1 Fifty Years of ITE in New Zealand. What can we learn?Noeline Alcorn Address to TEFANZ forum 11 July 2017
2 Promise of new era. Three year programmes for primary teachers Kindergarten training moves to colleges All colleges include secondary programmes Continuing education of teachers through higher and advanced diplomas
3 Contextual issues Falling birthrate and emigration to AustraliaSavage cuts to teacher education – anxiety and stress for college staff Curriculum challenges from women, Māori groups, PPTA Calls for greater intake diversity Interventionist minister
4 Early 1980s Fallout from closures and redundanciesImpact of the 1986 Education and Science Select Committee Report (Scott report).
5 Contextual change from 1987Treasury brief to incoming government in 1987. Provider capture Competition ensures quality Higher education as a private not public good Expectations of the Picot and Hawke reports College leaders hope for freedom and independence
6 Independence? Colleges governed by Councils Principals as employersSetting own budgets Future visions BUT: Compliance Competition Financial survival
7 The Green Paper on teacher education 1997Written by MoE staff Sought minimum standards to ensure taxpayer funds were well spent Recommended a professional body for teachers to review and develop standards of professional competency Spoke of ‘functional competencies it [government] wishes to fund’.
8 Seeking connections and a voice for ITENZCTE Australian Council of Deans of Education TEFANZ
9 Education Workforce Advisory GroupRaising the status of the profession A postgraduate workforce? Evaluation of masters in teaching
10 Summary of history Changes to student bodyChanges to expectations of staff Changes to locus of programmes Change from practice-based programmes to research-based practice. Changes from diplomas to degrees to postgraduate qualifications Changes to societal and political expectations New Government bodies: MOE, ERO, NZQA, NZTC THROUGHOUT A lack of clear national strategy. Supply and demand key drivers.
11 Where to from here? Teacher education keeps changing and takes place in a context we cannot control. Basic tensions remain. Theory/practice. Working in schools as they are/questioning and challenging. EDUCANZ recommends systemic approach and adequate funding. Need to develop public and political trust in our work as Finns have done.
12 Global Education Reform Movement (GERM)Widespread contagion (orthodoxy) Good points: Education for all. A focus on learning. High expectations. BUT also Prescription, standardised testing, bureaucratic control and test-based accountability.
13 Answering TEFANZ questionsThere is no such thing as the ‘ideal’ in ITE for NZ. Contexts keep changing. Effective teachers are diverse and we need to seek to meet their needs in diverse ways. Non-negotiables. Helping ITE students develop a truly critical stance Working towards closer partnerships with schools and teachers. Continuing to inquire into and research both our own practice in ITE and the local, national and global contexts in which it takes place.
14 Step changes in ITE and predicting the futureThe idea is largely rhetoric. It is tempting to think that we have all the answers. Envisaging drastic change is over ambitious and fails to build on what has happened in the past. There is no one right answer. Diversity is important for us as well as school students.
15 What will education look like in the future? A guessGreater elision between ECE and primary schooling and between primary, secondary and tertiary. Increased information from digital sources. ITE needs to equip students to understand, evaluate and critique As a result we need to make our preparation programmes more adaptable
16 Returning to the past We should aim like the Campbell Committee to strive to graduate teachers with integrity, a sense of justice, imagination, and interests of breadth and dignity.