Reflective Teaching in Further, Adult and Vocational Education

Margaret Gregson, Sam Duncan, Kevin Brosnan, Jay Derrick, Gary Husband, Lawrence Nixon, Trish Spedding, Rachel Stubley, Robin Webber Jones

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781350102019
• eBook ISBN: 9781350102026
• Edition: 5
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Adult Education

The definitive textbook for reflective professionals in further, adult and vocational education. Now updated with the latest research, the book offers extensive support for trainee and practising teachers in a variety of settings, for both practice-based training and career-long professionalism. Written by a collaborative author team of sector experts led by Maggie Gregson and Sam Duncan, Reflective Teaching in Further, Adult and Vocational Education offers two levels of support:
- practical guidance for practitioner success, with a focus on the key issues including planning and assessing learning and collaborative approaches to reflective practice
- evidence-informed 'principles' to aid understanding of how theories can effectively inform and develop teaching practices In addition to new case studies from a wider range of settings than ever before, the new edition offers broader national and international coverage, greater emphasis on work-based learning, and more ideas for exploring classroom communication and meeting a wider range of learner needs. Readings for Reflective Teaching in Further, Adult and Vocational Education directly compliments this book, providing access to key texts, working as a compact and portable library. reflectiveteaching.co.uk provides a treasure trove of additional support, including supplementary sector-specific material for considering questions around society's educational aims.

Part one

Becoming a reflective professional

1Identity  Who are we, and what do we stand for?

2Learning  How can we understand learner development?

3Reflection  How can we develop the quality of our teaching?

4Principles  What are the foundations of effective teaching and learning?

Supplementary chapters at reflectiveteaching.co.uk

This part recognizes the significance of the contribution we can make as professional teachers in FAVE, and introduces the activity of becoming a teacher.

In Chapter 1 we introduce ourselves and acknowledge the many factors that have influenced our decision to teach in FAVE. We discuss the characteristics, complexity and challenges of the sector. We offer an approach to understanding reflective practice, practitioner research and collaborative development. Chapter 2 offers ways of understanding ‘learning’ – which is the foundation of teacher judgement. After all, despite much complexity, learning is what it is all about! Chapter 3 introduces ideas about reflecting on our practices and why this is so important, while Chapter 4 provides an overview of ten principles of effective teaching and learning. These come from a major UK research and development programme and also draw on accumulated evidence from around the world. We signal underlying concepts that are more fully explored in the subsequent parts of this book.

Chapter 1

Identity

Who are we, and what do we stand for?

Introduction

Understanding ourselves as teachers

Becoming teachers and thinking about principles

Journeys into teaching: our stories

Values informing practice

Teacher identities

Our work as teachers

Knowing our sector and its learners

A broad and far-reaching sector

Who are the learners?

Why do people take up learning opportunities?

The wider context

Learning and teaching through life: Introducing reflection

Our view of teaching – provisional, contested and hugely experimental!

What does all this mean for a teacher in FAVE?

Introduction

This chapter focuses upon how we are drawn to the profession of teaching, how we understand the nature and purpose of FAVE and how we become good teachers within this sector. Goodson (2003) identifies how the forms of knowledge that we produce, use and develop as teachers are closely related to the feelings and perceptions we hold about ourselves and others, including what we believe to be the purposes of education and, crucially, what we and our learners think education is for (Biesta, 2015, Reading 1.1

).

A key issue here concerns our individual ‘identities’ and how these are influenced by our personal biographies, or ‘the story one tells (to oneself and others) of the events of one’s life’ (Duncan, 2015, p. 37), as well as by the cultural, social and political factors operating within and beyond the educational settings in which we work. In recognition of the importance of ‘biography’ and the different ways in which each of us has come into teaching, we begin this chapter with an exploration of the diverse pathways people take into this sector, followed by (and also by way of a personal introduction) the stories of our journeys into FAVE and the values which continue to inform and sustain our professional lives.

Understanding ourselves as teachers

Becoming teachers and thinking about principles

The Further, Adult and Vocational Education (FAVE) sector is broad and far-reaching, spanning forms of adult and community education as well as further and vocational education. It provides educational opportunities in various places and in all sorts of situations. It also opens up new spaces for learning for a very wide range of people for whom compulsory educational was not a success. Even the terminology used to describe the sector is diverse and ever-changing. Further, adult and vocational education is spoken about in different contexts, using different names, labels and acronyms. These terms include further education (FE), post-compulsory education and training (PCET), lifelong learning (LLL), permanent education (education permanente), liberal adult education, vocational education and training (VET), tertiary, adult and further education (TAFE), adult and community learning (ACL), community learning and development (CLD), learning and skills (LS) and the education and training sector. Yet the sheer diversity of its settings and those who work and study in them is one of its most enduring strengths. Many people come to study in this sector having had less than positive experiences in their formal schooling. Some may have had no previous formal schooling at all, while others may already have engaged extensively in education.

Teachers across the sector come from as wide a range of backgrounds as their learners. Many people who teach in this sector did not start out their working lives by making a deliberate decision to train to teach in this phase of education. Rather the FAVE sector is where a great many excellent teachers ‘end up’ or find their way after pursuing diverse early careers. They may have undertaken a teacher education course before starting teaching in the sector, or after having already taught for some time. Paths through, and opportunities for, teacher education are similarly diverse, and, we argue, this diversity is of great importance. Throughout this book we advocate a principled approach to the initial and continuing professional development of teachers. This means that we do not support the view that the role of the teachers and teaching can be reduced to the instrumental or technical delivery of knowledge for other people’s purposes. For us, teaching is a moral act concerned with the pursuit of individual and collective good framed by a concern for equity and social justice. That is why we look to educational values and principles to guide both teacher education and what we do every day as teachers. This may be a good time to note that throughout this book we will use the term ‘teachers’ for those who teach in the sector. We recognize that other terms are in use, including tutors, lecturers, trainers and practitioners, and also acknowledge that some find the term ‘teacher’ uncomfortably reminiscent of compulsory schooling. However, given there is no one term that everyone across this diverse sector can sign up to, we feel that at least the term ‘teacher’ is in keeping with what we do. In one way or another we all teach. We will also use the term ‘learner’ (rather than student or other terms) throughout this book for similar reasons.

This book is underpinned by the findings of the Economic and Social Research Council funded Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP), which took place over a period of ten years and involved over 100 educational research projects. This large-scale longitudinal research study developed and refined ten evidence-informed principles distilled from the outcomes of its many research projects and extensive consultations with UK teachers and other professionals in each major education sector. The TLRP programme also compared its findings with other research from around the world to produce ten guiding principles (see James and Pollard, 2012). These ten TRLP principles can be used to support the development of teachers’ professional judgement and contribute to educational policy making (see Chapter 4). These ten principles focus upon important and enduring issues in education and present what the TLRP programme found to be important regarding guiding principles for effective teaching and learning. The TLRP principles do not, however, seek to tell teachers what to do. Each principle is expressed at a level of generality which calls for contextual interpretation by a teacher in the light of their knowledge of the educational needs of learners and the circumstances in which they work. We will refer to these principles throughout this book.

See Chapter 4

TLRP principles

Two TLRP principles are of particular relevance to this chapter on identity and values in education:

Principle 1: Effective teaching and learning equips learners for life in its broadest se...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Using this book
• A summary of the book
• Part one Becoming a reflective professional
• 1 Identity Who are we, and what do we stand for?
• 2 Learning How can we understand learner development?
• 3 Reflection How can we develop the quality of our teaching?
• 4 Principles What are the foundations of effective teaching and learning?
• Part two Creating conditions for learning
• 5 Contexts What is, and what might be?
• 6 Relationships How are we getting on together?
• 7 Engagement How can we understand and ‘manage’ behaviour?
• 8 Spaces How are we creating environments for learning?
• Part three Teaching for learning
• 9 Curriculum What is to be taught and learned?
• 10 Planning How are we implementing the curriculum?
• 11 Pedagogy How can we develop effective strategies?
• 12 Communication How does language support learning?
• 13 Assessment How can assessment enhance learning?
• Part four Reflecting on consequences
• 14 Quality How do we evaluate the quality of teaching and learning?
• 15 Inclusion How are we enabling learning opportunities?
• Part five Deepening understanding
• 16 Expertise Conceptual tools for career-long fascination
• 17 Professionalism How does reflective teaching contribute to society?
• Acknowledgements
• Bibliography
• Index
• Copyright