Conference Agenda

This poster will seek to illustrate a qualitative study of six newly-appointed headteachers in Scotland who have recently completed the mandatory qualification of Into Headship. As a course tutor on IH, the study is undertaken as the focus of my doctoral research.

In order to better understand the longer-term influences of the IH programme, I am curious to explore how former participants go on to further develop and apply their knowledge and understanding once appointed as headteachers post-programme. I am also interested in the significant prior learning and experiences participants bring to their IH studies and seek to explore the influence this has on them whilst on programme as well as post-programme.

Though IH is delivered by seven universities across Scotland, Education Scotland, which oversees the programme on behalf of the Scottish Government, collates an annual evaluative report. This report is based on a form of “satisfaction poll” completed by former participants at the point of course completion and is arguably unable to provide insights which deeply analyses or critically reflects upon the multiple influences of the IH programme. For IH, it is significant that only one study (Mowat, 2020) seeks to explore the ongoing development of former IH participants; however no studies were found which explicitly sought to do so over an extended time period or which studied former participants in permanent headship roles. Therefore, I believe it can be argued that there appears to be a clear “gap” in the field of knowledge related to the influence of the Into Headship programme.

Research Question

Taking account of the impact of leading during the COVID-19 global pandemic in Scotland:

In what ways do newly-appointed headteachers in Scotland perceive that their engagement in the Into Headship programme has influenced and continues to influence their leadership development in leading their school community?

1. Which aspects of participants’ leadership growth, sense of identity and related application of this understanding do they recognise to have been influenced /continue to be influenced (directly and/or indirectly) by engaging in the IH programme and in which ways?

2. Which aspects of participants’ leadership growth, sense of identity and related application of this understanding do they feel, have been/ are subject to other influences, contextual factors and other learning and in which ways?

Anticipated Outcomes

Through this study I hope to gain insights into:

• how study participants transfer and apply leadership knowledge & understanding gained in the IH programme in the various contexts they function within across the system.
• how study participants’ sense of identity as a headteacher has developed and continues to develop over time in their role as a newly-appointed headteacher
• what other significant influences study participants identify alongside the experience of engaging in the IH programme
• the part context, social learning, collaboration and engaging in networks/communities of practice plays in study participants’ ongoing development as headteachers

Key concepts are captured in a conceptual framework which has been constructed from the following dimensions:

• “Perceptions of Into Headship influences”, “Other influences” and their entanglement in the enactment of the headship role
• Notions of journeying i.e. personal and professional development over time, “Being, Becoming and Growing as a leader” (GTCS, 2021)
• The development of the professional, situated and personal identities of school leaders (Day et al., 2007)

Since the beginning of the new millennium, great efforts have been made at a European level on the integration of digital in education to overcome the monomediality, frontality, and transmissiveness of teaching-learning processes (e.g., European Commission et al., 2017).

Among the digital devices on the market, iPads, and other similar tablets, stand out for their affordances including portability, easy access to information, multitouch screen, and readiness for collaborative work (e.g., Henderson & Yeow, 2012). This translates into increasing autonomy, commitment, and motivation in learning activities, but also offering multiple opportunities to access the curriculum and a high degree of differentiation of the user's educational experience. Hence, one-to-one (1:1) learning initiatives started to be launched in Europe, especially in the Nordic countries. 1:1 learning initiatives are equipping all students of a given school, class, or age group with portable devices (e.g., laptops, netbooks, tablets, or smartphones) for learning purposes both at school and home (Bocconi et al., 2013).

However, research has long shown how the availability and adoption of digital equipment in the classroom are not automatically related to pupils’ academic performance (e.g., Hattie, 2009, 2015; Higgins et al., 2012, 2016). In other words, it is not the technology itself that makes the difference in achieving positive academic outcomes but how teachers integrate technologies in the classroom to improve and innovate education and training (Redecker & Punie, 2017). Therefore, what plays a significant role in influencing teachers’ behavior in the classroom is their preparation and perceptions of ICT integration (Abel et al., 2022). Unfortunately, most of the studies reveal teachers are not yet digitally competent (Fernández-Batanero et al., 2022). This became even clearer during the Covid-19 pandemic when teachers were revealed to be unprepared to set up forms of digital education (Lucisano, 2020; Ranieri et al., 2020).

It follows how important it is to intensify investment in didactic innovation, especially in terms of digital skills training in teachers (Commissione europea, 2020; European Commission et al., 2021 Ranieri et al., 2020). Teacher digital competence lies in knowing how to effectively integrate and use digital technologies at every stage of teaching and learning activities, considering the different contexts of use (European Commission et al., 2017).

Therefore, the study aimed at investigating the impact of a 1:1 iPad integration pilot project in a elementary school classroom through a professional development (PD) initiative with in-service teachers. PD is critical in enhancing teachers’ technology competence and confidence, thus promoting the successful use of technology in their teaching and students’ academic achievements (Abel et al., 2022). The study lasting one and a half calendar years involved 2 in-service teachers, a total of 23 first-grade (s.y. 2021-2022) pupils (13 female and 10 male), and their parents, of a elementary school in the Veneto Region, Italy. In addition, a control group of 17 students with similar background characteristics was also involved.

The application of a Design-Based Research (DBR) was chosen in the implementation and refinement of the teachers’ PD program. The DBR methodology is characterized by 1) being situated in a real educational context, 2) solving a real problem from the context, 3) focusing on the design and testing of a significant intervention, and 4) involving close collaboration between the researcher and stakeholders and multiple iterations to reach the best design of the intervention (Philippakos et al., 2021). A study on the use of iPad in teaching-learning processes in an Apple Distinguished School abroad was also performed.

At the end of the experimentation, the impact of the project will be determined in terms of teachers' PD and students' learning outcomes achieved thanks to the use of the digital tool.

An increasingly performative culture in higher education has tied the concept of ‘teaching excellence’ to ‘employability’. Consequently, higher education institutions and their academic teaching staff have been encouraged to rethink their approaches to embedding employability in the curriculum by collaborating with industry partners in the provision of ‘real-world learning’ (RWL) opportunities. Indeed, political discourse has positioned a culture of partnership at the forefront of higher education practice, reinforcing the importance of a positive experience of collaboration for all. The review of literature noted a prevalence of studies which have sought to identify and disseminate good practice in the development of real-world learning through collaboration. However, research into how collaborative practices can cultivate learners capable of transferring knowledge to real-world scenarios is in its infancy. Specifically, the lack of investigation into what employability means to students, academic staff and industry practitioners in the context of their experiences of RWL has been noted.

Focusing on the growing trend for collaboration between universities and industry partners in RWL provision and a desire to illuminate the diversity of experiences, this research examined a ‘direct’ model of collaboration (Bolden et al., 2009) involving one UK university and one local industry partner operating in the sport development sector. The resulting programme of RWL was aligned to a subject-specific strand of modules which were offered at the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications Level 4, Level 5 and Level 6 of one undergraduate degree course. Through the RWL programme, academic tutors and industry practitioners jointly supported students in applying subject-specific knowledge and skills to the real-world, via a combination of case studies, live briefs and extra-curricular activities, with the aim of enhancing employability for a career in the sport industry.

Adopting an interpretivist case study design and taking the programme as an illustrative example of RWL in UK higher education, three research questions were posed 1) How do stakeholders conceptualise and orientate to employability? 2) How is RWL experienced by different stakeholders? 3) How are stakeholders’ conceptualisations of employability and experiences of RWL related to the creation and maintenance of an employability culture?

The experiences of nine students, two academic tutors and four industry practitioners involved in the programme were explored via semi-structured interviews. A crystallised approach to analysis highlighted a series of critical incidents in the stakeholder experience of RWL. It is argued that stakeholders’ behavioural responses to such incidents are intertwined with their perception of the various aspects and functions of the RWL programme in which they are engaged and that these perceptions are simultaneously influenced by their beliefs about ‘employability’ in this context. Consequently, tension between stakeholders’ idealised beliefs about ‘employability’ and the reality of the RWL experiences provided through a university-industry collaboration actually presented challenges in the creation of the employability culture that such a programme of RWL demands. I therefore offer a ‘Framework for Establishing a Culture of Employability in RWL’ which is intended for educationalists to consider how the operations of a RWL programme may be manipulated to constrain or reify the occurrence of those critical incidents which will ultimately influence a stakeholder’s perception of the RWL programme and their beliefs or conceptions of ‘employability’.

This research project aims to develop, validate and evaluate a training proposal with a Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) approach that promotes creative thinking and teaching skills for the initial training of Primary School pre-service teachers (PST). It aims to contribute to the design of a course elaborated based on the formative proposal and their results, and also elaborate a set of guiding principles for similar formative strategies.

Educating people to achieve future and current needs, demands that we accomplish not only several learning competencies for the 21st century (P21, 2015) but also their impact on society. Science Education (SE) aims to educate citizens to be prepared to their right and duty to make decisions in a conscious and responsible way with the current society and future generations (Galvão et al., 2016).

To consolidate an education that promotes an integrated worldview, it´s crucial to have teachers scientifically prepared and aware of the several kinds of teaching-learning strategies (Rodrigues & Martins, 2018). Therefore, it´s essential that since the beginning of teacher education, teachers are presented to an integrated SE perspective through a Science, Technology and Society (STS) (Vieira et al., 2011) / Science, Technology, Society and Environment (STSE) orientation (Rodrigues, 2011).

STEAM education is an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning, grounded in active learning methodologies and with an emphasis on real-world problem-solving (Shernoff et al., 2017). This approach not only proposes interdisciplinary learning through STEAM areas, but also prepares learners for the professional context by developing skills such as good communication, collaborative work, and the enhancement of interpersonal skills (Perignat & Katz-Buonincontro, 2019).

Based on this premise, Challenge Based Learning (CBL) methodology aims to, in a collaborative, multidisciplinary and experiential way, identify, investigate and propose solutions to real problems with an STS orientation (Nichols et al., 2016). From this perspective, the integration of STEAM and CBL has been described as having great potential for the development of 21st-century learning skills (P21, 2015), such as creativity, problem-solving, and others (Sanders, 2019).

The association of these active learning methodologies in SE since the early years, prepares future generations to be real-problem solvers, applying cross-disciplinary concepts coupled with their creative, critical and collaborative skills (Burrows & Slater, 2015). This project highlights the development of creativity throughout learning process. Creativity is a cross-disciplinary skill to produce ideas and strategies, individually or collectively, that are original, critical, plausible and feasible (Beghetto, 2007; Craft, 2009). The educational context should be a driver of human creativity, not a limiting factor (Robinson & Aronica, 2015).

Based on the theoretical background presented, research questions and respective objectives were settled for this research:

General Question: How creative thinking and teaching skills can be promoted for science primary school teaching through a STEAM approach?

Specific Questions:

SQ1. How to develop a proposal for pre-service primary teachers' initial training through a STEAM approach promoting creative thinking?

SQ2. What are the effects of the STEAM formative proposal on developing creative thinking in pre-service primary teachers?

SQ3. What is the relation between the creative thinking level and developing primary science teaching competencies?

Research Goals:

G1. To develop (design, plan, validate, implement and evaluate) a STEAM & Creativity formative proposal that promotes the creative thinking of pre-service teachers.

G2. To evaluate the effects of the STEAM & Creativity formative proposal on the level of creative thinking and its relation to developing teaching skills.

G3. To develop a set of recommendations from the research results for primary school science teacher training.

Teacher Education (TE) study programs play a crucial role in providing efficient preparation to prospective teachers for their teaching career. The quality of teacher preparation determines the effectiveness of classroom instruction which in turn influences the quality of student learning (National Research Council, 2010, in Feuer et al., 2013). Hence, it is important to ensure that prospective teachers receive good preparation. The aims of this study are to identify the structural components of TE programs, to examine the balance between theoretical and practical courses, and to analyze the TE programs in selected universities from Lebanon and United Arab Emirates (UAE) by benchmarking them against the conceptual orientations of the theoretical framework of Feiman-Nemser.

In Lebanon, TE programs are offered by fifteen universities (El-Mouhayar & BouJaoude, 2012). Elementary school teachers are required to receive three years of undergraduate education at the Education Department of any university to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education or in Elementary Education. Furthermore, students holding a bachelor’s degree in any other field who want to become teachers can receive a TD by completing an additional year of study (“Education in Lebanon,” 2018).

The development of TE programs in the UAE has gone through several steps. In 1979, the Ministry of Education founded two-year teacher training colleges. In the mid-1980s, the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), the first public university in the UAE, took over the responsibility of teacher preparation from the government. (Gardner, 1995, in Gallagher, 2019). In 1998, the College of Education at Zayed University initiated TE. Afterwards, UAE’s first teachers’ college, Emirates College for Advanced Education (ECAE), started in-country TE (Gallagher, 2019). Obtaining a Bachelor of Education in the UAE equips graduates to be able to teach students of different ages. For the secondary grades, many schools require a degree in the teacher’s field of expertise in addition to the degree in education. (“Bachelor of Education in the UAE,” n.d.).

The theory of Sharon Feiman-Nemser will be used as a framework. According to this theory, a set of ideas that guides the practical activities in TE programs is known as an “orientation.” Such practical activities can be identified as developing courses, teaching, supervising, assessing, and planning programs. An orientation would identify the goals of TE and the ways of realizing these goals. Views of teaching and learning and theories about learning how to teach make a “conceptual orientation.” Five conceptual orientations have been identified, each having a proposition that features certain aspects of teaching and TE programs: academic, practical, technological, personal, and critical/social orientations (Feiman-Nemser, 1990).

Examining the effectiveness of TE programs may provide insight into how well graduates are prepared and equipped to satisfy the requirements of their workplace (Mayer et al., 2015). Exploring the course offerings, the required hours, practicum policies and hours, and the number of required content courses provides the possibility to make comparisons across different programs. Such types of information are usually accessible on institution websites and catalogs, and hence a researcher who is not an insider may access them and examine them (Feuer et al., 2013).

Based on the theoretical framework, a review of relevant literature, and a survey of the TE program structures of the universities from Lebanon and UAE selected for this study, the following research questions have been identified:

- Which theoretical elements of the conceptual framework of Feiman-Nemser theory are implemented in the TE curricula of universities in Lebanon and the UAE?

- What is the distribution of theoretical and practical courses in the structural frameworks of the TE programs of universities in Lebanon and the UAE?