I was fortunate to be recently invited to give a seminar for the Teacher Education and Professional Learning research group for the Department of Education at the University of Oxford. I’ve been a member of this group since 2018 when I began studying for a part-time Doctorate in Education, and having recently completed my thesis, I was pleased to be able to present some of my key findings.

Here at Leeds Trinity University, where I am an Associate Professor (Teaching and Learning), we have a rich history in providing exceptional initial teacher education (ITE) and in recent years, have built our partnership to become known as a provider of high-quality professional learning and development for qualified teachers at all stages of their careers. At the heart of everything we do, as teachers and educators, is a commitment to social justice.

This is especially important considering that educational outcomes for young people in Yorkshire and the Humber continue to lag compared to the national average. The reasons for this are complex, as children and young people in our region tend to experience multiple cumulative disadvantages, including a lack of access to digital resources, high levels of wellbeing and mental health needs, low family income and a lack of secure employment opportunities, compared to some other regions in England.

We know that teachers, whether in a nursery setting, high school, college, or university, have a profound and transformative effect on their learners. In fact, international research often highlights a distinct correlation between quality of teaching and student outcomes (Organisation For Economic Co-Operation And Development (OECD) 2023). However, here in England we seem to lack investment in high-quality and meaningful further professional learning for teachers at all levels.

Since 2019, centralisation, standardisation and accountability in teacher education have intensified along with an implicit, and at times explicit, criticism of university-based teacher education (Menter et al. 2019). At the same time, the way we talk about teachers, especially across social media, has shifted dramatically. Teachers are held accountable for behaviour, attainment, progress and even employment, and the intellectual, critical and ethical aspects of teaching seem to have been lost (Mockler, 2022).

Taking account of the challenging environment for teachers in England, in my thesis I argue that we need to redevelop the space of professional learning over professional development for teachers, and that universities have an integral role to play in this. In my research project, teachers’ experiences of engaging in critical intellectual and research work through part-time Master’s in Education were systematically mapped and interrogated over the course of 24 months, from the beginning of their dissertation project study to 12+ months following their graduation achieving the MA Education award.

By constructing first -person narratives of individual experiences, I was able to unlock an understanding of their shared journey as ‘becoming’, ‘being’ and ‘belonging’ as a teacher and a researcher. My analysis exposed how their engagement in Master’s level research became a site for transformational professional learning, and that their subsequent impact in their own school settings and beyond had potential to be a transformative experience for students and colleagues alike.

For example, one of the teachers involved led a school-wide project on supporting children's social, emotional and mental health, while another teacher devised some work to support school-parent relationships. All the teachers involved went on to mentor and support colleagues - especially early career teachers - in using research to inform and develop their own practice.

Here in the School of Education at Leeds Trinity University, we are now using this work to consider how we can reimagine the University space as a site of transformational professional learning for all stakeholders in our partnership. This is essential work if we are going to tackle the ongoing UK-wide recruitment and retention crisis in teaching and ensure high-quality teaching and learning for all young people in our region. You can read more about my research and access my publications through my research page.

Dr Amanda Nuttall (she/her), Associate Professor (Teaching and Learning) at Leeds Trinity University.

References:

Farquharson, C., McNally, S., & Tahir, I. (2022). Education inequalities. IFS Deaton Review of Inequalities. https://ifs.org.uk/inequality/chapter/education-inequalities

Menter, I., Mutton, T., & Burn, K. (2019). Learning to teach in England - Reviewing policy and research trends. In M. T. Tatto & I. Menter (Eds.), Knowledge, Policy and Practice in Learning to Teach: A Cross-National Study (pp. 61–80). Bloomsbury.

Mockler, N. (2022). Constructing teacher identities: How the print media define and represent teachers and their work. Bloomsbury Academic.

Organisation For Economic Co-Operation And Development (OECD). (2023). Education at a Glance 2023: OECD Indicators. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781529714395.n163