Convened by Jill Blackmore (Deakin), facilitated by Marie Brennan (UC) and Viv White (NSN), and sponsored by several educational organisations, including AARE, this was a timely conference given that it was held against a backdrop of restructuring of many teacher education courses and on the verge of the release of several reports around the country on teacher education and education systems.
It is not as if teachers and teacher educators have not been in such situations before. There have been twenty-four reviews of teacher education in Australia since WWII, for instance. But as Bob Lingard (AARE President) noted in his remarks as the opening speaker, the world is changing rapidly and this requires us to continually review teacher education and our education systems. It requires such review to be cognisant of broader global contexts while also recognising that what teachers (including teacher educators) do is central to the educative process. For Mike Newby (Chair, University Council for Education of Teachers in the UK), it is the latter in particular that governments have forgotten or ignored as we have 'moved into the future, backwards'. By this he means both a misplaced focus on the past and that the emphasis on standards (for students, teachers, schools and universities) has looked more like standardisation (the same way of thinking applied to everyone and everything). This has de-emphasised the roles of teachers as professionals, as 'learning champions', and as 'priests' or mediators between knowledge and students. In his address, Mike suggested that past government indiscretions and, to a lesser degree, those of teacher educators, have meant that now 'the air is full of chickens coming home to roost'. In short, there is a need to 'write a more creative story' for teacher education, one that Richard Bates (President, Australian Council of Deans of Education) suggests needs to explicitly contain a normative element; it is not enough to simply address the technical issues.
The centrality of teaching, the explication of what good teaching involves, and the valuing of teachers' knowledges were significant themes at this conference. For example, Donna Marie Kennedy (Chair, OCT) spoke about the formation of the Ontario College of Teachers, a self-regulated body advancing the legitimacy and value of teachers' knowledges that go beyond standardised curricula. Robyn Paull (Co-chair, MACVIT) spoke similarly about intentions in Victoria, finding voice in the newly established Ministerial Advisory Committee for the Victorian Institute of Teaching. And Jenny Gore (Chair, NSW Teacher Council) argued that preparing teachers who can produce high quality outcomes for all of their students required teacher educators to give greater importance in what they do and say about good classroom practices; that is, 'productive pedagogies' that are characterised by intellectual quality, relevance, supportive classroom environments and recognition of difference. In short, what teachers do, matters. Such emphases are a welcome relief from narrow market-liberal and laissez faire approaches to teaching promoted in some quarters that reposition teaching as learning management and teachers as learning managers.
Discussion at the conference also encompassed broader notions of 'teacher', including legitimation of teacher educators as teachers, not just because of some past and particular occupation but on the basis of what they currently do in their university classes. Similarly, the work of teachers in schools and at other sites was recognised as including research; a position well argued in the address by Jill Flack, a primary school teacher who spoke convincingly and passionately about her teaching-research work. However, for Jill and others like her, contemporary 'education systems are not well equipped to support teachers as they research'. We need to do more to create spaces that transcend traditional boundaries.
Such 'boundary crossings' were also addressed by Brenda Cherednichenko (VUT) in relation to the partnerships established between VUT and its student supervisory teachers and schools. For Brenda, the basis for such partnerships is the promotion of student learning. What is required is 'the development of a discursive environment in the domain of teachers' knowledge and judgement' in which teachers and teacher educators both see their primary interest as 'direct contribution to the learning of students'. More broadly, John Graham (AEU) argued for a unified profession, one in which good partnerships are characterised by mutual concerns and matters of common interest. For John, this necessarily includes the coalescence of professional and industrial issues, not their (false) separation.
On a similar theme, Diane Mayer (UQ) suggested that Australian teacher education is experiencing problems at three levels: recruitment (teaching lacks contemporary appeal), preparation (there is an inadequate dealing with community issues), and retention (teachers who leave because they are not able to deal with students). In brief, what teacher education does well is instruct students in their (traditional) role as teachers; what it does not do well is address issues of teacher identity - what it means to be a teacher. For Diane, addressing such shortcomings necessarily means helping student-teachers to better connect with the communities in which schools are located. Bruce Muirhead (UQ) spoke similarly about making relevant connections between universities and their communities and about the way in which (academic and student) research and community service at UQ Ipswich is being structured to include needs as identified by its communities.
The structuring of the conference itself gave importance to this notion of creating spaces for discussion across groups. Workshop sessions were organised to allow participants to raise issues that they regarded as important. The participants in these were variously teachers, teacher educators, researchers and education bureaucrats, talking with one another, sometimes agreeing, sometimes not. Indeed, it provided a much richer representation of and dealing with issues than we have seen recently where single yet privileged interest groups are regarded by the federal government as advancing agendas on behalf of educators as a whole. Rather, many felt the conference provided a more comprehensive and productive model for future interactions and several looked to continue the discussions at future conferences and forums.
One particular issue that benefited from the above contextualisation of teaching and teacher education was the supply of teachers in Australia. Both Richard Bates and John Graham presented data illustrating the current shortage of teachers and its inevitable continuation over the next five years given current arrangements of designated university places and funding for teacher education. Fears were also expressed about possible 'quick fixes' that governments and institutions might pursue when they more fully appreciate these shortages and the need to address them. A second and related issue of concern was the current support for educational research. With 80% of all Australian research in education conducted within faculties of education, the conference was concerned about what new research funding arrangements for universities would mean for such research and for education generally.
In summing up the conference, Jill Blackmore suggested that the discussions had highlighted the fact that the issues are now so important, we as teachers, teacher educators and education bureaucrats need to:
It is time we recognise and advocate more publicly that a government that does not invest in education is irresponsible. Governments in Europe and the UK are beginning to make such investments. We need to continue to encourage Australian governments to act similarly.
Further information about the conference can be found at Deakin Centre for Education and Change URL
Trevor Gale
AARE Executive Member
Note: 'Recent Doctorates in Education' will reappear in the AARE News in 2001. Notification of recent graduates at your institution can be sent to t.gale@cqu.edu.au