Research and Teacher Education:
the BERA-RSA Inquiry
Presentation to UCET
15 October 2013
Outline of Presentation
1. Introduction to the Inquiry
2. Conceptual framework & policy context
3. Philosophical reflections on role of research
4. Summary of Evidence: Benefits of integrated ITE
5. Benefits of enquiry-oriented professional learning
6. Impact of research-based teaching at school &
system level
7. Conclusion and Next Steps
1. About the Inquiry
1.1
Aims and Scope
(a) Shape debate – by collecting and reviewing evidence about the role
which research-informed teacher education plays in promoting school
improvement and improved teaching and learning;
(b) Inform policy – by making recommendations to develop the
relationship between research and teacher education;
(c) Influence practice – developing practical approaches to connect
researchers, teacher educators, teachers and others.
Scope of the Inquiry: Includes policy and provision for both ITE and CPD in
each of the four nations: England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland.
1.2
Steering & Reference Groups
Steering Group members:
 John Furlong
 Joe Hallgarten
 Ian Menter
 Pamela Munn
 Geoff Whitty
 Nick Johnson
Plus advisers: Graham Donaldson, Dr Carmel Gallagher
Sir Alasdair Macdonald, Lord Putnam and Sir Alan Steer
Secretariat at RSA led by Louise Bamfield
Reference Group members from the following organisations:




ACSL
AcSS
ATL
BELMAS

College of Teachers





GTCNI
GTCS
GTCW
HEA
NASUWT





NUS
SCoTENS
SCETT
SSAT
STEC




Teacher
Development
Trust
TEAG
UCET
UUK
1.3
Main areas of enquiry
A. Mapping provision: How does policy and provision for teacher education
vary across the UK and internationally, and what is the role of research in
different entry routes and programmes?
B. Philosophical reflections: What a priori arguments can be made about
the role of research-based knowledge in the development of teachers’
professional expertise?
C.
Review of the evidence: What contribution has research been shown to
make to teachers’ professional learning, both at beginning and over the
course of their careers, and what is the impact on teaching quality, school
improvement & student outcomes?
D. What are the implications for policy and practice?
Commissioned Papers
1.4
A. Mapping provision:


Review of UK policy and practice – Prof Gary Beauchamp, Prof Linda Clarke,
Dr Moira Hulme, Prof Jean Murray
Review of international policy and practice – Dr Teresa Tatto
B. Philosophical reflections:

Philosophical reflections on the contribution of research to teachers’
professional knowledge – Prof Chris Winch, Dr Alis Oancea, Dr Janet Orchard
C. Review of the evidence:

Review of ‘research-informed clinical practice’ in initial teacher education –
Dr Katharine Burn, Trevor Mutton

Review of the role of research in teacher quality and school improvement –
Dr Monica Mincu
Review of teachers’ continuing professional development and learning (CPDL)
and the continuum of professional learning – Philippa Cordingley

Inquiry Timeline
2013
Launch &
Dissemination
Evidence
& Analysis
Project
Management
Start-up
April
May
June
July
Aug
Phase 1: Evidence gathering
Sept
Oct
Nov
2: Analysis & Interim Findings
Dec
Jan
Feb
2014
Phase 3: Policy Implications & Final Report
STEERING GROUP MEETINGS
1
REFERENCE GROUP MEETINGS
COMMISSIONED PAPERS
2
Interim
Report
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
FURTHER ANALYSIS
& REVIEW
FINAL
REPORT
Review of Teacher
Engagement in Research
LAUNCH & PUBLICITY
Oxford
Seminar
6 June
Inquiry
Seminar
16 July
BERA
CONFERENCE
3-5 Sept
Stakeholder
events to
discuss key
themes
Policy
Seminar
Co-ordinate press activity
and on-going dissemination
2a. Conceptual framework:
Defining key terms
2.1
Inquiry Questions
 What is the role and contribution of research within initial
teacher education and in-service programmes of continuing
professional development and learning (CPDL)?
 What is the impact of research-based ITE & CPDL on
improving the quality of teaching and learning outcomes for
students?
 What are the barriers to creating research-rich environments
at a school and system level?
Source: Cordingley, P. (forthcoming) The contribution of research to teachers’
professional learning and development, Paper Commissioned by the BERA-RSA Inquiry.
2.2
Starting assumptions
• Intuitively, we may assume a positive (or negative) relationship
between research and teacher education.
• Rather than pre-judging or taking the relationship for granted, the
purpose of the Inquiry is to interrogate the evidence – adhering to
the spirit and methods of robust educational research.
• This means being open to the possibility that existing research is
inconclusive, or indeed finding evidence to suggest neutral or
negative effects on teaching or learning outcomes.
2.3
Defining Education(al) Research:
 Research is variously defined, according to different epistemic traditions:
 E.g. from a humanist tradition: “original investigation undertaken in order to gain
knowledge and understanding; scholarship; the invention and generation of
ideas…where these lead to new or substantially improved insights (HEFCE 1999);
 Or simply: “systematic inquiry” that is “made public and exposed to collective
criticism” (Stenhouse 1985);
 Research in education is characterised by its multi-disciplinary nature,
diverse methodologies and broad fields of interest (e.g. neurological studies of
brain functioning, psychological studies conducted in experimental situations, large-scale,
multi-method cohort studies, plus richly detailed socio-cultural studies of the complex nature
of teaching and learning etc.)
 Education(al) research may be about education or for education (Whitty
2006).
Engaging in and with research
2.4
1. Practitioners may engage with research – by ‘accessing publicly available evidence,
interpreting it and adapting it (with appropriate support) to their own contexts’.
2. Practitioners may also be involved in research, whether as active participants & codesigners, or as more passive subjects of researcher-led studies. Bell et al. (2010)
define ‘engaging in research’ as being actively involved in all steps of the process:
•
address a research question;
•
analyse and report systematically on the evidence collected;
•
use instruments (observation and interview schedules etc.) to collect evidence that enables
them to explore adverse as well as positive effects of an intervention/new teaching
strategies; and
•
analyse and report the evidence from their enquiries publicly.
3. Teachers not directly or formally involved in research may still adopt research-related
activities, by engaging in enquiry-oriented practice in research-rich schools and
classrooms.
Source: Bell et al. (2010) Report of Professional Practitioner Use of Research Review:
Practitioner Engagement in and/or with Research, Coventry: CUREE, GTCE, LISI & NTRP.
2.5
Categories of Research Engagement
Teacher-led
TISS studies
Masters-based studies
In
With
In & With
Academic studies
Most studies from
CPD Reviews
Many CPD programmes develop skills
for enquiry-oriented practice, without
necessarily requiring engagement in
research in formal sense
Researcher-led,
larger studies
Researcher-led
Adapted from: Bell et al. (2010) Report of Professional Practitioner Use of Research Review:
Practitioner Engagement in and/or with Research, Coventry: CUREE, GTCE, LISI & NTRP.
2.6
Role of Research in Teacher Education
a. Student teachers learn about research findings +/or methodologies
b. Student teachers do research as part of programme requirements
c.
Teachers
Teachers draw on research findings to inform their individual practice
d. Individual engagement in research study or thesis (e.g. Masters)
e. Individual teachers or departments use data to support improvement
f.
School
School staff/pupils take part in researcher-led study or evaluation
g. Collaborative engagement in research: school staff engage in codesigned research with specialist support
h. School leaders encourage & support entire staff to draw on relevant
research findings, update their learning, share knowledge and engage in
enquiry-oriented practice in research-rich environments
HEI
Research RI-TE Teacher
education
i.
Professional research projects about/for education.
j.
Teacher educators read research and use in own courses
k. Individuals evaluate their own practice and use to inform teaching
l.
Collaborative engagement in +/or with research to inform
design and revision of research-based TE programmes
2.7
Methodological Challenges
Wider social
context
 Formal educational policies: teacher standards, investment etc.
 Prevailing discourses: conceptions of teaching, dominant beliefs
 Institutional structures: higher education and school
organisation
A. Initial Training
Context
(a)
Recruitment
(b)
Preparation
B. Teaching and Learning
Context
C. Student
Outcomes
High quality
Teaching
Students’
Learning &
Teachers’
Learning &
Understanding
The Perspective
Challenge
The Definition
Challenge
Understanding
Student
Outcomes
- Cognitive
- Social
- Emotional
The Measurement
Challenge
2b. Policy background
and context
2.1 Policy background and context
• International comparative analysis has drawn attention to the
importance of teaching – ‘effective’ or ‘high quality’ teaching is now
widely acknowledged to be the most important school level factor in
shaping students’ learning outcomes.
• Teacher education is increasingly seen as a policy priority
because of its impact upon teacher quality.
• However, while there has been a general shift towards university-based
teacher education and longer duration of initial training courses, some
countries (notably the USA and UK) have developed alternative, school- and
employment-based routes.
2.2
UK policy context
 Increasing divergence in entry routes across four home nations.
England an outlier in shift to school-based routes and in content of revised
Teacher Standards (framed by ‘craft’ view of teaching).
 Explicit statements of teacher professionalism in rest of UK:
 “Teacher as a researcher” and “reflective practice” endorsed in GTCNI
framework;
 GTCS standards expect teachers to “systematically engage with research”;
 No explicit reference within Welsh standards, but prominent place for research
in inspection guidance for ITT providers (and some reference to trainees).
Source: Tatto, T. (forthcoming) International Policy and Practice in Teacher Education:
The Role of Research, Paper Commissioned for the BERA-RSA Inquiry, London: BERA.
2.3
Renewed focus on use of evidence
 Since 2010, England has seen the introduction of a new network of teaching
schools, with responsibility for R&D within alliances:
– emerging infrastructure offers potential for more distributed leadership and
collaborative engagement in producing and utilising ‘knowledge
– However, picture on ground is more patchy, with R&D elements slower to take
off than other aspects of the Teaching Schools’ remit.
 At the same time, there is renewed emphasis by government on promoting
evidence-based policy and practice:
– Arguably reflects a ‘Big Science’ view of what counts as evidence (e.g. RCTs)
– Although new investment in educational research is welcome, there is a risk that
practitioner engagement will be restricted to applying protocols and toolkits,
rather than deeper involvement in interpreting and adapting findings in practice.
Source: Tatto, T. (forthcoming) International Policy and Practice in Teacher Education:
The Role of Research, Paper Commissioned for the BERA-RSA Inquiry, London: BERA.
3. Philosophical Reflections
3.1
Three conceptions of teaching
• Teaching as a ‘craft’: views subject knowledge and situational
awareness as paramount; dismisses theoretical or empirical-based
knowledge as abstract or irrelevant to specific context.
• Executive technician: embraces established research findings, but
role of the teacher is to follow protocols and apply rules to practice,
not interpret or adapt to particular needs or situation.
• Teacher as professional: teachers exercise their own judgement
in the classroom and make decisions about how to interpret
theoretical and research-based knowledge and whether/how to
adopt within their own practice.
Source: Winch, C. et al (forthcoming) The contribution of research to teachers’
professional learning, Paper Commissioned for the BERA-RSA Inquiry, London: BERA.
3.2
Limitations of ‘craft’ view
Problems with assumptions about purely tacit or intuitive knowledge:
•
To be secure in a craft does not just mean developing practical skill and tacit wisdom;
it also requires “the capacity to offer a rational account of it” (Dunne 1993) – i.e. to
formulate and articulate practical theories to guide own and others’ practice.
Problems with relying on ‘common sense’:
•
What is common sense may often derive from poor quality research distilled into folk
maxims or ‘rules of thumb’.
•
As Keynes argued, in the case of business, ‘common sense’ usually consists of the
“unconscious repetition of theories that have already been discredited”. As such, it is
an inherently conservative and unreliable basis for judgement.
3.3
Objections to ‘executive technician’
• Unlike the craft view of teaching, the teacher-as-technician is largely devoid
of professional discretion and is not generally required to understand the
rationale behind the approach.
• But one cannot give up the responsibility of thinking clearly about what
research might or might not be telling us.
• Teachers need to be equipped to interrogate their own practice to
understand why it is or isn’t working, or to learn from new ideas and adapt
them to particular situations and contexts.
3.4
Role of critical reflection
• Teachers need to review seriously what they have done in the past with a
view to sustaining or improving their practice in the future.
• Purely personal perspectives or self-reflection may lack critical insight and
may not be wholly reliable. External input from new ideas or alternative
perspectives is needed to challenge (and disrupt) settled ways of thinking.
• Critical reflection does not necessarily require that the teacher act as a
fully fledged researcher, as it may be unrealistic to expect teachers to
develop excellence in both teaching and research.
3.5
Summary: contribution of research
 Craft-based and executive technician views are two sides of the same coin:
while the former dismisses the role of research because it cannot give certainty,
the latter embraces it because it mistakenly thinks that it can.
 Both are wrong in their views of what educational research can and cannot do.
Teachers need to be equipped to interrogate their own practice to understand
why it is or isn’t working, or to learn from new ideas and adapt them to
particular situations and contexts.
 Research-informed teaching therefore implies a synergy between 3 domains of
excellence: theoretical (episteme); technical (techne) and practical (phronesis).
 Research can help us to understand the best ways of integrating theoretical and
research-based knowledge with experience and situational awareness, in an
iterative process based on learning in different domains.
4. Summary of Findings:
Contribution of Research
to Initial Teacher Education
4.1
Role of research in ITE
 High-performing systems such as Finland, Singapore and the
Netherlands are informed by research in three main ways:
1. Design of course content and programme structure
2. Informed by evidence about effective teaching
3. Enquiry-based approaches to teaching and learning
 Not all such systems require student teachers to engage in research in a
formal sense, but emphasis on enquiry-based teaching and learning is
common to all.
 Despite the common pattern, the contribution of research to each system’s
success can only be inferred – there being a lack of systematic, rigorous
research into the different components of ITE.
Source: Burn, K. & Mutton, T. (forthcoming) Review of ‘research-informed clinical
practice’ in Teacher Education, Paper Commissioned for the BERA-RSA Inquiry.
4.2
Common Principles
For this Inquiry, Burn & Mutton identify a number of integrated ITE programmes in
the UK and elsewhere, based on the model of ‘research-informed clinical practice’:
1. Profound value and inherent limitations of decontextualized research-based
knowledge.
2. Experienced teachers offer access to rich seams of knowledge and understanding,
developed within particular communities of practice.
3. Experiential learning for beginning teachers is crucial to ‘test’ (all) the ideas offered to
them.
4. Commitment to improve on sometimes poor conditions for professional learning.
5. Equip teachers to work in diverse contexts and with students from diverse backgrounds.
6. Ambition to produce teachers committed to, and equipped for, life-long learning,
capable of generating new professional knowledge needed for different contexts &
changing demands.
Source: Burn, K. & Mutton, T. (forthcoming) Review of ‘research-informed clinical
practice’ in Teacher Education, Paper Commissioned for the BERA-RSA Inquiry.
4.3
Responding to shared concerns
 In the main, such programmes have been motivated by two dominant sets of
concerns about the quality of existing ITE provision (McIntyre 1990):
• Problems of (dis) continuity between university and school, or a misconceived
idea that ‘theory’ could be straightforwardly translated into practice;
• Problems relating to poor conditions of learning encountered by pre-service
teachers in school and the poor quality of loosely-planned and monitored ‘field
experiences’.
 Although many programme are based on school-university ‘partnerships’, not
all have been genuinely ‘collaborative’ rather than ‘complementary’ (Furlong
et al. 2000).
 Kriewaldt & Turnidge (2013) highlight the importance of ‘clinical reasoning’:
the ‘analytical and intuitive cognitive processes that professionals use to
arrive at a best judged ethical response in a specific practice-based context’.
4.4
Influential ‘clinical’ programmes
Established & emerging UK programmes

Oxford Internship Scheme

Glasgow West Teacher Education Initiative
International programmes & integrated systems

In the USA: Professional Development Schools (PDS); Carnegie Corporation
Teachers for a New Era (TNE)

University of Melbourne’s new 2-year Master of Teaching

‘Realistic’ programmes in the Netherlands

Finland’s Teacher Training Schools (TTS)
4.5
Evidence of Impact
 Clinical experience has a positive effect on beginning teachers’ learning since they
are better able to integrate theoretical and practical knowledge, resulting in
greater confidence in that learning.
 While research into the relationship between ITE and pupil outcomes is both
limited and problematic, there is some evidence that clinical preparation is a
factor in determining teacher effectiveness.
 Graduates of programmes with a greater emphasis on clinical practice are better
prepared for their first teaching post, but it is the quality of the clinical experience
that matters. While an overall lack of school-based practice has a negative effect
on pupil outcomes, more time in schools does not necessarily lead to better
outcomes.
 Graduates of programmes with an extended practicum experience in which
school-based practice is ‘interlaced’ with university coursework have ‘increased
confidence, are more effective teachers and are increasingly committed to
teaching as a long-term career’ (Darling-Hammond and Bransford 2005: 411).
Source: Burn & Mutton (forthcoming) Review of ‘research-informed clinical practice’
in Teacher Education, Paper Commissioned for the BERA-RSA Inquiry, London: BERA.
4.6
Summary: Integrated ITE
Wider social  Policy on initial teacher education in many countries has taken a
context
‘practicum turn’ in recent years, with greater emphasis on ‘field
experiences’ gained in the classroom vs. university lecture theatre.
Teaching & learning
context
HEI-led routes
Research RI-TE
Teacher
education
Integrated
theory & practice
School
 However, neither a simple increase in time spent at
the ‘chalk face’, nor claims to be operating universityschool ‘partnership’ will be sufficient to ensure high
quality teacher education.
 Both school and university offer important insights:
the key issue is how well research-based knowledge
is integrated with practical and experiential
knowledge developed through teaching practice in
schools – and the quality of that clinical experience.
5. Review of the Evidence:
Contribution of Research to
Teachers’ Continuing Professional
Development and Learning (CPDL)
5.1 Established features of effective CPDL
 Contribution of specialist external expertise:
• Making use of external expertise, including expertise in the form of
research evidence, to support planning in particular;
• However, use of external experts no guarantee of success; this
depends on pedagogical content knowledge of providers.
 Collaborative, structured peer support: especially use of reciprocal
risk taking and professional dialogue as core learning strategies.
 Use of data or evidence to challenge prevailing discourses:
particularly low expectations of students and beliefs about how to teach
particular curricula most effectively.
Source: Cordingley, P. (forthcoming) The contribution of research to teachers’
professional learning and development, Paper Commissioned by the BERA-RSA Inquiry.
5.2
Features of effective CPDL (cont.)
 Enquiry-oriented learning: Supported by use of tools and protocols to
discipline learning and secure coherence and progression:
• Learning to learn from looking – though exploration of evidence about
pupil outcomes in data rich settings; and through observing teaching and
learning exchanges, especially when experimenting with new approaches;
• Focusing on why things do or don’t work in different contexts to develop
an underpinning rationale or practical theory alongside practice.
 Enquiry-oriented leadership to create research-rich conditions:
• Time to engage – with one or two exceptions, an extended time frame
appears to be needed to develop and embed teachers’ professional learning.
• Encouragement and modelling, including specialist coaching
• Proactivity – taking responsibility for creating and using opportunities for
professional learning within day-to-day school life.
Source: Cordingley, P. (forthcoming) The contribution of research to teachers’
professional learning and development, Paper Commissioned by the BERA-RSA Inquiry.
5.3
Inside the ‘black box’ of learning
 Changing practice in substantive ways is difficult. To understand how features
of CPDL affect teachers’ learning, we need to understand the processes through
which new information is interpreted & integrated:
Professional Learning Context
Content
Activities
Teachers’
interpretation
& integration
Teacher
Outcomes
a) Change in practice
b) No change
(i) Cueing and retrieving
prior knowledge
(ii) Becoming aware of new
information and skills
(iii) Creating dissonance with
current position
Congruent info. is more likely to be
integrated; but creating dissonance
can stimulate deeper learning.
Source: Timperley et al. (2007) Teacher Professional Learning and Development:
Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration (BES). New Zealand Ministry of Education.
5.4
Teachers’ responses are not uniform
 Sustained, substantive change is more likely to occur when teacher-learners
are actively engaged and develop skills of enquiry and critical reflection:
1. Reject/ignore new theory and practice, continue as before;
2. Continue with prior practice, believing it is new practice;
3. Select parts of new T & P and adapt to current practice;
(a)
Limited or
no effect
Provider-led CPDL implemented without active
learner engagement or theoretical foundation is
less likely to be sustained when expert support ends
4. Implement as required (adherence or compliance)
5. Actively engage with, own and apply new theory and practice
and change practice substantively
6. Develop enquiry skills to detect when practice is not having
the desired effect on student outcomes & meeting learners’ needs.
Adapted from Timperley et al. (2007) Teacher Professional Learning and
Development: Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration (BES). NZ Ministry of Education.
Sustained,
substantive
effect
(b)
5.5
Role of research in CPDL
Typical sequence of provider-led CPDL
1. Use of data can
provide the catalyst
for engagement
2. Research-based
knowledge provides
the foundation
for learning
3. Enquiry-oriented
learning processes
are key to sustained,
substantive impact
Catalyst or rationale
to engage
Front-loading of
new learning
Activities
Revisit new
knowledge
Refine new practice
in classrooms
Adapted from: Timperley et al. (2007) Teacher Professional Learning and
Development: Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration (BES). NZ Ministry of Education.
4. Research
findings inform
the structure and
sequence of
programmes
5.6
Summary of evidence on CPDL
 Continuing professional development and learning (CPDL) activities seek to
update, develop and broaden teachers’ knowledge and provide them with
new skills and professional understanding.
 Systematic reviews of the evidence provide clear, consistent findings about
the main features of effective CPDL: specialist expertise; structured peer
support; enquiry-oriented learning and enquiry-oriented leadership –
including learning to learn from looking and focusing on why things do &
don’t work in different contexts.
 Analysis of professional learning processes sheds light on teachers’ diverse
responses to CPDL courses & programmes, as well as highlighting conditions
for sustained, substantive changes in practice.
6. Review of the Evidence:
Contribution of Research to Teacher
Quality and School Improvement
6.1
Impact of research-based teaching
Wider social
context
 Formal educational policies: teacher standards, investment etc.
 Prevailing discourses: conceptions of teaching, dominant beliefs
 Institutional structures: higher education and school
organisation
A. Initial Training
Context
(a)
Recruitment
(b)
Preparation
B. Teaching and Learning
Context
High quality
Teaching
C. Student
Outcomes
Teachers’
Learning &
Students’
Learning &
Understanding
HEI-led routes
SCHOOL
LEADERSHIP
Teacher
ResearchRI-TE
education
The Perspective
EBITT
SCITT
Challenge
School-led routes
-
Enquiry
Reflection
Collaboration
Resources
The Definition
Challenge
ORG. CULTURE
Understanding
Student
Outcomes
- Cognitive
- Social
- Emotional
6.2
Research-informed Teaching
 A. Initial Training Context
a. Recruitment: while high-performing systems often have selective entry
requirements, there is no evidence of a direct link between teachers’
academic calibre and pupil performance (Mentor et al. 2010).
b. Preparation:
• Some evidence that teacher education & certification is linked to student
performance, but the role of teacher education as a predictable variable of
students’ achievement requires further investigation (Hattie 2007).
• Research into beginning teachers’ experiences of different entry routes in England
is one source of evidence on nature of provision. However, variation in provision
within routes may be at least as great as variation between routes, making it hard
to generalise across different types of provision (Hobson et al. 2009).
Source: Mincu, M. (forthcoming) Teacher Quality and School Improvement: What is
the Role of Research?, Paper Commissioned by the BERA-RSA Inquiry.
6.3
Research-informed Teaching
 B. Classroom practice and learning processes
• Effective teachers possess a wide repertoire of instructional approaches,
based on sound pedagogical content knowledge, detailed focus on student
learning and application of appropriate techniques to meet learners’ diverse
needs.
• Teaching for higher-level knowledge & skills requires more sophisticated
approaches: e.g. teaching with meta-cognition as part of teaching for metacognition.
• Beyond the classroom, teachers’ collaborative work at the school and system
level may greatly contribute to transforming learning processes, by building
bridges between classrooms and departments, engaging as leaders and
active enquirers (Earl & Temperley 2006).
Source: Mincu, M. (forthcoming) Teacher Quality and School Improvement: What is
the Role of Research?, Paper Commissioned by the BERA-RSA Inquiry.
6.4
Research-rich schools & systems
 Evaluations of successful and highly improved school systems highlight
the contribution of research at a school and system level:
• Use of data and research as part of broader capacity-building strategies, to create
‘data-rich’ and ‘research-rich’ school systems and environments; (shift away from
accountability, reducing reliance on regulatory mechanisms and central oversight);
• ‘Outside-inside’: use of external input (e.g. new ideas or external research findings)
to stimulate deeper engagement and critical reflection from the ‘inside’;
• Research networks & partnerships: school-to-school collaboration supported by
specialist expertise and partnerships with universities and local authorities/officials,
to gather and infuse new thinking into the system;
• Enquiry-oriented leadership: promoting research and evaluation across the school,
in departments and by classroom teachers; adopting a more systematic approach
to collecting, analysing and using data and evidence in course of on-going work.
Source: Mincu, M. (forthcoming) Teacher Quality and School Improvement: What is
the Role of Research?, Paper Commissioned by the BERA-RSA Inquiry.
6.5
A continuum of integrated ITE & CPDL
Wider social
context



Formal policies (funding, teaching
standards, curricula etc.)
Prevailing discourses & dominant beliefs
Institutional structures
Higher Education Institutions
Educational RI-TE Teacher
research
education
Training
Providers
Knowledge
Exchange
Professional
Associations
Teaching and
Learning Context
NLE
TEACHING
SCHOOL
SCHOOL
LEADERSHIP
-
Learners
Enquiry
Reflection
Collaboration
Resources
ORG. CULTURE
School and
Classroom
Context
7. Conclusions & Next Steps
7.1
Conclusions (1)
 Systematic reviews provide clear, consistent evidence about the contribution of
research to teachers’ professional learning and student outcomes, including the use
of data to spark engagement, use of research-based knowledge in the content and
use of evidence to inform the sequence of learning activities.
 This robust evidence demonstrates the importance of integrating teachers’ practical
and theoretical knowledge in iterative processes – in contrast to both the ‘craftbased’ and ‘executive technician’ views of teaching.
 Nevertheless, achieving sustained, substantive change in practice is not easy.
Embedding professional learning depends on creating the conditions for researchrich teaching and learning, by building research capacity across institutions and
establishing effective partnerships between schools and external, specialist expertise.
7.2
Conclusions (2)
 High-performing systems display common features of research-rich practice in their
respective ITE programmes. While not all require student teachers to engage in
research in a formal sense, enquiry-oriented practice is a key feature of each.
 Within the UK, cross-national variation in policy discourse, content and process of
teacher education reflects different conceptions of teaching and differing beliefs
about how the qualities of ‘good’ teachers are developed.
 Research into beginning teachers’ experiences of different entry routes in England is
one source of evidence on nature of provision. However, variation in provision
within routes may be at least as great as variation between routes, making it hard to
generalise across different types of provision.
 Evidence about the differential impact of ITE entry routes is less conclusive, due to
lack of research (investment) in rigorous, systematic evaluations – leaving the field
vulnerable to non-evidence based critiques and untested proposals for reform.
Key Questions for the next stage of the Inquiry:
Q. How does current provision across the UK measure up
to the goal of a research-rich, data-rich system?
Q. How do we build this research-rich culture and
environment?
For more information about the BERA-RSA Inquiry,
please visit the BERA website: www.bera.ac.uk or
contact Louise Bamfield at louise.bamfield@rsa.org.uk