The Political Shaping of Teacher Education in the STEM Areas

Abstract

league tables, which are supposedly indicative of wider economic competitiveness. They have been seduced by the appeal of raising standards in a statistically defined world. What had been introduced to measure school performance, however, now defines what it is and polices its boundaries. That is, such comparisons have transformed the content of what they compare and the demands on the teachers preparing to meet these newly defined challenges. A possible consequence of this has been an overly restrictive understanding of mathematics and science through being referenced to their socioeconomic potential. But whilst these subjects have become a priority across nations through research funding and the like, growth in these subjects is hampered by a shortage of people qualifying either because of perceived or actual difficulty, or because of their lack of popularity for other reasons. Yet policy responses to these economic priorities and actual teacher supply have been conceptualised in diverse ways across different countries. This chapter examines some examples of policy initiatives consequential to this recasting of mathematics and science. It firstly explores the impact on teacher education in these areas with reference to two very different state-led responses to changing teacher preparation. In some countries teacher education increasingly comprises a vocational employment-based model of training located primarily in schools. England is a prominent example, with similar models being introduced in New Zealand and the United States. This approach is in sharp contrast to models followed in continental Europe subject to the Bologna Process, where student teachers spend much more time in university (e.g. five years in Finland where a masters' degree is required). These two approaches reveal radically different conceptions of how teacher quality might be improved in the name of international competitiveness. In the first, teacher education has been wrested from its traditional home within the academy where universities play a support role to what has become "school-led" training where government funds for teacher education have been diverted to schools. Teacher professional identity has been referenced to skill development within this frame and the wider assessment culture. The second model, meanwhile, is similarly concerned