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Reforming Initial Teacher Education in Wales

1. Summary of the impact

Research undertaken by members of the Teaching and Learning Research Group has been used to reshape the way in which teachers’ professional learning in Wales has been conceptualised, emphasising the importance of research and of partnered working between schools and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Reforms undertaken as a result of the research include: a new accreditation procedure, a revised inspection framework, and extensive investment in the development of education research capacity. These fundamental changes in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) have shaped the experiences of all trainee teachers in Wales, numbering approximately 2,700 per year. They have also had a major impact on hundreds of participating schools across Wales and their partner HEIs.

2. Underpinning research

The Teaching and Learning Research Group (now ‘Teacher Education and Professional Learning Research Group’), within Oxford’s Department of Education has a rich history of research on the professional education and training of teachers, dating back to the 1980s. These studies addressed research questions regarding the best means of educating teachers: e.g. what skills and knowledge might student teachers only learn through direct experience in schools; what is Higher Education best placed to contribute to teacher learning; what sort of partnership between schools and HEIs is needed to provide this training?

Key research leading to the impact described below included an England-wide evaluation of the effectiveness of the Teacher Training Agency’s National Partnership Programme, an initiative intended to promote partnership between teacher education providers, schools and other stakeholders, which was co-directed by Professor Furlong in 2006 [R1]. In the same year, Furlong and Hagger undertook an in-depth analysis of the practice and challenges of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in Wales [R2]. This study involved analysis of policy documents, interviews with stakeholders and on-site visits, focusing particularly on the provision of—and challenges facing—Welsh initial teacher training. It showed, for the first time, a high degree of ‘overproduction’ of primary teachers in Wales, as well as the weak financial position of many of the main providers of teacher education in Wales. Also in the same year, Hagger and McIntyre’s 2006 book made a significant contribution to the understanding of student teachers’ learning needs while based in school [R3]. Furlong drew together much of this and earlier work in his influential 2013 book Education—an anatomy of the discipline: Rescuing the university project, which was awarded book of the year in 2015 by the British Society for Educational Studies [R4]. This analysed the history as well as the current state of the discipline of education in universities, and highlighted the challenges and possibilities for university-provided teacher education. These themes and ideas were further developed in another output of an Oxford-held British Academy grant in Furlong’s book edited with Geoff Whitty, Knowledge and the Study of Education; an international exploration.

A study commissioned by BERA and the Royal Society of Arts (2013), chaired by Furlong, examined the contribution of research to teacher education. The review included an important and widely cited paper by Burn and Mutton on the development of ‘research-informed clinical practice’ in teacher education [R5]. This paper discussed how different forms of professional knowledge can be combined in a way that lays the foundations for further professional learning. Mutton and Burn’s emphasis on the need for collaborations between universities and schools in order to successfully implement research-informed practice, a theme developed further in their book with Hazel Hagger [R6], became a key element within the Furlong Report (see Section 4) and thereby into the new teacher-training structures subsequently implemented.

3. References to the research

[R1] Furlong, J., Campbell, A., Howson, J., Lewis, S. and McNamara, O. (2006) ‘Partnership in English Initial Teacher Education: changing times, changing definitions. Evidence from the Teacher Training Agency National Partnership Project’. Scottish Educational Review 37 (1) 32-45. http://www.scotedreview.org.uk/media/microsites/scottish-educational-review/documents/224.pdf [output type: D]

[R2] Furlong, J., Hagger, H. Butcher, C. and Howson, J. (2006) Review of Initial Teacher Training Provision in Wales; A report to the Welsh Assembly Government. Oxford: University of Oxford Department of Education. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.708.8643&rep=rep1&type=pdf [output type: N]

[R3] Hagger, H. and McIntyre, D. (2006). Learning Teaching from Teachers. Buckingham: Open University Press. [output type: A – available on request]

[R4] Furlong, J. (2013). Education—an anatomy of the discipline: Rescuing the university project. London: Routledge. [output type: A – available on request]

[R5] Burn, K., & Mutton, T. (2015). A review of ‘research-informed clinical practice’ in Initial Teacher Education. Oxford Review of Education, 41(2), 217–233. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03054985.2015.1020104 [output type: D]

[R6] Burn, K, Hagger, H and Mutton, T. (2015) Beginning Teachers’ Learning; Making experience count. Oxford: Critical Publishing. [output type: A – available on request]

4. Details of the impact

The Furlong Report

In September 2012, the Welsh Minister for Education and Skills announced a review of the quality and consistency of Initial Teacher Training (ITT) in Wales, with the intention of raising standards in Welsh Schools. The review was conducted by Professor Ralph Tabberer who, in July 2013, delivered his findings in a report [C1]. He concluded that ‘progress to improve ITT since [Furlong’s] 2006 review [R2] has been slow and Wales does not yet meet the top international benchmarks to which it aspires.’ Tabberer’s report recommended the appointment of an expert ITE Adviser to the Welsh Government and, in light of his previous research and report on this subject, Professor Furlong’s appointment was announced in March 2014. Drawing explicitly on the research of the Oxford Teaching and Learning Research Group described above, Furlong’s subsequent report , Teaching Tomorrow’s Teachers [C2], ‘highlighted the weaknesses of the existing model of teacher education in Wales and proposed an alternative, research-based vision of initial teacher education based on partnership and collaboration’ (Chair of the School of Education, University of Swansea) [C11].

Furlong’s report recommended a complete reform of the Welsh ITE system with the establishment of a new accreditation system [R3, R4]; new partnerships between HEIs and schools for the provision of ITE courses and programmes [R5, R6]; a changed approach to the inspection of ITE by Estyn, the education and training inspectorate for Wales [R1, 2]; and a significant strengthening of, and investment in, educational research in Wales to underpin ITE provision [R1, R5, R6]. These recommendations were adopted in full by the then Welsh Minister of Education, Huw Lewis [C3-8], who said ‘ Teaching Tomorrow’s Teachers set out a series of options for transforming initial teacher training in Wales. The steps I am setting out...will ensure that those recommendations are translated into tangible action on the ground and result in first class newly qualified practitioners of the future[C3]. Subsequently, Furlong was appointed to continue working with the Welsh Government to implement the changes. The report formed the foundation of an ITE change programme in Wales [C6], and consequently it, and its underlying research, underpinned the following key changes:

Creation of a New Accreditation System

In 2016, the Welsh government established a ‘task and finish group’ with Furlong as its chair to draw up a new accreditation system for ITE [C4, C11]. Drawing directly on the Oxford Research, the new Accreditation Criteria characterised effective professional learning as being based on the bringing together of a number of different forms of educational knowledge. They insisted that in the future all initial teacher education programmes ‘should be based on learning that is both rigorously practical and intellectually challenging at the same time’ [C4]. The aim of the new Criteria was to set out how that should be achieved in practice. Following formal consultation, the Criteria were published in 2017 by the Welsh government [C4]; new legislation then made them mandatory and established a Teacher Education Accreditation Board (TEAB) within the Education Workforce of Council (EWC), Wales. The new statutory powers afforded the EWC were, according to its chief executive, ‘ a direct consequence of the recommendations in Professor Furlong’s report “Teaching Tomorrow’s Teachers” of 2015’ [C9]. John Furlong was appointed the first chair of the TEAB and Hagger a member. As indicated within the Criteria, the new system directly shaped engagement with a wide variety of stakeholders and beneficiaries, including ‘ co-operating schools and teachers; Estyn; current and prospective student teachers; parents; teachers unions; the EWC; consortia and local authorities[C4, p3.].

The impact of the new process was far-reaching, as the Director of Teacher Education in the University of Wales Trinity St. David writes: *‘The impact of the new accreditation process and accreditation criteria encompasses all participants of the education system in Wales; the individual student teacher, practicing teachers, school leaders, higher education institutions and national policy makers. Each of these participants has benefited from the cultural shift advocated by the accreditation criteria, initially in the form of political and public debate leading to systemic change through new policy developments, and then through an enhanced and ongoing understanding of the need to reimagine and reinvent Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and professional learning in Wales.*’ [C13]. The Chair of the School of Education, University of Swansea, adds: ‘ The new Criteria had important implications for those higher education institutions that were delivering initial teacher education in Wales. [Furlong’s] work has meant a radical rethink and the major over-haul of a model of initial teacher education premised upon the University and schools as distinct entities in the provision of initial teacher training’ [C11].

A Partnership Model for the Provision of ITE

During the academic year 2017/8 all HEIs and their partnership schools that wished to offer ITE in the future were required to apply to the TEAB, setting out in detail how their revised courses would meet the new criteria. Following careful scrutiny, including on-site visits, the Board conditionally accredited six University-School partnerships in two rounds of applications. The Chair of the School of Education at the Swansea University found the process of applying for accreditation ‘ both challenging and uplifting’, but ultimately found that the co-construction process with schools led to a ‘ strong sense of partnership and collective professional responsibility[C11].

In all, the new TEAB accredited 11 programmes, launched September 2019, from 6 ITE Partnerships, with a further two acquiring accreditation in 2020. In total, the Partnerships involve some 80 lead schools from across Wales [C9], and hundreds of other schools working in networks with lead partner schools. To comply with the new accreditation criteria, schools needed access to the resources and training necessary to ensure that taking part in ITE could become one of their core responsibilities. To that end, HEIs were required to assume a clearer role in making available knowledge that is not always accessible in schools: from research, from theory and from good practice across Wales and internationally. To deliver this, HEIs had to establish appropriate staffing structures, staff development policies and a ‘scholarly culture’ amongst all ‘front line’ ITE staff. These changes have resulted, according to the Director of the Welsh Government’s Education Directorate, ‘ in a strengthened ITE provision, a deeper collaborative architecture across our school and university systems, and a basis for further reform in the way we support early career teachers’ [C10].

These fundamental changes in ITE [C5, C8] addressed an acknowledged problem, according to a former Headteacher who was heavily involved in project managing an HEI- school partnership in North Wales [C13]: ‘It had long been recognised by headteachers that there was an unhelpful disjoin between what we knew we needed to do to train and mentor new teachers and what the system would allow. The unhelpful separation of responsibilities between the HEI sector and schools created an artificial and detrimental disjoin of theory and practice: neither sector really knew what the other was doing and the trainee had the impossible job of trying to make the connections. Professor Furlong’s policy reform, which is predicated on being “both rigorously practical and intellectually challenging” deliberately connects learning and experiences into a useful corpus of evidence-informed practice.’ The impact of this alone is hugely significant for all partners: the reforms have shaped the experiences of all trainee teachers in Wales, numbering approximately 2,700 per year [C7]. These changes, according to the Chief Executive of the EWC, amount to a ‘significant culture shift for both universities and schools[C9]. The ultimate beneficiaries of this programme of change will, of course, be the children; pupils are forecast to number just over 257,000 pupils in Primary and 200,000 in Secondary schools in Wales in 2024/5 [C6].

Changes to the Inspection Framework

Teaching Tomorrow’s Teachers also recommended that Estyn’s inspection frameworks should be reviewed to ensure they supported the new ITE vision and the new partnerships. In Spring 2019, Estyn published new guidance for the inspection of ITE. ‘ This guidance’, according to the Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales, ‘ integrates the requirements of the Criteria for accreditation and those of the Professional standards for teaching and leadership into the common inspections framework to provide a handbook for inspectors designed to drive, maintain and enhance the quality of ITE in Wales. In all inspection areas, the guidance reflects the Criteria for accreditation, often using the language of the Criteria and its vision to support key concepts[C14]. The new framework, as in the new guidance and supplementary guidance published in Autumn 2019, now underpins all inspections and has shaped the way in which Partnerships implement training [C14].

Investment in Raising Research Capacity

Educational research capacity is central to the new vision of ITE in Wales [R5]. As Teaching Tomorrow’s Teachers noted, in 2015 that capacity was at a low ebb and further investment in raising research capacity was required. In response, the new Accreditation Criteria now require HEIs to demonstrate that all teaching staff have qualifications at a higher level than the course on which they are teaching and that if not, they should be working towards it. Furthermore, all HEI lecturers and tutors should endeavour to be research active and take lead roles in assimilating, conducting, publishing and supervising research [C4]. At the same time, as a former head teacher notes, teachers have also needed to develop a ‘ very conscious understanding of research practices, pedagogical methodologies and subject depth’ which were ‘ new territories for many schools in terms of our theoretical understanding’. Consequently, she adds, ‘ schools are learning and growing to meet the intellectual and practical needs of trainee teachers[C13].

5. Sources to corroborate the impact

[C1] A Review of Initial Teacher Training in Wales (2013), Professor Ralph Tabberer, commissioned by the Welsh Government. https://gov.wales/review-initial-teacher-training-itt-2013-professor-ralph-tabberer

[C2] Teaching Tomorrow’s Teachers (2015), Professor John Furlong, commissioned by the Welsh Government - https://gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2018-03/teaching-tomorrow%E2%80%99s-teachers.pdf

[C3] Huw Lewis, Wales Education Minister (2015), Times Higher Education

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/welsh-government-sets-out-radical-plans-transform-teacher-training

[C4] Criteria for the Accreditation of initial teacher education programmes in Wales,

February 2018. https://gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2018-09/criteria-for-the-accreditation-of-initial-teacher-education-programmes-in-wales.pdf

[C5] Quote from Education Work Force Council Website

Highlighting the background and research that underpins the Welsh Educational Reforms, particularly Furlong’s Teaching Tomorrow’s Teachers report.

[C6] HEFCW, W17/32HE Initial Teacher Education Intake Targets 2018/19 (2017), https://www.hefcw.ac.uk/en/publications/circulars/w17-32he-initial-teacher-education-intake-targets-2018-19/

Circular to all heads of HE institutions in Wales providing ITE, citing Furlong’s work as underpinning previous and ongoing policy reform

[C7] BBC News, It will be 'harder' to become a teacher in Wales, says Lewis (2015), https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-33238242

Article emphasising the importance of Furlong’s report and the number of trainee teachers in Wales each year (2,700) who will benefit from changes

[C8] BBC News, New teacher training locations for Wales unveiled (2018), https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-44657061

Article showing the links between ITE structural changes and Furlong’s report, emphasising the importance of research and new accreditation for raising standards

[C9] Letter - Chief Executive of the Education Workforce Council (EWC).

[C10] Letter - Director of The Education Directorate, Welsh Government.

[C11] Letter - Chair of the School of Education, University of Swansea.

[C12] Letter - Director of Teacher Education, University of Wales Trinity St David

[C13] Letter - Retired headteacher and expert advisor to the Welsh Government on ITE

[C14] Letter - Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales

Additional contextual information

Grant funding

Grant number Value of grant
EPRYUC00 / SG131230 £8,530