A partnership approach to widening access to initial teacher education

TY - CONF

T1 - A partnership approach to widening access to initial teacher education

AU - Bain, Yvonne

AU - Weir, Douglas

AU - Bell, Iain

AU - Ross, Holly

N1 - Abstract

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - This paper focuses on the on-going development of a partnership approach between the University of Aberdeen and local authorities, to create a part-time distance learning teacher education programme (DLITE) which widens access to teaching and creates ‘home grown’ teachers within the local authorities. Responding to the recommendations of the Donaldson (2010) review of teacher education in Scotland, the Scottish Government (2012:12) identified actions in relation to widening access to initial teacher education through the use of part-time provision. Additionally, the implementation strategy of the National Partnership Group (NPG) set up by the Scottish Government to bring together the stakeholders for all phases of teacher development, tasked universities and local authorities to have formal partnership arrangements, including “agreements on resource allocation and staffing, with the opportunity to discuss local needs and adapt delivery accordingly” (NPG, 2012: 9). The DLITE initiative responds to both these issues and seeks to meet the serious staffing difficulties in some parts of Scotland. The programme development depends on a flexible approach requiring discussion and agreement of resource, course processes, and support amongst the partners. However, the developments highlight that successful implementation requires more than focussing on resource allocation and sharing of responsibilities as suggested by the Scottish Government and the National Partnership Group. A number of particular issues are identified, including: clarifying to stakeholders that a new form of involvement is required; widening professional learning beyond that of the ITE students and placement schools in order to achieve a better transition from student to teacher; creating authentic approaches to co-construction of the learning experiences emphasising the equality of university and local authority staff ; and highlighting the value of ‘third spaces’ (Martin, 2011; Zeichner, 2010) for professional learning and development.

AB - This paper focuses on the on-going development of a partnership approach between the University of Aberdeen and local authorities, to create a part-time distance learning teacher education programme (DLITE) which widens access to teaching and creates ‘home grown’ teachers within the local authorities. Responding to the recommendations of the Donaldson (2010) review of teacher education in Scotland, the Scottish Government (2012:12) identified actions in relation to widening access to initial teacher education through the use of part-time provision. Additionally, the implementation strategy of the National Partnership Group (NPG) set up by the Scottish Government to bring together the stakeholders for all phases of teacher development, tasked universities and local authorities to have formal partnership arrangements, including “agreements on resource allocation and staffing, with the opportunity to discuss local needs and adapt delivery accordingly” (NPG, 2012: 9). The DLITE initiative responds to both these issues and seeks to meet the serious staffing difficulties in some parts of Scotland. The programme development depends on a flexible approach requiring discussion and agreement of resource, course processes, and support amongst the partners. However, the developments highlight that successful implementation requires more than focussing on resource allocation and sharing of responsibilities as suggested by the Scottish Government and the National Partnership Group. A number of particular issues are identified, including: clarifying to stakeholders that a new form of involvement is required; widening professional learning beyond that of the ITE students and placement schools in order to achieve a better transition from student to teacher; creating authentic approaches to co-construction of the learning experiences emphasising the equality of university and local authority staff ; and highlighting the value of ‘third spaces’ (Martin, 2011; Zeichner, 2010) for professional learning and development.

KW - teacher education

KW - distance learning

KW - widening access to teaching

KW - partnership

M3 - Paper

SP - 63

T2 - Teacher Education Policy in Europe (TEPE) 2015 conference

Y2 - 14 May 2015 through 16 May 2015

ER -