AHDS Annual Conference November 2014 'Teaching Scotland's Future: What you need to know and do.' Workshop by Dr Deirdre Torrance and Dr Ann Rae from Edinburgh University on partnership working

1. AHDS Partnership Workshop:
University of Edinburgh
Teacher Education
Partnerships
Deirdre Torrance: Co-Director of Teacher
Education Partnerships
Ann Rae: Programme Director for the MA
Primary Education ‘with’ suite

2. UofE Teacher Education Partnership
City of Edinburgh
East Lothian
Fife
Midlothian
Scottish Borders
West Lothian

3. Extended Partnership
Clackmannanshire
Stirling
Educational Institute of Scotland
--------
Education Scotland
General Teaching Council
Scottish Council of Independent Schools

4. What is your experience
of partnership?
Reflect on your own experiences in
partnership relationships in relation to
each of the following levels:

5. P
a
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t
n
e
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s
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p
Level 3
- Genuinely collaborative development from outset of proposed (new?) practice. Concept of what is envisaged may be in
place but development of this and what it will mean in practice is genuinely open to significant adaption
- Genuinely collaborative evaluation for further development and decisions about next steps; where possible involving
partners in design and/or analysis as well as in collective decisions about next steps
Project leader role: probably adopting an initiator / organiser role BUT…maintaining a genuine openness to group
suggestions , with power of democratic decision making and steering of direction regularly performed as being very similar
to those of other members of working group.
Partners believe they are/ have been/will be as fully involved as they wished to be and that they were involved in a process
of co-creation
Level 2
Genuinely consultative development but present ‘partners’ with an existing/ pre-determined model in which, to date, they
have had minimal/no opportunity for involvement or co-creation at a conceptual level. Response and feedback on how to
implement/improve is openly invited
Although they believe that, to date, they have been, for the most part, recipients of the University ideas and related
materials/practices, partners are confident that they now have a realistic opportunity to be actively involved in co-development
and a real say in what happens next. They believe they now have the opportunity to be as fully involved as they
wish to be.
Level 1
Co-opting partners (probably out of necessity at this stage of the process) to implement /provide feedback/evaluate a
document/ set of practices in which they, themselves, have been offered minimal or no realistic opportunity for their
involvement at a conceptual level to date. Participation invited is predominantly at an operational level and is often task
orientated rather than process-focused. Changes sought are at a fairly superficial level e.g. tweaking /responding with simple
feedback.
Partners believe it to be tokenistic consultation in that they perceive that their responses are sought as a matter of protocol
rather than in the spirit and practice of genuine consultation or truly collaborative working. They do not believe they have had
the opportunity to be as involved in the development as they may wish to be/ have wished to have been.

6. 4 Distinct Areas for Partnership
Our Partnership has focused on all four of the
Scottish Government development areas for
Teacher Education Partnership:
• Initial Teacher Education
• Early Phase Professional Learning
• Career-Long Professional Learning
• Educational Leadership

7. The original national principles for partnership:
• Quality of Student Learning Experience
• Clarity
• Reciprocity
• University Academic Standards
• Professional Standards
• Continuity
• Collaborative engagement
• Joint assessment
• Training and support
• Need for clear and consistent documentation

8. Our partnership, like other partnerships, added:
• Career-long professional learning, including
leadership development
Leadership has been firmly positioned within the role of
every Scottish teacher:
• Donaldson (2010/11) Review of Teacher Education
• McCormac (2011) Review of Teacher Employment
• GTCS (2012) revised suite of Professional Standards
• GTCS (2012) five yearly cycle of Professional Update
• GTCS/Educ Scotland (2012) Leadership Framework
• Scottish College for Educational Leadership

9. UofE Teacher Education Partnership

10. 4 SG Grants for Partnership
Scottish Government funding to support:
•Early Phase professional learning inc. ITE
•enhanced understandings of developing
CLPL at Masters level
•an increase in Masters level learning
•engagement with teachers

12. UofE Teacher Education Partnership
One Example of ITE Initiatives

13. The five ITE programmes are:
•MA in Primary Education ‘with’ Earth
Sciences, History, Mathematics, Modern
Languages (German), Religious Studies, or
Scottish Studies
•MA in Gaelic and Primary Education
•MA in Physical Education
•PGDE (Primary)
•PGDE (Secondary)

14. MA Hons in Primary Education with …
6 programmes
•Earth sciences
•History
•Mathematics
•Modern languages - German
•Religious studies
•Scottish studies

15. MA Primary education programmes –
structure:
4 strands
•With
•Primary studies
•Educational studies
•Professional experience and practice

16. Professional experience and practice (PEP)

17. Moving to work together on the MA in Primary
education:
Year 2 Professional Experience and Practice (PEP)
Year 2 PEP
8 serial days
•4 in mainstream
•4 in non-mainstream education setting, for
example a community group or a third sector
organisation

18. Moving to work together on the MA in Primary
education:
Year 3 Professional Experience and Practice (PEP)
Year 3 PEP
Year long placement

19. Discuss:
What are some of the opportunities
and challenges in working more
closely in partnership for the initial
education of teachers?

20. UofE Teacher Education Partnership
National Developments Informing the
Masters Level Learning Initiatives

21. Professional Enquiry
Adapted from Reeves et al. (2002)

22. Practitioner Enquiry
Accomplished and enquiring professionals
demonstrating a range of skills and qualities as:
•adaptive experts
•knowledge creators
•curriculum developers
•practitioner enquirers
•critical thinkers
•collaborative practitioners
•leading learners

23. Robertson and Robinson (2012)

24. Leadership – Global Perspective
School leadership is second only to classroom
teaching as an influence on pupil learning. …
Leadership acts as a catalyst without which
other good things are quite unlikely to happen.
Leithwood et al. (2008: 28)
Moreover, the improvement of leadership
capacity has been identified as ‘a top priority
and an area where more has to be done’.
(Barber et al., 2010: 5)

25. Leadership – Scottish Perspective
School leadership has been recognised as a
national priority in the:
•Review of Teacher Education (Donaldson, 2011)
•Review of Teacher Employment (McCormac, 2011)
•Revised Professional Standards (GTCS, 2012)

26. Masters Level CLPL
Teaching Scotland’s Future (Donaldson,
2011) identified an aspiration that Scotland
would move towards teaching as a Masters
profession with the intention of improving
national standards of education.
International comparisons have led the
Scottish Government to conclude that
countries with a Masters teaching profession
perform better.

27. Masters Level Learning
• 5 characteristics comprising Level 11
• High quality professional dialogue
• Critical and informed reflection on
practice
• Comprehensive introduction to
different aspects of practitioner
enquiry/teacher leadership

28. Discuss:
What are some of the opportunities and
challenges that you are encountering in
relation to engaging teachers in leadership
in your school context?

29. The UoE Teacher Education Partnership
- Website:
• The public partnership webpages - accessible
through the main MH page or through:
http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/education/about-• Plus restricted access to group documents

32. Any other aspects for
further clarification or discussion?