This paper explores the concept of continuing professional development (CPD) for teachers in Scotland in an education system undergoing change. It considers the curricular and political changes which affect the nature of CPD considered appropriate and relevant for teachers. This article reports on one small-scale qualitative study into award-bearing CPD at masters level in a unique scheme known as Chartered Teacher Studies. This is a new, alternative route for Scottish teachers to gain professional recognition and financial reward for continuing to practise, rather than seeking promotion through a management route. This small-scale, preliminary exploration of the views of teachers who have completed the programme to masters level found that teachers perceived that their studies had a positive impact on their learning, increased their understanding, their commitment to linking theory with practice through research and raised their confidence in developing pedagogy. It is recognised that the outcomes cannot be widely generalised, as it considers only one cohort of students in one institution. However, since it is widely recognised that CPD for the teaching profession is an essential facet in improving education practice, the issues explored in this paper may be of interest to an international audience
This paper reports a small-scale study exploring the communicative interactions of secondary teachers and community educators with colleagues and learners in educational environments. This research is conducted in a changing educational landscape where there is a more holistic approach to education being adopted and where an extended Scottish curriculum is encompassing students from age 3 to 18. In this study, the reported incidents of communication relate to developing and maintaining relationships, and attending to issues of power and status. While there were clear similarities in the themes uncovered in both sectors, there were major differences concerning power and status. In the formal sector, educators reported matters regarding their status and position within the organisation, whereas informal educators were more concerned with aspects of power relating to the young people. These differences may reflect a disparity in cultural and organisational values that, if recognised and acted upon, could help to nourish aspects of interdisciplinary working to further enhance the educational experiences of young people.
IntroductionThis paper explores the different types of communicative interactions taking place in two different educational settings, community education and formal secondary school education, in Scotland. Community education is defined as an informal practice which includes youth work, adult education and community development work (McConnell 2002;Tett 2010). The sample within this study drew from secondary school teachers and youth workers.The authors concur that communication is an indicator of the nature of the practice that operates in a particular cultural and organisational setting which involves shared understandings, practices and values (Redfield 1948;Halliday and Hasan 1997;House et al. 2004). We hypothesise that it is people who create and maintain a particular organisational culture and that these processes can be identified by exploring the interactions made visible by what the educators say, think and do in particular circumstances. We consider that this exploration is important in the light of collaborative and multidisciplinary working, encouraged by the Scottish Government (2010) and relevant to the
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.