The evolving codification of teachers’ work: Policy, politics and the consequences of pursuing quality control in Initial Teacher Education

Knight, Benjamin

Abstract

This paper documents the evolution of attempts to codify and standardize teachers’ work in the United Kingdom (UK), with particular attention to how this phenomenon has impacted the Initial Teacher Education (ITE) sector. In recent decades the teaching profession in the UK has undergone various iterations of competency criteria, culminating with the current policy, the Teachers’ Standards (TS) (DfE, 2011). Discussion focuses largely on the most rapid period in the evolution of competency-based approaches from 1997 to the present, analyzing aspects of the political landscape which have precipitated this rise. Two key themes evident in, and precipitated by, the Teachers’ Standards policy initiative are discussed: i) the political necessity for a reductionist view of teaching and learning and ii), the centrality of the teacher. It concludes by imagining how, taking these themes into account, the policy could evolve to become more useful to both teachers and pupils.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 31, 2016
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: Nov 3, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 8, 2016
• Journal: Teacher Education Advancement Network
• Print ISSN: 2054-5266
• Publisher: Teacher Education Advancement Network
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 4-13
• Keywords: ITE, teachers, quality
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/900782
• Publisher URL: http://194.81.189.19/ojs/index.php/TEAN/issue/view/61/showToc
• Contract Date: Nov 3, 2016