The governance of a school network and implications for initial teacher education

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a case study of a local school network in England that is well established as a provider of initial teacher education (ITE). School networks are now the favoured providers of ITE in England in a ‘school-led’ system. Our evidence comes from participant observation and interviews conducted over a five-month period (more than 400 h of data collection). We present evidence of the strategic intent and enactment of this programme. The policy of ‘school-led’ ITE has been directed by statements suggesting that governance will operate through local networks. However, we also observe the impact of hierarchical and market governance. We review this evidence in terms of interactions between hierarchies, markets and networks and use this review to reflect on the discourse that has driven policy and the discourse that has resisted this policy direction in England.

KEYWORDS:

• ‘School-led’ initial teacher education
• school governance
• hierarchies, markets and networks
• teacher supply
• policy fracture

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the schools, teachers and PSTs who participated in this case study. We also benefitted from helpful comments from participants in the British Educational Research Association Conference 11^th – 13 September 2018, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Publications details withheld to preserve anonymity of the schools.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Monica Mincu

Monica Mincu is associate professor of comparative education at the University of Turin and affiliated to University of Bordeaux. Her work on teacher quality and school improvement looking into the role of research was a commissioned background paper for a key document on the teaching profession in England: Research and the Teaching Profession (BERA & RSA, 2014)

Peter Davies

Peter Davies is emeritus professor of education policy research at the University of Birmingham and affiliated professor at Stockholm University. His most recent book is Paying for Education: debating the price of progress published by Routledge.