News | Friday, 9th March 2018
Symposium: Creating a world-class teaching system
Academics present at House of Commons event hosted by Mike Kane MP
Academics from Manchester Metropolitan University attended the House of Commons last week to present their research and work on teacher education.
The Education Symposium hosted by Mike Kane MP, Shadow Minister for Schools, aimed to stimulate a national debate on teacher education policy.
Professor Moira Hulme, Richard Dunk, Fiona Haniak-Cockerham and Amanda Smith from Manchester Metropolitan University’s Faculty of Education gave presentations that addressed equity and innovation in teacher education.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Malcolm Press opened the symposium, with Mike Kane MP also addressing delegates. He said: “We wanted to spark a discussion with academics, legislators and stakeholders in the education sector on how we can create a world-class teaching system here in the UK.”
Teacher education as a policy problem
Moira Hulme, Professor of Teacher Education, with Dr Emilee Rauschenberger and Karen Meanwell from Manchester Metropolitan explored teacher education as a policy problem, looking at how research can inform policy and programme development.
Prof Hulme said: “Policy interest in teacher preparation is not new. Teachers are often positioned as a source of salvation and blame, or as ‘heroes and villains’.
“In the last fifteen years teacher education has assumed greater significance in global education policy. The quality of a nation’s education system is routinely associated with its competitiveness in the global knowledge economy. It is now widely accepted that high quality teaching is the most important within-school factor influencing pupil achievement, especially for less advantaged pupils.”
Prof Hulme looked at models of teacher education from the US, Canada and Australia and questioned what the UK might learn from colleagues abroad.
Learning to teach in the University Schools Model
Inspired by the Finnish system, the University Schools Model at Manchester Metropolitan University is a successful pilot Initial Teacher Training (ITT) project.
A key feature of the model is that student trainees are arranged in groups of three: they plan, teach and reflect collaboratively, as well as undertaking individual teaching. The trios work with University subject mentors based in the schools one day a week.
Mentors Richard Dunk, Lecturer in Science Education, and Fiona Haniak-Cockerham, Senior Lecturer in Mathematics Education, presented on their experiences teaching trainees within the model. They said: “As teacher educators we are situated 'close up' to the impact of policy decisions, offering a different perspective and requiring creative, research-informed approaches.
“The University Schools Model is a new approach that is confidently different. Its popularity is reflected by the fact that new schools have joined the model each year, and we now have a large pool of schools available for trio placements. We want to continue to expand in this way, so that we can ensure quality whilst matching student teachers with schools. The model has also been expanded to include other subjects areas in the university, giving added benefits of having student teachers specialising in different disciplines supporting each other.”
A collaborative approach to school development
Amanda Smith, Head of STEM Education Manchester at Manchester Metropolitan University, demonstrated the beneficial impact the University Schools Model has on local school development.
Presenting with Rebecca Smith, Principal of partner school Manchester Creative and Media Academy, the pair shared how the model is being extended into Continuing Professional Development for teachers, and being used to improve schools facing challenging circumstances.
Amanda said: “The University Schools Model places larger numbers of students in each school with the numbers concentrated in those subject departments the school wishes to focus on developing.
“In addition, having a University mentor based at the school means they become familiar with the individual school context, vision, ethos and its development needs, allowing them to work collaboratively and focus the training and development of students and teachers on those needs.”
To spark a national debate
Katharine Burn, Trevor Mutton and Ian Thompson from the University of Oxford also presented on the topic of poverty and teacher education.
They explored the experiences, developing understanding and attitudes of beginning teachers, looking at the difference in training experience for students when training in rural or affluent schools.
Following the presentations, James Noble-Rogers, Executive Director of Universities Council for the Education of Teachers, addressed delegates on the needs of the education sector touching on issues including perception, recruitment and retention.
James Noble-Rogers, Principal Rebecca Smith and Nansi Ellis from the National Education Union, were also part of a panel discussion taking questions from delegates.
