The Universities and Education Where are we? How did we get to be where we are? Where might we/ should we be?

ESRC Demographic Review of the Social Sciences Education is the second largest discipline under consideration and perhaps one of the most complex. Structural, historical and institutional factors affect all disciplines in different ways but in Education their impact has been quite profound

ESRC Demographic Review of the Social Sciences Education is the second largest discipline under consideration and perhaps one of the most complex. Structural, historical and institutional factors affect all disciplines in different ways but in Education their impact has been quite profound

To begin… Whats a university anyway? The idea of a university The contested nature of knowledge The universities and Education – a fragile relationship

Individuals and institutions Where are we now?

PeoplePeople A story of second careers People People People People People People People People People People People

Education – one of the largest social sciences

Demography of UDEs Demography

Age Permanent academic staff by subject and proportion aged 50 or over YearTotal% over % % % Education is the subject area with the largest proportion of staff aged 50 and over (50 per cent) ESRC 2006

Gender Permanent academic staff by subject and sex YearTotal%Female % % % Education has one of the highest proportions of female academics

Salary 2003/4 Median salary£35,370 % greater than £50,0004% Education [with the exception of creative arts] has the lowest proportion of staff on high salaries

Nationality/ethnicity 2003/4 Non-UK nationals 4% Education has the lowest proportion – nearly every other subject is in the mid teens Non white 4% Education has the lowest proportion of non- white academics

Where do educational researchers come from? Where do educationalists come from?

Shorter academic careers Many academic staff are on their second career making the switch from the teaching profession mid career ESRC (2006)

%age of academic and research staff with PhDs Source HESA 2005/6

Importers and exporters

Institutions: worlds of difference

100 university education departments in England The pre 1992 Sector The research elite The research insecure The post 1992 Sector Ex-polytechnics Ex-teachers colleges –New entrepreneurs –Teaching only universities Different institutional trajectories Different lived realities for staff and students

Teaching Where are we now?

What do we teach? The pressure of instrumentalism? Core teaching BEd PGCE CPD Additional teaching Ed Psych, TEFL, MSc, EdDs, PhDs TDA insist on a market of multiple providers TDA defines Course structure Course content – standards and competences Course inspection – Ofsted Course/institution league tables HE has no essential contribution cf Europe

Teaching - the balance sheet in our main market – teacher education Strengths Ofsted Students Recruitment Weaknesses: The pressure of instrumentalilsm On theory On research On topics – an over emphasis on schools and classrooms On staffing –Who is recruited –Staff development

Research Where are we now?

ESRC Demographic Review There is much to be done to increase research capacity in such a large discipline, and no quick-fix solutions. Education, more so than all other disciplines, is vulnerable to changes in policy legislations, affecting schools and Higher Education alike. ( p45)

Funding

Total funding: £70-75 million Three times more likely to be funded by government than by research councils Less likely to receive funds from industry and EU Very good chance of receiving charities funding

Where does the money go? A highly differentiated system While there are at least 100 separate institutions conducting educational research, 80 per cent of the funding from government, charities and Research Councils goes to 22 institutions (OECD) A mid range of institutions (graded 4 or below in 2001)… with a substantial community of research active staff… are finding it virtually impossible to attract significant funding for research (ESRC)

Where does the money go? A highly differentiated system While there are at least 100 separate institutions conducting educational research, 80 per cent of the funding from government, charities and Research Councils goes to 22 institutions (OECD) A mid range of institutions (graded 4 or below in 2001)… with a substantial community of research active staff… are finding it virtually impossible to attract significant funding for research (ESRC)

Where does the money go? A highly differentiated system While there are at least 100 separate institutions conducting educational research, 80 per cent of the funding from government, charities and Research Councils goes to 22 institutions (OECD) A mid range of institutions (graded 4 or below in 2001)… with a substantial community of research active staff… are finding it virtually impossible to attract significant funding for research (ESRC)

ESRC Awards 1.London IOE 2.Bristol 3.Oxford 4.Exeter 5.Edinburgh 6.London KCL 7.Sussex 8.Bath 9.Cardiff 10.Lancaster Awards graded by income

What is good educational research? Differentiated in relation to: Methodology – from RCTs to action research Theory – from atheoretical positivism to post modernism Purposes –policy –applied and practice based work –blue skies Vulnerable to: critique fashion and government intervention Education: a field not a discipline

Research – the balance sheet Strengths Examples of –excellent academic work –excellent policy work Established institutions with profile as good as many social sciences TLRP – largest ESRC programme ever 11/17 th success rate in ESRC funding Good profile internationally from ISI data 1400 academics in grade 4 or above departments Weaknesses Success in relation to size The recruitment base Training opportunities Quality of some work Limited methodologies Major emphasis on schools and classrooms Questions not asked Growing separation from other disciplines

Who is missing? Think tanks

Who is missing? Consultancy companies

Why are we where we are?

Higher education and global marketisation As higher education and science became increasingly important instruments of national economic policy… the relationships between higher education and the state were redefined. Higher education institutions and their members were subject to unprecedented government steerage and scrutiny but also had to locate themselves and compete in various forms of market ( Henkel 2005)

The neo-liberal university Coming together of human capital theory + economic rationalism Driving these changes is a redefined internal economy in which under-funding drives a pseudo-market in fee incomes, soft budget allocations for special purposes and contested earnings for new enrolments and research grants

Neo-liberal research policy 1. Massification of Higher Education –insufficient funding –government not convinced that research is essential for Higher Education teaching –RAE – 20 years of progressive differentiation –2006 – the first teaching only universities appear 2. Harnessing research for global competitiveness –The new social contract for research –More money –Government defined issues and methodologies –Increased accountability 3. Mode 2 knowledge production –research carried out in the context of application should become the norm

Higher education funding paradox The paradox of this new openness to outside funding and competition is a process of isomorphic closure through which universities with diverse histories choose from an increasingly restricted menu of commercial options and strategies (Marginson, 2007)

Alternative markets provide positional advantage Non ITT undergraduate teaching The international post- graduate market But TDA remains the dominant market Universities become vulnerable to a highly assertive government

Teaching and the new professionalism Schools too are now part of the national drive for international competitiveness And competitive institutions in a quasi-market Schooling is now too important to be left to individual teachers or educationalists The collapse of confidence in individual professionalism – from the Conservatives to new Labour Michael Apple The move towards a small strong state that is increasingly guided by market needs seems inevitably to bring with it reduced professional power and status

Marilyn Cochran Smith The ends question – debates about the purposes of teaching and learning in school is closed In contrast, at the heart of teacher education from a more critical perspective is continuous problematizing of the ends question: Many people, myself included, have argued for years that good teacher education focuses on an expansive rather than narrow notion of practice.

Where Education should/might be? Re-tooling Education

Re-tooling Professional Education Rebuilding from below Learning for an uncertain world –Technology –Knowledge –Society – mobility, values, conflict More than ever before, we need to educate young people to think critically about knowledge and about values, to recognise differences in interpretation, to develop the skills needed to form their own judgments in a rapidly changing world

The implications for professional education If those who teach are to be critical educators then part of their own professional education must be based on the same approach to teaching and learning. We also need high quality practical training relevant to institutional and national need. The University is a key contributor but not as before. Complementary partnerships with schools as institutions are essential. This will be highly challenging to schools and to universities.

Implications for universities We must maintain our commitment to the contestability of knowledge in all our teaching. That means: Every lecturer must be a participant in a scholarly culture – able to contribute to the conversations at the forefront of their discipline. Personal research as ONE key strategy for maintaining a scholarly culture.

Re-tooling for new forms of knowledge production Knowledge transfer as an essential part of university life Growing numbers of institutions, including educational institutions, that can and do manage without us The development of new Web 2.00 and social media is pushing this process forward at a dramatic rate What universities have to offer Education as a field has not responded well – apart from action research

A not-for-profit organisation, we work in partnership with others to:work in partnership incubate new ideas, taking them from the lab to the classroomincubate new ideas share hard evidence and practical advice to support the design and use of innovative learning toolsshare hard evidence and practical advice communicate the latest thinking and practice in educational ICTcommunicate the latest thinking and practiceICT provide the space for experimentation and the exchange of ideas between the creative, technology and education sectors.space for experimentation exchange of ideas Partners Futurelab is a consortium comprising some of the top players in the software, hardware and creative industries. Our partnerships are diverse: we work with individuals and large corporations, practising teachers and Government bodies, academics and venture capitalists. Policy - details about our key strategic partnershipsPolicy Industry - a list of all our industry members and project partnersIndustry Education research - our academic project partnersEducation research Education practice - a list of all the schools involved with our R&D workEducation practice

Re-tooling for research We need: HODs insisting that: All programmes demonstrate a commitment to the contestability of knowledge Research is essential for higher education teaching As a community to get better at doing research – across the full range of methods now demanded Well resourced, privileged institutions: To take responsibility for the future of the foundation disciplines In return, those in the disciplines to maintain their commitment to the field of education To broaden our research agenda Getting better at collaborations

Broadening our research agenda Social change Religion The economy Poverty Global warming Social equality

Finally We must not lose sight of what we are and what we are not... Two things follow: 1. For good interdisciplinary work to take place … 2.Our job … teaching, research and scholarship that puts the contestability of knowledge at its heart. This is our truth and we need to remain true to it in all that we do.

Putting the U back in UCET