The Master’s in Teaching and Learning: expanding utilitarianism in the continuing professional development of teachers in England

Abstract

The article focuses on the policy rhetoric of the Masters in Teaching and Learning (MTL). This is a new degree being launched in the summer of 2010 aimed, initially, at teachers who have just joined the profession. The degree presages the aspiration for a Master’s level teaching profession in England. Professional development as conceived in the MTL is continuous rather than continuing and permeating the vision is the language of ‘personalisation’. Teachers will be accompanied on the journey by an ‘in-school coach’. These notions suggest a highly tailored approach to continuing professional development (CPD), with careful attention to the identification of teachers’ needs and close support from a colleague. The article argues that, contrary to this impression, the MTL marks a new and significant step in expanding the utilitarianism of the English education system. The MTL represents a deepening hold on education by the state and a growing scepticism about the value of higher education in the CPD of teachers. It also aspires to a changing culture in schools as the workplace becomes the locus for the CPD of teachers. As other authors have described, the national character of education systems in Europe and in the Americas, Australia, New Zealand and Asia reflect an increasing instrumentality. The MTL, then, can be seen as part of a global phenomenon; in this case the policy lever of CPD is employed to support performative and audit policy agendas via a rigid accountability system. The MTL also represents a particular form of neo-liberal governmentality where increasing centralisation is ‘masked’ by a ‘simulacra of care’.

Keywords:

• discourse/analysis
• state

Acknowledgements

With thanks to the Teacher Education Research Network and Ian Stronach.

Notes

1. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) (2007–2010) was a UK government department responsible for issues, including education, affecting children and young people in England. The DCSF was replaced by the Department for Education after the change of UK government in 2010.

2. The Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) is the UK state-funded agency responsible for the training and development of the school workforce.

3. ‘Training Attention’ is one of the growing number of private companies providing frontline services to schools in the place of Local Authorities.