This report presents the findings of independent research on teacher workload in Scotland. It was... more This report presents the findings of independent research on teacher workload in Scotland. It was commissioned by the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), the largest teacher trade union in Scotland, which represents over 80% of all teachers across nursery, primary and secondary education. The research fulfils a resolution adopted at the 2022 EIS Annual General Meeting to contract ‘independent research that considers the workload of teachers, the extra hours they work beyond their contractual hours as a consequence of their workload, and the main reasons for the failure to achieve a 35-hour working week for teachers’.
A sequential mixed-method design using an online time use diary and semi-structured individual interviews was deployed to the address the following research questions: • What are the main activities that constitute teacher workload? • What is the balance of this workload over the working week? • What extra hours do teachers work beyond their contractual hours? • Where do workload demands come from, out with class contact time?
The views expressed in the report are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those... more The views expressed in the report are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Scottish Government or any other organisation(s) by which the author(s) is/are employed. The Scottish Government is making this research report available on-line in order to provide access to its contents for those interested in the subject. The Scottish Government commissioned the research but has not exercised editorial control over the report. This report and research findings are published by Education Analytical Services,
RASE: Revista de la Asociación de Sociología de la Educación, 2017
Teaching and teacher education in England have been subject to thirty years of sustained public s... more Teaching and teacher education in England have been subject to thirty years of sustained public scrutiny and political intervention (Furlong, 2013). A range of technologies have enhanced central control and promoted cultures of disciplined self-steering. These include systems of specification (through Teachers' Standards), measurement and comparison (through the audit of 'hard' performance indicators and periodic inspection of schools and teacher education), and prescribed forms of reflexive self-monitoring (quality assurance and evaluation processes). This article offers a critical analysis of the re-positioning of teaching and teacher education in England achieved by successive governments from the mid-1980s. Following a review of the trajectory of policies concerned with teacher development, three questions are addressed. How is teaching (re-)conceptualised in the reform of the Teachers' Standards in England? What emergent models of professionalism are discernible in recent drives to modernise and liberate the teaching profession? How do enduring models of 'occupational professionalism' (Evetts, 2011) interact with current moves towards localism in public service provision, diversification of school type and de-centralisation of education and children's services? The article concludes by identifying areas of tension between devolution of social responsibility and the promotion of local accountability, and the continued development of a national teaching service conceived as a public good.
She has a particular interest in 'home-international' studies of public policy, especially educat... more She has a particular interest in 'home-international' studies of public policy, especially education, across the four nations of the UK. She is currently working on a comparative study of the UK and Republic of Ireland, Teacher Education in Times of Change (Policy Press, forthcoming).
This research was commissioned by Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) to evaluate the nature of ... more This research was commissioned by Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) to evaluate the nature of pupil participation in primary and secondary schools across Scotland. The specific objectives of the research were: · To describe what school staff and pupils understand by the term ‘pupil participation’. · To describe the range and usage of pupil participation mechanisms employed in schools. · To describe how school staff respect and respond to pupils’ views and ideas, and those of the wider community. · To identify the characteristics of schools and classrooms that facilitate effective pupil participation. · To identify possible barriers to the development of pupil participation in schools and to make suggestions about how these can be overcome. · To capture examples of effective practice of pupil participation. · To make suggestions about how pupil participation can help support the implementation of the Curriculum for Excellence.
This paper offers an analysis of the current state of teacher education research in the United Ki... more This paper offers an analysis of the current state of teacher education research in the United Kingdom (UK). It commences with a brief historical overview of developments over the last century. Some recent «capacity building» initiatives designed to enhance and develop teacher education research are described. There is then a focus on a particular web-based resource that draws together a significant number of publications in UK teacher education research from 2000-2008. This database is then analysed in order to identify in which journals and by which authors this work is produced. The range of methodological approaches and substantive areas of focus that appear to predominate in teacher education research in the UK are reviewed, according to categories within the database. This demonstrates that there are some very real challenges to be faced by teacher education researchers in the years ahead, similar but not identical to those faced elsewhere.
This paper offers a multi-dimensional analysis of publication outputs from teacher education rese... more This paper offers a multi-dimensional analysis of publication outputs from teacher education research published in the UK between 2000 and 2013. The analysis draws on a sample of 727 articles published in 39 journals. Using metrics data extracted from Elsevier's Scopus database, the analysis outlines the distribution of outputs and explores characteristics associated with productivity and influence. Conceptual and methodological issues with the enumeration of research quality and impact are identified, including quality criteria, citation practices and coverage in leading bibliometric databases. Several contextual factors are taken into consideration. These include author affiliation at the time of publication, university research ranking, Education subject ranking and the size of intake for programmes of initial teacher education. The analysis confirms an association between publication productivity and institutional type, with an inverse relation between large-scale engagement in the practices of teacher education (represented by student numbers) and the production of research on teacher education that is judged to be of high quality. This has implications for how the activities of university Schools of Education are valued and the prospects for research-informed teacher education in the UK.
The role and activities of national advisers engaged in the translation of globally mobile ideas ... more The role and activities of national advisers engaged in the translation of globally mobile ideas on effective teacher education has received little attention. Drawing on in-depth semi-structured interviews, this article explores how government appointed advisers acted as intermediaries in the translation of policy ideas in national reviews of teacher education in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (2010-2015). Three themes are addressed: (1) the localisation of international good practice; (2) the significance of time and temporality in local policy deliberation; and (3) the autonomy-engagement dynamic in government commissioned reviews of public policy fields. The article reports how advisers exhibited transgressive competence in the re-assembly of policy ideas in local spaces. With attention to time, space and positionality, the article concludes by emphasising the significance of localised political strategies in shaping policy choices and prospects for enactment.
... 1. This paper has been adapted from a paper presented at an international symposium held duri... more ... 1. This paper has been adapted from a paper presented at an international symposium held during the annual ... Paper presented at the European Conference on Educational Research. ... In the wake of the agreement, a consultancy firm was employed to undertake the first stage of ...
This paper examines the roles of research in teacher education across the four nations of the Uni... more This paper examines the roles of research in teacher education across the four nations of the United Kingdom. Both devolution and ongoing reviews of teacher education are facilitating a greater degree of cross-national divergence. England is becoming a distinct outlier, in which the locus for teacher education is moving increasingly away from Higher Education Institutions and towards an ever-growing number of school-based providers. While the idea of teaching as a research-based profession is increasingly evident in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, it seems that England, at least in respect of the political rhetoric, recent reforms and explicit definitions, is fixed on a contrastingly divergent trajectory towards the idea of teaching as a craft-based occupation, with a concomitant emphasis on a (re)turn to the practical. It is recommended that research is urgently needed to plot these divergences and to examine their consequences for teacher education, educational research and professionalism.
Governance in der Lehrerausbildung: Analysen aus England und Deutschland, 2014
Dieser Beitrag betrachtet die Veranderungsprozesse, die in der Lehrerbildung in England in den le... more Dieser Beitrag betrachtet die Veranderungsprozesse, die in der Lehrerbildung in England in den letzten Jahren angestosen wurden. Die aufgezeigten Trends zeigen sich konsistent mit dem zentral gesteuerten Ausbau eines markt-orientierten Ansatzes auch in diesem Bereich. So findet sich eine erhohte Diversifikation des Ausbildungsangebotes durch neue Qualifikations- und Berufseintrittswege, die wenige oder keine akademischen Ausbildungsanteile aufweisen, ebenso wie eine zunehmende Betonung von Leistungsergebnissen und Accountability. Insgesamt wurde durch die Veranderungen ein zersplittertes System der Lehrerbildung geschaffen, welches sich durch eine erhebliche Instabilitat insbesondere fur die traditionellen Anbieter von Lehrerbildungsprogrammen auszeichnet. Basierend auf einer grob vereinfachenden Sicht auf die Profession, wonach das Unterrichten und das hier zu vollziehende professionelle Handeln auf eine Liste messbarer Standards und Kompetenzen verkurzt werden konne, wurden diese Entwicklungen begleitet durch wachsende Vorbehalte gegenuber der Lehrtatigkeit als solcher.
across the four jurisdictions of the united Kingdom (england, northern ireland, scotland and wale... more across the four jurisdictions of the united Kingdom (england, northern ireland, scotland and wales) initial teacher education (iTe) is under active development, with its content, location, control and quality often the focuses of sustained debate. statutory and professional requirements for the sector inevitably reflect differing assumptions about teaching, teacher knowledge and governance. in exploring iTe across the four jurisdictions, this paper reviews policies and practices through two major focuses: first, the relationships between the declared teacher standards (competencies/ competences) and research-informed teacher education provision; second, the 'turn or (re)turn to the practical' in teacher education, including policy declarations, changes in practices, and emphases and effects of the discourse(s) of relevance.
Across the four jurisdictions of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wale... more Across the four jurisdictions of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) initial teacher education (ITE) is under active development, with its content, location, control and quality often the focuses of sustained debate. Statutory and professional requirements for the sector inevitably reflect differing assumptions about teaching, teacher knowledge and governance. In exploring ITE across the four jurisdictions, this paper reviews policies and practices through two major focuses: first, the relationships between the declared teacher Standards (competencies/ competences) and research-informed teacher education provision; second, the 'turn or (re)turn to the practical' in teacher education, including policy declarations, changes in practices, and emphases and effects of the discourse(s) of relevance.
This article critically examines pupil councils as a means of developing pupils’ citizenship part... more This article critically examines pupil councils as a means of developing pupils’ citizenship participation. It draws on findings across two research projects. The first study is a mixed method study commissioned by Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) that reviews the range of participatory activities in Scottish schools and their contribution to Scotland’s major curriculum revision, the Curriculum for Excellence (CFE). The second is a longer ethnographic study examining young people’s experience of participation projects in more detail. The findings lend strength to the argument that pupil councils as a stand-alone approach are not an effective means of citizenship participation. When pupil councils are complemented by other participation activity across spheres of school interaction, young people’s understanding of and interest in participation can be greatly enhanced. The article examines the cross curricular linkages schools are making, the barriers that impede such linkages and the benefits derived from successful coordinated approaches in light of criteria for ‘graduated participation’ developed through decades of work internationally on children’s participation.
The need for capacity-building in teacher education in the UK has been raised as a serious issue ... more The need for capacity-building in teacher education in the UK has been raised as a serious issue by a number of commentators. Tensions about the place of research in teacher education have persisted for many decades, but following changes to the core funding mechanisms in the UK, the maintenance of education research bases within many universities has become increasingly tenuous. This paper provides an analytical account of an initiative conducted by the Teacher Education Group (TEG) to build research capacity in teacher education. With reference to a review of the national contexts for research in the UK and research on teacher educators, the article argues that, in order to build research capacity initiatives we need to provide motivation and new types of networking opportunities for researchers, as well as developing their expertise. In developing this argument, the article also explore the relationships between national policy changes, institutional research cultures and individual habitus and agency in research capacity-building. The paper also describes a new initiative in England, the Teacher Education Research Network (TERN).
This report presents the findings of independent research on teacher workload in Scotland. It was... more This report presents the findings of independent research on teacher workload in Scotland. It was commissioned by the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), the largest teacher trade union in Scotland, which represents over 80% of all teachers across nursery, primary and secondary education. The research fulfils a resolution adopted at the 2022 EIS Annual General Meeting to contract ‘independent research that considers the workload of teachers, the extra hours they work beyond their contractual hours as a consequence of their workload, and the main reasons for the failure to achieve a 35-hour working week for teachers’.
A sequential mixed-method design using an online time use diary and semi-structured individual interviews was deployed to the address the following research questions: • What are the main activities that constitute teacher workload? • What is the balance of this workload over the working week? • What extra hours do teachers work beyond their contractual hours? • Where do workload demands come from, out with class contact time?
The views expressed in the report are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those... more The views expressed in the report are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Scottish Government or any other organisation(s) by which the author(s) is/are employed. The Scottish Government is making this research report available on-line in order to provide access to its contents for those interested in the subject. The Scottish Government commissioned the research but has not exercised editorial control over the report. This report and research findings are published by Education Analytical Services,
RASE: Revista de la Asociación de Sociología de la Educación, 2017
Teaching and teacher education in England have been subject to thirty years of sustained public s... more Teaching and teacher education in England have been subject to thirty years of sustained public scrutiny and political intervention (Furlong, 2013). A range of technologies have enhanced central control and promoted cultures of disciplined self-steering. These include systems of specification (through Teachers' Standards), measurement and comparison (through the audit of 'hard' performance indicators and periodic inspection of schools and teacher education), and prescribed forms of reflexive self-monitoring (quality assurance and evaluation processes). This article offers a critical analysis of the re-positioning of teaching and teacher education in England achieved by successive governments from the mid-1980s. Following a review of the trajectory of policies concerned with teacher development, three questions are addressed. How is teaching (re-)conceptualised in the reform of the Teachers' Standards in England? What emergent models of professionalism are discernible in recent drives to modernise and liberate the teaching profession? How do enduring models of 'occupational professionalism' (Evetts, 2011) interact with current moves towards localism in public service provision, diversification of school type and de-centralisation of education and children's services? The article concludes by identifying areas of tension between devolution of social responsibility and the promotion of local accountability, and the continued development of a national teaching service conceived as a public good.
She has a particular interest in 'home-international' studies of public policy, especially educat... more She has a particular interest in 'home-international' studies of public policy, especially education, across the four nations of the UK. She is currently working on a comparative study of the UK and Republic of Ireland, Teacher Education in Times of Change (Policy Press, forthcoming).
This research was commissioned by Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) to evaluate the nature of ... more This research was commissioned by Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) to evaluate the nature of pupil participation in primary and secondary schools across Scotland. The specific objectives of the research were: · To describe what school staff and pupils understand by the term ‘pupil participation’. · To describe the range and usage of pupil participation mechanisms employed in schools. · To describe how school staff respect and respond to pupils’ views and ideas, and those of the wider community. · To identify the characteristics of schools and classrooms that facilitate effective pupil participation. · To identify possible barriers to the development of pupil participation in schools and to make suggestions about how these can be overcome. · To capture examples of effective practice of pupil participation. · To make suggestions about how pupil participation can help support the implementation of the Curriculum for Excellence.
This paper offers an analysis of the current state of teacher education research in the United Ki... more This paper offers an analysis of the current state of teacher education research in the United Kingdom (UK). It commences with a brief historical overview of developments over the last century. Some recent «capacity building» initiatives designed to enhance and develop teacher education research are described. There is then a focus on a particular web-based resource that draws together a significant number of publications in UK teacher education research from 2000-2008. This database is then analysed in order to identify in which journals and by which authors this work is produced. The range of methodological approaches and substantive areas of focus that appear to predominate in teacher education research in the UK are reviewed, according to categories within the database. This demonstrates that there are some very real challenges to be faced by teacher education researchers in the years ahead, similar but not identical to those faced elsewhere.
This paper offers a multi-dimensional analysis of publication outputs from teacher education rese... more This paper offers a multi-dimensional analysis of publication outputs from teacher education research published in the UK between 2000 and 2013. The analysis draws on a sample of 727 articles published in 39 journals. Using metrics data extracted from Elsevier's Scopus database, the analysis outlines the distribution of outputs and explores characteristics associated with productivity and influence. Conceptual and methodological issues with the enumeration of research quality and impact are identified, including quality criteria, citation practices and coverage in leading bibliometric databases. Several contextual factors are taken into consideration. These include author affiliation at the time of publication, university research ranking, Education subject ranking and the size of intake for programmes of initial teacher education. The analysis confirms an association between publication productivity and institutional type, with an inverse relation between large-scale engagement in the practices of teacher education (represented by student numbers) and the production of research on teacher education that is judged to be of high quality. This has implications for how the activities of university Schools of Education are valued and the prospects for research-informed teacher education in the UK.
The role and activities of national advisers engaged in the translation of globally mobile ideas ... more The role and activities of national advisers engaged in the translation of globally mobile ideas on effective teacher education has received little attention. Drawing on in-depth semi-structured interviews, this article explores how government appointed advisers acted as intermediaries in the translation of policy ideas in national reviews of teacher education in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (2010-2015). Three themes are addressed: (1) the localisation of international good practice; (2) the significance of time and temporality in local policy deliberation; and (3) the autonomy-engagement dynamic in government commissioned reviews of public policy fields. The article reports how advisers exhibited transgressive competence in the re-assembly of policy ideas in local spaces. With attention to time, space and positionality, the article concludes by emphasising the significance of localised political strategies in shaping policy choices and prospects for enactment.
... 1. This paper has been adapted from a paper presented at an international symposium held duri... more ... 1. This paper has been adapted from a paper presented at an international symposium held during the annual ... Paper presented at the European Conference on Educational Research. ... In the wake of the agreement, a consultancy firm was employed to undertake the first stage of ...
This paper examines the roles of research in teacher education across the four nations of the Uni... more This paper examines the roles of research in teacher education across the four nations of the United Kingdom. Both devolution and ongoing reviews of teacher education are facilitating a greater degree of cross-national divergence. England is becoming a distinct outlier, in which the locus for teacher education is moving increasingly away from Higher Education Institutions and towards an ever-growing number of school-based providers. While the idea of teaching as a research-based profession is increasingly evident in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, it seems that England, at least in respect of the political rhetoric, recent reforms and explicit definitions, is fixed on a contrastingly divergent trajectory towards the idea of teaching as a craft-based occupation, with a concomitant emphasis on a (re)turn to the practical. It is recommended that research is urgently needed to plot these divergences and to examine their consequences for teacher education, educational research and professionalism.
Governance in der Lehrerausbildung: Analysen aus England und Deutschland, 2014
Dieser Beitrag betrachtet die Veranderungsprozesse, die in der Lehrerbildung in England in den le... more Dieser Beitrag betrachtet die Veranderungsprozesse, die in der Lehrerbildung in England in den letzten Jahren angestosen wurden. Die aufgezeigten Trends zeigen sich konsistent mit dem zentral gesteuerten Ausbau eines markt-orientierten Ansatzes auch in diesem Bereich. So findet sich eine erhohte Diversifikation des Ausbildungsangebotes durch neue Qualifikations- und Berufseintrittswege, die wenige oder keine akademischen Ausbildungsanteile aufweisen, ebenso wie eine zunehmende Betonung von Leistungsergebnissen und Accountability. Insgesamt wurde durch die Veranderungen ein zersplittertes System der Lehrerbildung geschaffen, welches sich durch eine erhebliche Instabilitat insbesondere fur die traditionellen Anbieter von Lehrerbildungsprogrammen auszeichnet. Basierend auf einer grob vereinfachenden Sicht auf die Profession, wonach das Unterrichten und das hier zu vollziehende professionelle Handeln auf eine Liste messbarer Standards und Kompetenzen verkurzt werden konne, wurden diese Entwicklungen begleitet durch wachsende Vorbehalte gegenuber der Lehrtatigkeit als solcher.
across the four jurisdictions of the united Kingdom (england, northern ireland, scotland and wale... more across the four jurisdictions of the united Kingdom (england, northern ireland, scotland and wales) initial teacher education (iTe) is under active development, with its content, location, control and quality often the focuses of sustained debate. statutory and professional requirements for the sector inevitably reflect differing assumptions about teaching, teacher knowledge and governance. in exploring iTe across the four jurisdictions, this paper reviews policies and practices through two major focuses: first, the relationships between the declared teacher standards (competencies/ competences) and research-informed teacher education provision; second, the 'turn or (re)turn to the practical' in teacher education, including policy declarations, changes in practices, and emphases and effects of the discourse(s) of relevance.
Across the four jurisdictions of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wale... more Across the four jurisdictions of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) initial teacher education (ITE) is under active development, with its content, location, control and quality often the focuses of sustained debate. Statutory and professional requirements for the sector inevitably reflect differing assumptions about teaching, teacher knowledge and governance. In exploring ITE across the four jurisdictions, this paper reviews policies and practices through two major focuses: first, the relationships between the declared teacher Standards (competencies/ competences) and research-informed teacher education provision; second, the 'turn or (re)turn to the practical' in teacher education, including policy declarations, changes in practices, and emphases and effects of the discourse(s) of relevance.
This article critically examines pupil councils as a means of developing pupils’ citizenship part... more This article critically examines pupil councils as a means of developing pupils’ citizenship participation. It draws on findings across two research projects. The first study is a mixed method study commissioned by Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) that reviews the range of participatory activities in Scottish schools and their contribution to Scotland’s major curriculum revision, the Curriculum for Excellence (CFE). The second is a longer ethnographic study examining young people’s experience of participation projects in more detail. The findings lend strength to the argument that pupil councils as a stand-alone approach are not an effective means of citizenship participation. When pupil councils are complemented by other participation activity across spheres of school interaction, young people’s understanding of and interest in participation can be greatly enhanced. The article examines the cross curricular linkages schools are making, the barriers that impede such linkages and the benefits derived from successful coordinated approaches in light of criteria for ‘graduated participation’ developed through decades of work internationally on children’s participation.
The need for capacity-building in teacher education in the UK has been raised as a serious issue ... more The need for capacity-building in teacher education in the UK has been raised as a serious issue by a number of commentators. Tensions about the place of research in teacher education have persisted for many decades, but following changes to the core funding mechanisms in the UK, the maintenance of education research bases within many universities has become increasingly tenuous. This paper provides an analytical account of an initiative conducted by the Teacher Education Group (TEG) to build research capacity in teacher education. With reference to a review of the national contexts for research in the UK and research on teacher educators, the article argues that, in order to build research capacity initiatives we need to provide motivation and new types of networking opportunities for researchers, as well as developing their expertise. In developing this argument, the article also explore the relationships between national policy changes, institutional research cultures and individual habitus and agency in research capacity-building. The paper also describes a new initiative in England, the Teacher Education Research Network (TERN).
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Papers by Moira Hulme
General Meeting to contract ‘independent research that considers the workload of teachers, the extra hours they work beyond their contractual hours as a consequence of their workload, and the main reasons for the failure to achieve a 35-hour working week for teachers’.
A sequential mixed-method design using an online time use diary and semi-structured individual interviews was deployed to the address the following research questions:
• What are the main activities that constitute teacher workload?
• What is the balance of this workload over the working week?
• What extra hours do teachers work beyond their contractual hours?
• Where do workload demands come from, out with class contact time?
General Meeting to contract ‘independent research that considers the workload of teachers, the extra hours they work beyond their contractual hours as a consequence of their workload, and the main reasons for the failure to achieve a 35-hour working week for teachers’.
A sequential mixed-method design using an online time use diary and semi-structured individual interviews was deployed to the address the following research questions:
• What are the main activities that constitute teacher workload?
• What is the balance of this workload over the working week?
• What extra hours do teachers work beyond their contractual hours?
• Where do workload demands come from, out with class contact time?