Conference Agenda

This session considers views in relation to entry requirements for individuals with ambitions to become teachers before they enter professional education for the achievement of a teaching qualification.

The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTC Scotland) is the teaching profession’s independent registration and regulation body in Scotland. The work of GTC Scotland is set out in legislation, with article 29 of The Public Services Reform (General Teaching Council for Scotland) Order 2011 detailing GTC Scotland’s responsibilities in relation to programmes of teacher education. GTC Scotland is required by the Order to determine provisions about the admission of individuals to courses resulting in a recognised teaching qualification for teachers of school education.

The Memorandum on Entry Requirements to Programmes of Initial Teacher Education (2019) outlines the minimum standards of qualification required by candidates wishing to apply to programmes of ITE in Scotland. The current Memorandum relates to teacher education programmes starting in academic year 2020 and beyond, until such time as a new memorandum is published. The content of the memorandum is periodically reviewed, and this is achieved through strong partnership working between GTC Scotland, partners in ITE, and other stakeholders who have an interest in the qualifications required for the admission of individuals to programmes of ITE. This review operates on a five-year cycle with the intent of aligning with the review of professional standards for teachers.

A current review of the Memorandum is underway involving targeted engagement with stakeholders and there is a growing expectation for change set within a broader context of national education reform (Scottish Government, 2023). Expectations from partners vary about what constitutes effective means for determining candidate suitability for entering a programme of education leading to the achievement of a professional standard and award of a teaching qualification.

These various views will be summarised along with the process of the review of arrangements with the aim of generating participant considerations of what it means to enter the teaching profession and the implications for high quality initial teacher education and teaching standards.

During the practicum element of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in Ireland, pre-service teachers work alongside one or more co-operating teachers. According to the Teaching Council of Ireland, the role of the cooperating teacher (CT) encompasses many different elements supporting the pre-service teacher (PST) to plan for teaching and learning appropriate to the pupils’ needs. In practice, the role of the cooperating teacher remains ambiguous with little practical support to guide the teacher enact the true potential of the relationship. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to explore the potential of a collaborative inquiry approach to the development of pedagogical content knowledge, specifically in the post-primary Mathematics classroom. The study is guided by the following research questions:

1. How can a collaborative inquiry model support the development of pedagogical content knowledge for a PST in the Mathematics classroom?

2. How can a collaborative inquiry model support the enhancement of pedagogical content knowledge for a CT in the Mathematics classroom?

3. How can a structured, collaborative inquiry support model promote a dialogic reciprocal relationship between both PST and CT?

The overarching concept underpinning this research is the idea of collaborative professionalism. Collaborative professionalism is, essentially, when two or more teachers work together to improve teaching and learning. Hargreaves and O’Connor clearly differentiate between professional collaboration and collaborative professionalism by stating that the latter is “organized in an evidence-informed, but not data-driven, way through rigorous planning, deep and sometimes demanding dialogue, candid but constructive feedback and continuous collaborative inquiry.” (2018, p. 4) The contention in this paper is that both PST and CT have an opportunity to learn in partnership, in a model of collaborative or co-inquiry. A key element of this research, therefore, is a co-constructed intervention to scaffold and support dialogic professional conversations.

Educational Design research or design-based research is the chosen methodology in this research study which is situated in a Higher Education Institution in Ireland, during the practicum element of an Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme. The population under consideration is a cohort of students studying for the Professional Master of Education (PME), with subject methodology in Mathematics, alongside the Co-operating Teacher assigned to them in their placement school. A multi-methods approach will be used in this study, where the quantitative data collected first, will explore that ‘what’ in terms of participants experience and practice. The qualitative data will then examine ‘how’ those practices play out in the specific classroom contexts.

The benefits of this research are that it will add to the insights on the PST-CT collaborative relationship. It is hoped that a dialogic model for future use will emerge from this research which would support reciprocity further in the PST-CT professional relationship, as well as enhance the partnership model between universities and the sites of practice for the practicum element.

Building collaborative relationships between PSTs and their CTs, as well as strengthening partnerships between schools and HEIs, is clearly linked to the conference theme of “Quality Professional Education for Enhanced School Effectiveness and Improvement.”.