Deconstructing the Carter Review: competing conceptions of quality in England’s ‘school-led’ system of initial teacher education

Abstract

The commitment to establishing a 'school-led' system of teacher education in England, announced by the Coalition Government in 2011 (DFE, 2011) and relentlessly pursued thereafter, represented a radical departure from previous kinds of initial teacher education partnership. While it is entirely consistent with a neo-liberal agenda, with its strong regulatory framework and appeal to market mechanisms, it is also underpinned by a particular conception of teaching as a craft-'best learnt as an apprentice observing a master craftsman or woman' (Gove, 2010). In 2014 the Government established a Review of Initial Teacher Training, led by a primary school headteacher, Sir Andrew Carter. This signalled the recognition of teacher education as a 'policy problem', adopting Cochran-Smith's term. The ensuing report, published in early 2015, was more nuanced than might have been anticipated although a number of profound tensions emerge from a closer analytical reading; four of these tensions are similar to those previously defined by Cochran-Smith and two are newly emergent. This paper identifies and discusses these tensions as they appear in the Carter Review and relates them to wider debates about the links between teaching, teacher education, evidence and research and to policy making processes in education.

Marketising private tuition: Representations of tutors’ competence, entrepreneurial opportunities and service legitimation in home tutoring business manuals

“…Firstly, the discursive representation of tutors’ motivations and competence raises interesting questions about tutors as an expanding educational workforce. There has been considerable debate in education policy and research about how best to train teachers, and in recent years the pendulum has swung away from the dominance of higher education institutions, which are seen to provide research‐based learning, towards schools, which can provide practical preparation in a context where teaching is increasingly presented as a craft or technical skill (Edmond & Hayler, ; Kretchmar & Zeichner, ; Mutton et al ., ). To this picture we now need to add the figure of the tutor.…”

“…Indeed, the underpinning argument of some manuals is that qualifications and training are not required; rather, the ability to tutor is a talent that some people simply possess. In this way, these manuals bypass the need for academic learning about educational theory, and the need for supervised practise, seen in teaching qualifications (Kretchmar & Zeichner, ; Mutton et al ., ), while nevertheless representing tutors as professional workers doing socially valued work. The unfettered private‐tuition market has produced an expanding educational workforce who are often driven to seek work in this flourishing sector by their own economic precarity, and who—without any mandatory training—are involved in the education of school‐aged children in the UK and the USA.…”

“…Finally, the efforts businesses put into establishing parental trust and maintaining business legitimacy through ongoing performances of professionalism highlights the profound lack of regulation or quality control in this market. Teachers in state schools receive considerable training and experience constant monitoring (Mutton et al ., ), but in the UK and USA the private supplementary education industry is devoid of regulation and quality control (Kirby, ; Bray, ). There are indeed many tuition businesses that are highly valued by their clients (Holloway & Kirby, ).…”

“…The arguments propounded to justify this position vary from conciliatory to confrontational, but what underpins them is a belief that the ability to tutor is a natural talent. Unlike teaching, which in recent years has seen a swing away from university‐based training that combines educational theory and practice, towards the development of teaching craft and technical competence in US and UK schools (Kretchmar & Zeichner, ; Mutton et al ., ), proficiency in tutoring is seen to stem from personality traits rather than processes of skills’ acquisition:

A teaching certificate or Master's Degree is not required to be a tutor… In fact, there are several qualities that are excellent to have before starting your own tutoring business & they aren't learned in a classroom… Empathy for your students, knowledge of the subject, enthusiasm and overall friendliness are extremely important qualities in a teacher! I believe that anyone with these qualities will make a VERY successful tutor.

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Innovation in Initial Teacher Education through a School–University Partnership

“…Most commonly, in countries such as Australia, Finland and Singapore, the route to gaining qualifications as a classroom teacher is predominately through university education, with opportunities for school-based professional experience available during this period of study. In contrast, the UK has moved away from initial teacher training at university towards school-based and school-led training (Mutton, Burn, & Menter, 2017;Woodbury, 2017). An example of a programme at one end of the partnerships continuum is the Cambridge Partnership model, which offers an immersive approach to the training process controlled by schools, now operating without a university partner (Yeigh & Lynch, 2017).…”