Conference Agenda

Innovation in Teacher Professional Learning in Europe Research, Policy and Practice is a book due to be published by Routledge in 2023, providing an overview of teacher professional learning and development in 14 European countries. The authors participating in this symposium will provide an insight into current policy and practice relating to PLD in their countries. Taken together, the three symposia in this series will enable an up-to-date commentary on the state of PLD in Europe.

During recent decades we can track a path going from teacher education as In-service training (INSET) to Continuing Professional Development (CPD) to Professional Learning and Development (Ostinelli and Crescentini, 2021). The first is usually conceived as an occasional complement to initial teacher education; the second is a continuing process typified by transmissive approaches (Timperley, 2011); the third, finally, includes learning under the form of evolutionary processes capable of generating professional expertise and mastery (Dreyfus and Dreyfuss, 2008), focusing on the teacher as an individual professional but forming part of a network of professional learners capable of providing adequate answers to the rapid and sudden changes affecting contemporary schooling.

Teacher professional learning in every country analysed here has been classified as pertaining to one or other of these categories. However, each school system also has its particularities, both in defining its approach to teacher professional learning and from a cultural/structural point of view. Moreover, the countries participating in this study are also different in terms of population, going from small nations like Wales to larger ones such as France or Italy.

The information here proposed can give a good background for future deepening and more precise studies on various issues concerning teacher professional learning. Questions of relevance for all the countries include the increasing prominence of informal professional learning, the incentives for participating in teacher professional development (including leadership development, Jones 2022) and how these may be aligned with needs, conditions and resources, and the issue of compulsoriness, in particular, the balance between prescription and option. Coaching (Kise, 2017), mentoring (Geeraerts et al., 2015) and professional learning networks (Handscomb and Brown, 2022) are associated practices that also deserve attention. Another important issue is how to balance and integrate in a lifewide-oriented organized approach what is performed autonomously and informally by teachers as professionals who take responsibility for their own learning.

Wales is part of the UK but, following devolution in 1999, has built and developed an education system separate from that of the other three UK nations. Although Wales has a population of just over 3 million and may be seen as a small education system, its cultural diversity, geography, economy and social composition has produced a complex mix of policy and practice. Since 2017 education in Wales has undergone significant change, including its curriculum, professional standards for teaching and leadership, and initial teacher education. Although key policy decisions are made centrally, policy implementation is largely devolved. Responsibility is subdivided into three tiers: the Welsh Government; 22 local authorities, arranged into four regional consortia; and schools. Different attempts to transform the system in Wales have been implemented in recent decades, and in relation to professional learning, policy drivers have swung repeatedly in response to ‘political’ or ‘professional’ influences (Jones, 2011), referred to as a “white knuckle ride for education in Wales” (Evans, 2015). Professional Learning is central to this change. There is a National Mission with a common purpose to build “a high-quality education profession”, emphasising co-constructing change through networking. However, a key challenge is ensuring that professional learning is supported in an equitable way, taking into consideration geographical location, areas of deprivation and language (Wales is a bilingual nation). Professional learning is most effective in collaborative cultures, but the learning process is individual (requiring active rather than passive engagement), often informal, and always complex (Strom and Viesca, 2021). A key challenge in making policy change work is to Identify and overcome potential obstacles to implementation. Supporting effective leadership of professional learning in post-pandemic complex environments is a high priority in achieving this (Jones, 2022).

Evans, G. (2015) A Class Apart. Learning the lessons of education in post-devolution Wales. Cardiff: Ashley Drake Publishing Ltd. Jones, K. (2011) Central, local and individual continuing professional development (CPD) priorities: changing policies of CPD in Wales Professional Development in Education Vol. 37, No. 5, 759–776 Jones, K. (2015) ‘Professional Development’ or ‘Professional Learning’ ... and does it matter? https://www.ewc.wales/site/index.php/en/about/staff-room/son-archive/43-english/about/blog-archive/93-ken-jones-professional-development-or-professional-learning-and-does-it-matter Jones, K. (2022) Leading Professional Learning Insight Paper National Academy for Educational Leadership Wales https://nael.cymru/insight/leading-professional-learning/ Strom, K.J. and Viesca, K.M. (2021) Towards a complex framework of teacher learning-practice, Professional Development in Education, 47:2-3, 209-224, DOI: 10.1080/19415257.2020.1827449

This paper explores the complexity of the professional development landscape in England (Woods et al., 2021). There are different types of school, routes into teaching, providers of professional development and interpretations of professional development and learning with a confusing variety of terms in use. The subtle differences between how people use these terms are significant because they influence teachers’ attitude, agency and understanding purpose. Some see professional development and learning as activities that teachers do or which are ‘delivered’ to them in a transmissive model; others see it as learning on the part of teachers with varying degrees of agency and others focus on the impact on pupils (Sims et al, 2021). At a time of challenges in recruitment and retention, the English government policy purports to create a ‘golden thread’ of development from initial training and education through to middle leadership, headship and executive leadership (DfE, 2022, p5) with nationally designed programmes set out as a framework of content organised into ‘learn that’ and ‘learn how to’ statements. The Early Career Framework for new teachers aims to enhance retention but its approach is controversial (Ovenden-Hope, 2022). Alongside these are more grassroots opportunities and initiatives such as professional learning networks and communities leading their own research and activities for sustained improvement. Research into the impact on professional learning and wellbeing will be explored.

Department for Education (2022). Delivering world-class teacher development – policy paper. London: DfE. Ovenden-Hope, T. (Ed.) (2022). The Early Career Framework: origins, outcomes and opportunities. John Catt. Sims, S., Fletcher-Wood, H., O’Mara-Eves, A., Cottingham, S., Stansfield, C., Van Herwegen, J., & Anders, J. (2021). What are the Characteristics of Teacher Professional Development that Increase Pupil Achievement? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Education Endowment Fund. Woods, P.A., Torrance, D., Donnelly, C., Hamilton, T., Jones, K., & Potter, I. (2021).Diverging systems of educational leadership in the four nations of the United Kingdom? School Leadership and Management, 41(1-2),1-5.

Teacher professional learning has been a major element in Scottish education policy as part of efforts to bring about system-wide improvement in learner outcomes. Initially, professional development was a tool for the implementation of wide ranging top-down reforms to the curriculum and school management. However, in the ‘Empowerment Agenda’ policy reform programme to create a school and teacher-led system, schools are to develop approaches to the curriculum and learning to address the needs of all learners in their school. Career-long professional learning (CLPL) is a means of mobilising the profession to address an enduring poverty-related attainment gap. This paper will discuss briefly key milestones in the development of CLPL, the use of practice-based learning, modelling professional learning, professional standards and re-accreditation. Significant investment has been made to engage teachers in CLPL, where CLPL sits at the centre of teacher professionalism. However, as Scottish education faces unrest and funding issues, there are questions about the sustaining the profession-wide engagement in CLPL. The paper raises issues regarding collaborative learning, teacher agency and the impact of professional learning on school improvement.

Forde, C. (2011b). Approaches to professional learning. In C. Forde and J. O’Brien (eds.) Coaching and mentoring: Developing teachers and leaders (17-31). Edinburgh: Dunedin Press. Forde, C., & McMahon, M. (2019). Teacher Quality, Professional Learning and Policy. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Forde, C., McMahon, M. A., Hamilton, G., & Murray, R. (2017). Rethinking professional standards to promote professional learning. Professional Development in Education, 42(1), 19-35. GTCS (2019). The National Model of Professional Learning. Edinburgh: GCTS. GTCS (n.d.). Professional Standards for Teachers. Edinburgh: GTCS, from https://www.gtcs.org.uk/professional-standards/professional-standards-for-teachers/ (accessed 1st May 2022). Scottish Government (2017) Education Governance Next Steps. Edinburgh: SG. Scottish Government (2018) Education Reform – Joint Agreement. Edinburgh: SG. Scottish Government (2019) Empowering Schools Education Reform: Progress Report. Edinburgh: SG.

Teacher learning in Northern Ireland occurs in the unique context of an education system where the historical and political legacies of the past continue to be manifest in a denominationally divided school system (Gallagher, 2021: p.13) though with a growing ‘integrated’ school system. With a population of 1.9 million, Northern Ireland is a small state within the United Kindgom (UK). Sharing a land border with the Republic of Ireland (RoI), it has been described as having ‘the smallest school population in the UK but with a structural design that is amongst the most complex’ (Gallagher, 2021: p.147). As one of the three devolved administrations of the United Kingdom (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) its Department of Education (DE) has responsibility for education and for teachers in Northern Ireland. However, the development of the teaching profession, and teachers’ professional learning, has been impacted by many factors relating to its unique political context and the legacy of the circumstances in which the Northern Ireland state was established. In fact, devolution in Northern Ireland has followed a ‘stop-start’ approach that impacted on the ways in which innovation in teacher professional learning has evolved. There have been a series of reviews of education in Northern Ireland and the inability to progress the outcomes of these is perhaps indicative of complexities associated with introducing change in education in the Northern Ireland context. It is against this backdrop, that our presentation will explore teacher learning in Northern Ireland. Conceptual models of the teacher and teaching, which are key pillars in the teacher learning strategy as it has evolved since the early 2000s, are considered, looking closely at Teaching: the Reflective Profession (GTCNI, 2007) and Learning Leaders (DE, 2016), as well as arrangements for early professional development (EPD). We will consider the ways in which teacher learning has evolved and some of the challenges facing the wider implementation of policy and teachers’ engagement with it.

Department of Education for Northern Ireland - DE (2016) Learning Leaders: A Strategy for Teacher Professional Learning. Bangor: DENI. Gallagher, T., (2021) ‘Governance and leadership in education policy making and school development in a divided society’, School Leadership & Management, 41:1-2, 132-151, DOI: 10.1080/13632434.2021.1887116 General Teaching Council Northern Ireland - GTCN (2007) Teaching: The Reflective Profession Belfast: GTCNI https://gtcni.org.uk/professional-space/professional-competence/teaching-the-reflective-profession