London Master School-Based Initiative: Job-Embedded Graduate Education and Professional Development

• In Event: Roundtable Session 18.
  In Roundtable Session: Developing Teacher Leaders to Reform Schools: An International Comparative Study in London and Florida

Abstract

Program Overview:
The School-Based MA Education program features generic and customised modules that are designed for partner schools dealing with leadership, policy, and pedagogical issues from an organisational, local and national perspective. It aims to develop teachers, school leaders and other school staff (such as Business Managers) in becoming critical thinkers and reflective practitioners (Schön, 1987). The program is a two-year, 180 (English) credit, job-embedded program that is delivered on-site and is bespoke to each partner school. The program is partly underwritten by government funding, and the remainder is either fully funded by the school or partly funded by school and individual teacher contributions.

Historical Development of the Program:
The program began in 2008, created in part to aid schools that are having to operate within a new public management system (Hood, 1991) that has become synonymous with a quasi-market that developed within the English education system (Ball, 2009, Hartley, 2008). The university and its Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Team cultivate partnerships with schools to develop and deliver the program to meet their needs, both in terms of having to operate in this new market driven education system and delivering on their strategic policies and school development and/or improvement plans.

Conceptual Framework:
The design of this program was based on an analysis of research on and experiences of teacher professional learning, leading to a comprehensive planning process that included school leaders. Following this process, a conceptual model was constructed with the aim of maximising the use of knowledge, experience and expertise across a school-university partnership to raise the quality of pupil learning experiences; develop leadership potential of school staff and a greater understanding of policy construction and implementation (Perryman et al., 2011). Key program features that are consistent with the literature base include:
• Locating the program entirely within schools and in integrating learning activities with day-to-day activities (Hodkinson & Hodkinson, 2005).
• Focusing teacher learning on issues within the school community of practice to address the concerns of school leaders about the relevance and influence of that learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991).
• Ensuring a focus on inquiry and reflection (Basit, 2010, Dana & Yendol-Hoppy, 2009) to help teachers develop critical reading and writing; collect and disseminate data and to better understand the impact of their learning on their pedagogical practices.
• Organizational conditions that enhance leadership learning and development and policy understanding (Fok et al., 2010, Leithwood et al., 2006, York-Barr & Duke, 2004).
These program features ensure the MA Education teachers develop and mature as masters’ students and teacher researchers, leaders, and policy enactors.

Evaluation Efforts:
There are two major evaluations that document the impact of the program. Both employ mixed methods and seek triangulation through quantitative questionnaires, teacher and other stakeholder interviews, and reference to secondary data and policy documents (Creamer, 2008). These evaluations are supported by ongoing teacher participant module evaluations after the completion of each individual module. All evaluations document the impact on classroom practice, school improvement plans, and leadership development.

Authors

• Helen Mitchell, University of East London

• Alex Alexandrou, Freelance Academic