Teacher educators

Issues of competence and professionalism

Policies and practices in The Netherlands

Three perspectives

• Professionalism, professional autonomy and professional accountability

• Dutch policy measures• Self-responsibility by the profession

Five perspectives on professionalism

1. Traits approach

2. Demands to modern ‘professionals’

3. A professionalisation project

4. An independent logic

5. The idealistic and altruïstic professional

Traits approach

• Compared to classical professions and professionals: doctors, lawyers, …

• Ideal characteristics:– Monopoly regulating the entrance to the

profession

– Ethical code and standards (exclusion from the profession)

– Strong academic knowledge base

– Independent

• Semi-, para- or proto-professions• Critics: Idealized and historical-cultural specific

characteristics

Modern demands to professionals

• Focus on outcomes• Limited budgets (efficiency)• Transparant and steerable• Accountablecontrol and bureaucracy

• No professional isolation – collaborative• No boundaries – multidisciplinairy• Lifelong learning

Professionalisation project

Emphasis on the development of a profession• Emancipation of a profession

or• Securing the quality of the profession

or• Self-interest: creating a monopoly, strengthening the

position in negotiations, increasing status and income

A seperate logic

Three logics (Freidson, 2001)• The free market• Bureaucracy• Professionalism

• Special position and work of professional asks for a seperate logic and steering

• Ensuring quality from within• Professional autonomy to be able to make

professional decisions

The idealistic and altruistic professional

• Power imbalance between customer and professional. Customer can’t judge the quality of the professional.

• Service oriented motives of the professional: contribution to society, not income.

• Professional freedom and mandate as condition and reward

• Condition: deserved public trust• Instrument: quality assurance from within by

professional codes, professional registers, …

If we want teachers (educators) to be(come) professionals …

• They need to have a professional mandate that respects and stimulates their expertise

• They need to take that professional responsibility seriously– By developing and maintaining clear quality standards and

codes– By tranparancy for public accountablity – By maintanance of professional quality (LLL)– By development of the knowledge base underlying teaching

Three stakeholders

Ministry

Employers/heads of dept

Teacher educators/prof. group

?

The Dutch policy

• 1993: The future of the teaching profession– Lack of professional status– Lack of lifelong learning– Low attractivity

• Professional standards and professional register …– Standards for teachers– Standards and register for teacher educators

• 2008: The Teaching Profession– Lack of incentives for LLL

– Low status

– Increased autonomy of schools has lead to complaints of teachers about a decrease in the professional mandate of teachers within schools

• Private Professional register for teachers (under development)• Development of a strong professional group?• Involvement of teachers in decisions in school on curriculum

and quality• Support of teacher initiatives with respect to schooling

Policy towards teacher educators

• Financial and mental support for the professional association for teacher educators VELON– Development of the standard and registration procedures

(1994)– Adaptation of the standard for schoolbased teacher

educators (2007)– Revision of standard and procedures (2009)– Development of the knowledge base for teacher educators

• Addressing the national conference for TEors• Agreements with employers on the qualification

levels of teacher educators (masters, PhD)

The perspective of the professionals

A national association of teacher educators (from 1975)• 1500 members (half of the teacher educators?) –HE based and

schoolbased• Those involved in the pre- and in-service learning of teachers”• Mission statement: to support the professional quality of the

profession (and increase professional awareness)• National conference, national journal of TE• SIGs (research in TE, induction of new TEors, Schoolbased TE,

ICT in TE, educators of teacher educators, …)• Professional standard• Professional register• Professional knowledge base …

A professional standard

• Developed in 1994• Revised in 2004• New version for schoolbased teacher educators in

2007• Development of different levels: basic, professional,

expert (2012?)

The professional standard for teacher educators

• Foundation: basic attitudes of teacher educators• Interpersonal and pedagogical: creates a safe (working)

atmosphere;• Didactical/methodological: creates for student teachers an

powerful, inspiring and stimulating learning environment;• Organisational: improvises if necessary;• Working with colleagues in the organisation: actively

contributes towards the development and implementation of the organisation’s outlook and policy;

• Working in a wider context: has a relevant network and keeps it up-to-date;

• Working on your own development: reflects systematically on their own pedagogical approach and (teaching) behaviour towards students, colleagues and others.

The registration procedure

• Voluntary• Focus on development and assessment

– Self-analysis– Development plan– Portfolio

• Assessment by peer-assessors• After four years: renewal of the registration• No formal status or recognition• 300 teacher educators are registered

Issues

• How to increase the number of registered teacher educators?– Make the register compulsory?– Entrance to the basic register after employment and

induction– Agreements with employers– Stronger role for registered teacher educators

• Development of a course to become teacher educator (develop a second order identity)

The perspective of the employers

+ Independent quality assurance of staff+ Instrument for professional development+ In-company groups

− Employment of teacher educators independent from VELON-registration

− Are registered TEors the ‘best’ TEors?− Value for money?

Roles and relations of three stakeholders

Ministry

Employers/heads of dept

Teacher educators/prof. group

?Employers/

heads of school