Dr Rachel Shanks (University of Aberdeen)
Weighing up frameworks to measure the quality of initial teacher education in Scotland
Educational Studies Association of Ireland
Saturday 13th April at Radisson Blu Hotel, Sligo.
Shanks, R. (2019) Weighing up frameworks to measure the quality of initial teacher education in Scotland, Educational Studies Association of Ireland Conference 2019, Education in Times of Change, Choice and Challenge, St. Angela’s College and Radisson Blu Hotel, Sligo, 11–13th April 2019.
Abstract
In response to global narratives around teacher quality, governments see initial teacher education (ITE) as a way to prepare high quality teachers. While there may be international interest in improving teacher preparation, there is less certainty about what constitutes ‘quality’ in this context and how best to measure it. There are challenges in ensuring that measurements fit the aims of teacher education, that frameworks are context-appropriate and that they gain traction as a dependable way to identify quality rather than being rejected by stakeholders as inappropriate or irrelevant.
Against this backdrop, the Measuring Quality in Initial Teacher Education (MQuITE) project, funded by Scottish Government and supported by the General Teaching Council for Scotland, is developing and implementing a context-appropriate approach to measuring quality in ITE in Scotland. The project literature review explored: which components of ITE quality are measured; what these measurements can (and cannot) capture; and what the implications of this knowledge are for the development of a context-appropriate framework (Rauschenberger et al. 2017). An analysis by Feuer et al. (2013) outlines six areas related to ITE quality: admissions and recruitment criteria; quality and substance of instruction; quality of student teaching experience; faculty qualifications; effectiveness in preparing new teachers who are employable and stay in the field; and success in preparing high-quality teachers. These areas, and the evidence used to measure them, represent both inputs and outcomes of ITE programmes, as well as attempts to capture the design, content, and process of learning how to teach through ITE. The MQuITE team took these categorisations and developed their own framework which is presented here. Thus, this paper provides an overview of the literature which influenced the design, the process of re-contextualisation, and the development of the associated data collection tools for the MQuITE research project. Importantly, the paper raises questions about the applicability of this process across different national contexts and explores the situatedness of the concept of ‘quality’ of ITE in a particular place and time. The paper concludes with an assessment of the MQuITE framework in terms of its appeal to stakeholders beyond ITE providers.
References
Feuer, M.J., Floden, R.E., Chudowsky N. and Ahn, J. (2013) Evaluation of Teacher Preparation Programs: Purposes, Methods, and Policy Options. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Education.
Rauschenberger, E., Adams, P. & Kennedy, A. (2017). Measuring Quality in ITE: A literature review for Scotland’s MQuITE study. Edinburgh: Scottish Council of Deans of Education.