1. Professional development of teacher educators
De State of the Art in het onderzoek door en naar lerarenopleiders
en verder
Professional development of teacher educators
Three steps forwards and two steps backwards
Annual conference, Birmingham, 3-4 November 2015
Anja Swennen, VU University Amsterdam 1

2. Why focus on teacher educators?
They are responsible for the education of (future) teachers and therefor for the education of all pupils and students
They are the “linchpins” of educational reform (Cochran-Smith, 2003).
They also contribute to the continuing professional development of Europe’s six million serving teachers.
Teacher Educators Matter

3. A general definition
Teacher educators are those who contribute formally to the development of teachers in pre-service and in-service education 3

4. Variety in TEors Institution based, academic TEors
Traditional universities, academic, focus on teaching and research
Institution based, professional TEors
Higher and further education, experience as a teacher, focus on educating teachers and increasingly on research
School based professional TEors/mentors
Schools, focus on teaching their subject
Educators involved in professional development for teacher educators, in universities, FE colleges or others
Darling-Hammond & Liebermann, 2012

5. Mission UCET UCET's Vision
….to enhance the quality of the educational experience of learners in schools,
colleges and universities in the UK, to contribute to the raising of standards of
achievement of children, young people and adults, and to enable them to realise
their best potential so that they can lead satisfying lives both personally and as
members of the community. UCET seeks to pursue that aim by ensuring that the
nation’s teachers and educators are effectively prepared for their professional
responsibilities, that they acquire the skills, understandings and dispositions necessary
for effective professional performance, and that they receive programmes and other
forms of continuing support that will enable them to respond effectively to changing
circumstances. Teachers must undergo a rigorous professional formation that is of the
highest quality. To that end UCET, acting in close collaboration with partners in schools,
colleges and other settings, promotes programmes that are quality-assured to the
highest international standards that are formally accredited at higher education level;
that are informed by research, and that involve the examination of the values which
underpin teaching as a profession. 5

6. Why is the attention for TEor still limited?
Teacher educators are not recognized as a separate professional group
The lack of attention for the quality of teacher educators in (inter)national policies (Snoek, Swennen, Van der Klink, 2009)
A lack of experts in the field of (professional development of) teacher educators

7. Four identities in the literature
Teacher – as they once were
as a general identity
Teacher in Higher Education
Teacher of teachers
Researcher
Swennen, Jones & Volman, 2010

8. The core identity of all TEors
Teachers are first order practioners
TEors are second order practioners: they should be aware of the second order context of TE and the first order context of teacher 8
Murray & Male, 2005

9. To complicate things…..
TEors in professional types TE are second order practioners in a second order context
TEors at schools are second order practioners in a first order context
TEors in FE are a bit of both?

10. Specific knowledge of TEors
Are always aware of the second order context of TE and the first order context of the (student) teacher and can move easily between those two contexts
Have knowledge of pedagogy of teacher education
Are able to model, be explicit and legitimize their own teaching and that of other novice and experienced teachers
Loughran, 2007; Field, 2012; Murray & Czerniwski, 2012

11. Specific PD of TEors Induction
Communities
Developing courses/curricula
Sharing in publications
Research
Explore possibilities to be a second order practitioner
Contribute to the development of a useful pedagogy of teacher education
Contribute to the body of knowledge
for and about TEors

12. There is an emerging knowledge base for teacher educators, but it is not easily accessible for TEors

13. 8,7 % of all 46 papers are about teacher educators
Themes 46 papers UCET 2015
Student teachers 9
ITE (reform) 8
Teachers 5
Teacher educators 4
Partnership 4
Pupils 3
Assessment 2
Coaching/mentoring 2
FE 2
Math 2
Research 2
CPD 1
Head teachers 1
Policy 1
8,7 % of all 46 papers are about teacher educators
David Powell (Huddersfield): FE Teacher Educators, modelling and their practice
Matt Walker (NFER): The importance of enhancing teachers’ research literacy: what teacher educators need to know about research in schools, and how you can help prepare your trainees
Diane Swift and Marie Bateman (Keele and North Staffordshire Primary SCITT): 'Developing the role and status of Teacher Educators (Mentors) within a primary partnership
Charmaine Brown (Greenwich): Teacher educators’ perceptions of the FE professionalisation agenda 13

14. Good teachers need good teacher educators
Motto
Good teachers need good teacher educators