these perspectives in mind we return to the questions of what is the corpus of attitudes, knowledge and skills that is relevant for teachers? what is the corpus of attitudes, knowledge and skills that is relevant for teacher educators? Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

The common prototypical frame of reference for the curriculum of teachers (and thus the corpus is easy to define) Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

A suggested different framework for talking about teacher education Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

Some questions Who decides what should have prominence? Who takes responsibility for including all the relevant bits and pieces? Three examples, of areas which are unfortunately normally only paid lip-service in the current discussion: Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

Example 1 The new skills issue (new competencies) – Disregarded by the subject groups (and perhaps everybody) – Relate to new subjects, new disciplines – A changing environment – Replacing traditional skills with new skills, and perhaps traditional subjects with new subjects, a tall order – A long list, e.g. problem solving, critical thinking, learning to learn, creative performance, being entrepreneurial, – And perhaps new subjects such as multiculturalism, literacy, citizenship, democracy, the arts, personal development and self- sustainability... Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

Example 2 Professionalism – How do you educate and train a professional? – Ideas such as those related to CHAT Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

Example 3 The question of lifelong learning, of professional development, of institutional development Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

The time problem Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

The two faces of LLL – a very bad case of fragmentation Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

What about these examples? Very clear demonstrations of the destructive effects of fragmentation for the task of strengthening education; it will also keep the professions of teachers and teacher educators weak Which are reinforced by a tug of war between interest groups and also by status problems The worst example is the relative low status and scant attention given to LLL and CPD in many educational systems Present a strong case for a powerful unifying agency Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

We could continue with The relationship between academia and the field; e.g. school based development; often operated on the basis of serious misconceptions; should be rethought from scratch. The institutions, and the individual teacher educators and also the schools, and the individual teachers; the difference between individual and institutional responsibility. The school as an institution; how it acts and develops and changes; the parallel between continuous professional development (CPD) and continuous school development (CSD). Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

Forums for debate – policies The problem with the level of debate on educational issues, such as those mentioned in the previous figure; within the ministries, the universities and the schools of education, and... Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

Forums for debate – policies – The policies should specify the division of labour and responsibilities between agencies (ministry, etc. ) – The policies should aim for unification of tasks (which does certainly not imply that these are only performed by one party); this is to me an overriding concern – The policies should demand both breadth and depth but beware of how both breadth and depth are defined Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

Forums for debate – The should be a frame of reference for ingredients in a teacher education programme and consequently the competencies of teacher educators could be deduced. – The main common criterion for all teacher educators is a profound understanding of what education is about and a good grasp of the intense curricular debates of the past hundred years. Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June

Thank you Kærar þakkir Jón Torfi Jónasson - The profession of the teacher educators June