Exploring the professionalisation of further education teachers in England

Abstract

is the Head of Post Compulsory Education working alongside Theresa Loughlin as Head of Lifelong Learning Partnerships in managing Post Compulsory provision and partnership. Victoria teaches on postgraduate provision including the PGCE PCE and the MA in Professional Practice and Lifelong Education. Theresa teaches substantially on the PGCE in PCE and has previously taught on the MA in Professional Practice and Lifelong Education. Sandi Bates is a Senior Lecturer in the Post Compulsory Education team. She has taught across the PGCE in PCE and has been the Course Leader for the last few years. She is one of the Personal Tutors on the PGCE course. Nicola Clarke and Dayna Hale are current and alumni students, both experienced teachers who work within FE settings and who have contributed to the writing of this paper. Exploring the professionalisation of further education teachers in EnglandThe paper captures the professionalisation of teachers in the further education sector by shining a light on their everyday struggle to uphold their ethical goals in support of their students in a climate of performative and regulatory expectations. It reports on a small scale qualitative study in which the six participants were either on the Postgraduate Certificate in Post Compulsory Education course (PGCE in PCE) or on the Masters degree in Professional Practice and Lifelong Education (MA PPLE). They were therefore either student teachers or experienced teachers with different lengths of experience. Students were asked to rank order a set of cards and clarify their decisions. Semi-structured interviews were then undertaken in which the participants were asked to bring artefacts of their choice (potentially from their course of study).Reflection points included the construction of self as teacher and the tensions and impact of a range of expectations nationally and locally. Participants shared responses to continuous change in the sector, their institutions and within their practices. All expressed a common and sustained mission to make a difference, no matter how small, to their students' lives.

The Contribution of Teaching Practice to Preservice Teachers’ Training – Empirical Research of the Department of Primary Education of Western Macedonia University Students’ Evaluation

“…At an international level, Popova et al ( 2022) investigated the effectiveness of professional development programs for teachers, while Loyalka et al (2019) examined the content of such programs and found that their largely theoretical nature failed to appeal to participants. Finkelstein et al (2021) and also Wright et al (2022) attempted to investigate the effectiveness of teaching practices during the training of preservice teachers, while Woodcock et al (2022) focused on teacher's practical training. In addition, Cilliers et al (2019) examined the effectiveness of primary school teachers' professional training, as did Sáez-López et al (2020), who also investigated its development and improvement.…”