Research capacity in initial teacher education: trends in joining the ‘village’

ABSTRACT

Stenhouse’s image of the teaching profession as a ‘village’ could be interpreted as a parochial and insular view of teachers and their readiness to be involved in research. In this paper, I argue that the capacity for teachers to play a more active role in research is diminishing because of how research is situated in initial teacher education (ITE). Drawing on a study of five large-scale university-providers of ITE in different national contexts, I outline four trends. The first is that the role of universities within teacher education is precarious, along with the perceived value of research in teacher education. The second argues that prospective teachers do not perceive teaching as a research-based profession and therefore expect teacher education to be practice-orientated. Teacher education accountability structures downplay the significance of research as part of a teacher’s knowledge base and practical repertoire. And finally, the career trajectories and contractual arrangements of teacher educators reduces the overall research capacity of the field. Taken together, these four trends affect how (new) teachers are introduced to education research and diminish their capacity to be actively involved in education research throughout their careers. 

KEYWORDS:

• Initial teacher education
• research as pedagogy
• university
• teacher educators

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge and thank the generous support of the colleagues in each of the five locations, their students and school partners who enabled me to conduct this research in their institutions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Clare Brooks

Clare Brooks is Professor of Education and Pro-Director for Education at the UCL Institute of Education.