Teachers’ Experiences of Transformational Professional Learning Through Master’s Level Study: Becoming, Being and Belonging As a Teacher and Researcher

ABSTRACT

Teachers’ engagement in critical intellectual and research work in England has been challenged in recent years under hegemonic policies and practices in teacher education. Since 2019, centralisation, standardisation and accountability in teacher education have intensified, along with explicit criticism of university involvement. Some describe teaching in England as a ‘semi-profession’ where teachers are positioned as technicians and their engagement in wider ethical, moral and intellectual endeavours are discouraged. Within this challenging policy and practice context, this paper argues that there is a need to reconsider the space of professional learning over professional development for teachers, and that Master’s level qualifications can be site for potentially transformative learning experiences for teachers. An empirical research project is reported, where teachers’ lived experiences of engaging in critical intellectual and research work through part-time MA Education were systematically mapped and interrogated. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and video diaries. Analysis of significant episodes of each teacher’s narrative unlocked an understanding of their shared journeys as ‘becoming’, ‘being’ and ‘belonging’ as a teacher and a researcher. Conclusions and recommendations are presented which challenge current reductive policies and practices along with a call to prioritise teachers’ critical and intellectual knowledge and research work.

Keywords:

• teacher education
• professional learning
• research
• Master’s level study

8. Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

9. Ethical Approval

The empirical project reported was conducted under ethical approval from the Central University Research Ethics Committee (CUREC), University of Oxford. Informed consent including permission to publish was submitted by all participants.

Notes

^1. In England, both Initial Teacher Training (ITT) and Initial Teacher Education (ITE) are used by the DfE, Ofsted and providers. Some would argue that the terms training and education are different but not mutually exclusive (Chitty, 2009). Therefore, I use the term ITTE (Initial teacher Training and Education) throughout this paper.

^2. A fully-funded Master’s programme specifically for teachers was launched in 2008 and withdrawn from 2010 (see Thomas, 2017). Currently, in England, postgraduate loans are available for teachers, among others, who wish to pursue full- or part-time Master’s and/or Doctoral level study. Loans are available through application to Student Finance England and are repayable following completion of a course, with interest rates for Postgraduate loans currently at 7.1%.