1. Ann MacPhail, University of Limerick, Ireland
Reframing the role of teacher education and research: Policy and / or practice
Ann MacPhail, University of Limerick, Ireland
BERA Conference (Brighton, September 2017)

2. Teacher education and research
If teaching and teacher education to be taken seriously, need to be research-based / informed / ‘public intellectuals’ (Coachran-Smith, 2005; Hargreaves, 1996)
Re-positioning of teacher education and associated programmes to be ‘research driven’ / develop a research disposition / consumers and producers of research (Barnett, 2011; Tack and Vanderlinde, 2014 )
Pressure from universities for teacher educators to focus on securing research funding and increase publication output (Furlong, 2013; Stern, 2016)
‘dual economy’ – research and teaching (Christie & Menter, 2009; Munn & Baron, 2008)

3. Purpose
To explore the extent to which, given that the recent policy context in Ireland has re-framed the role of teacher education and research, there is an identifiable relationship between teacher education and research.

4. Irish teacher education and research
Small-scale studies
Focus on ITE
Research outputs
International Review Panel (Sahlberg, Furlong & Munn, 2012)
Enhance teacher professionalism and practice by increasing the research capacity of providers of ITE.
Development of critical mass of (research) teacher educators through reduction in number of institutions to form ‘centres of excellence of education’.

5. Irish survey demographics
54 teacher educators (2/3 female)
Spread of ages (35% years old)
51 work full-time as a teacher educator
9 Masters & 45 (83%) PhD
Over 80% in permanent contracts
70% / 26% working in a university / college context
Mean length of time as a teacher educator is 14 years
See their role / identity as a teacher educator then academic / scholar
96% engage in research – conducting and sharing
Value their role as teacher- educator researcher
Less evidence of being involved in ‘professional’ research activities

6. These Irish teacher educators seem to be a highly selective sample, given that 83% of them have PhDs

7. Interview sample (n=10; 7 female & 3 male)
TE qualification
School teacher
Masters / PhD
Teacher Ed.
Subject-specific
PhD / Post-Doc.
Teacher Ed.
School teacher
Teacher Ed.
PhD
School teacher
Masters
Teacher Ed.
PhD

8. Extent to which you use research
Mean
My teaching is informed by research
5.35
I know how to use research as a teacher educator
5.28
I often read research articles in educational journals
5.11
I attend research conferences and seminars to keep up to date with educational research
5.07
I am familiar with research concerning the education of future teachers
5.06
I am inclined to use research literature to solve problems in my teaching practice
4.48

9. Extent to which you use research
“I am an active user of research, but I wouldn't be an active producer of research” (Interviewee E)

10. The extent to which you actively conduct research
Mean
I see myself as someone who is capable of conducting research
5.57
I am capable of presenting and sharing my own research results with other teacher educators
5.56
I present at conferences and seminars to share my own research results
5.24
I have experience with conducting research to improve my own teaching practice
5.08
I conduct research to improve my own practice
5.04
I conduct research in order to develop knowledge relevant to other teacher educators
4.98

11. Extent to which you actively conduct research
“ (…) if I was to become competent as a teacher educator researcher, it requires a huge amount of effort. I know the amount of dedication it takes to develop a specialism in a topic and, to be honest, I want to continue growing my own expertise and scholarship in the work I do currently. It would take me a huge effort, I'd have to sacrifice some of that perhaps to become on my own as a teacher educator.” (Interviewee B)

12. Extent to which you value your role as a teacher educator-researcher
Mean
Research is essential for the teacher education profession
5.33
Teacher educators have a responsibility towards their students to study their own practice
5.30
I understand why teacher educators are expected to conduct research
5.22
Teacher educators should regularly conduct research to improve their practice
5.20
Teacher educators should conduct research to contribute to the wider knowledge base on teacher education
Teacher educators should conduct research to investigate their own beliefs and practices about teaching, learning and education
5.11

13. Extent to which you value role as a teacher educator-researcher
“I love research. I think it's a key element of your role as a teacher educator at any level. (…) Research is really important, first of all, because I'm a teacher and it's really important that I keep abreast of current trends, developments, what are the key players saying, the type of content that I'm delivering (…) I suppose I use evidence and research hugely to inform my practice. I also obviously use research to actually assess my own practice in terms of how I as a teacher perform so research is very much built into my teaching.” (Interviewee D)

14. Extent to which you value role as a teacher educator-researcher
“I feel under pressure to do research (…) I suppose I've been at it [teacher education] a long time. I also say there's only so much I can do. We work for very long hours, and I do feel under pressure, I do (…) People say things to you like, "We need to raise our profile." That kind of thing. Like, to be told, when you've been working in an area for 18 years, where everybody knows you, where something like that you've done has been so positively received, to be told to raise your profile I find quite insulting, to be honest.”
(Interviewee J)

15. Considerations … a highly selective sample.
… value research as essential for the teaching profession (and not necessarily the teacher education profession).
… believe they should be doing research in their current role in higher education.
… capable of both doing and presenting their research with and to others.
… less engaged with or familiar with research on the preparation of future teachers (as in specifically teacher education research).

16. Starting point …
“I've given no time to my professional learning needs (…) I'm trying to actually be honest in terms of it's not something that is high on my agenda in terms of my professional needs. I always want to maintain as high a standard in terms of teaching and learning and assessment as I can so anything that I think can make me a better teacher (…) I would always say that there is room in my professional needs for anything that could contribute to making me a better teacher, equally so in terms of my research (…) To be honest, I don't think I've even the language to talk about my professional learning needs [around research]. I actually don't even have the lexicon to say, I don't. It's not a conversation I'm used to ever hearing.” (Interviewee D)