School reform and transitions in teacher professionalism and identity

This paper draws on findings from a four‐year longitudinal research project, commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), which investigated Variations in Teachers’ Work, Lives and Effectiveness (VITAE). Drawing on data gathered from 300 teachers working in 100 primary and secondary schools in England, the research identified associations between commitment and effectiveness (perceived and in terms of pupil attainment) and found that there were more, and less, effective teachers in each of six professional life phases. It found that teachers in each of these phases experienced a number of different scenarios that challenged their abilities to sustain their commitment (i.e. remain resilient). This paper discusses how these impact, positively and negatively, on teachers’ capacities for sustaining their initial commitment and associations between identity, well‐being and effectiveness. It finds that teacher identities are neither intrinsically stable nor intrinsically fragmented, but that they can be more, or less, stable and more or less fragmented at different times and in different ways according to the influence of the interaction of a number of personal, professional and situated factors. The extent to which teachers are able to and are supported in managing the scenarios they experience will determine their sense of effectiveness.

Identity, well‐being and effectiveness: the emotional contexts of teaching

The study set out to investigate the impact of the official endorsement of ‘interactive whole class teaching’ on the interaction and discourse styles of primary teachers while teaching the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies. In both strategies, interactive whole class teaching is seen as an ‘active teaching’ model promoting high quality dialogue and discussion between teachers and pupils. Pupils are expected to play an active part in discussion by asking questions, contributing ideas and explaining and demonstrating their thinking to the class. Using computerized systematic classroom observation, discourse analysis of transcripts and a questionnaire, the project looked specifically at the discourse strategies currently used by a national sample of primary teachers when teaching the literacy and numeracy strategies and their perceptions of current practices. The findings suggest that traditional patterns of whole class interaction have not been dramatically transformed by the strategies. The implica...

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/1502277.pdf

Interactive Whole Class Teaching in the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies

This book provides an international review of the current state of teacher education, with chapters from an international group of teacher educators. It focuses on major issues that are confronting teacher educators now and in the next decade. These include the impact of globalization on the profession of teaching, and how teacher education must deal with changing accountability requirements from governments and establish a set of minimum standards acceptable to enable a person to teach. The work also considers aspects of the three major phases of teacher education: the period prior to commencing in the profession, successful induction into the profession, and the ongoing professional development of teachers. Finally, it identifies ways in which new technologies can be used to improve the training and ongoing development of teachers. Cases from different countries are used to provide a rich base of data to help us understand how the profession is moving onwards.

Handbook of teacher education : globalization, standards and professionalism in times of change

Variations in Teachers’ Work, Lives and Effectiveness

Changing English primary schools

Four models are outlined for describing and analysing the role of teachers in the formulation of educational policy and the resulting processes of change. The model of teachers as partners in education policy making draws on a pluralist view of political processes and an assumption of a degree of autonomy for teachers and schools. A model of teachers as implementers of change draws a sharp distinction between the processes of policy making and policy execution and excludes teachers from an involvement in the former. A model of teachers as resisting change has been put forward both by those most opposed to and those most supportive of current educational policy developments. Finally, a model of teachers as policy makers in practice is proposed to describe the way in which the reality of teaching situations can lead to the independent actions of individual teachers having systematic policy effects. The applicability of these models is considered in the context of contemporary educational changes dr...

Teachers and education policy: Roles and models

(1991). Implementing National Assessment: issues for primary teachers. Cambridge Journal of Education: Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 153-168.

Implementing National Assessment: Issues for Primary Teachers

This article considers the Government's stated aims of introducing to British primary schools an assessment process which would be simultaneously criterion‐referenced, formative, moderated, related to progression and evaluative. Accountability, which has provided the main rationale for the process, presupposes reliability. In 1991, as part of the Bristol Primary Assessment, Curriculum and Experience (PACE) research, the same Standard Assessment Task (SAT) was observed in use in three Year 2 classrooms in different local education authorities (LEAs), providing a case study through which the reliability of the system is assessed. It is suggested that the variations in the circumstances and experience of teachers and children were so marked that the system is seriously flawed. The SAT discussed, Science 1 (Sinking and Floating), was dropped from the 1992 programme after severe criticism: the article questions whether this was the right response and discusses some of the wider issues raised.

https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0141192940200202

D Abbott

Papers

Changing English primary schools

Teachers and education policy: Roles and models

Implementing National Assessment: Issues for Primary Teachers

Some Sink, Some Float: National Curriculum assessment and accountability

The Impact of Current Changes in English Primary Schools on Teacher Professionalism