“The Market Will (Not) Decide”: School Direct, the State, and the Provision of Teacher Education in England

• In Event: Struggles for Control: International Perspectives on Teacher Education

Abstract

The Coalition Government elected in 2010 has enacted radical education policies while enforcing an austerity regime across public services in England. Teacher education has been a prime focus of Coalition policy and the key reform idea of 'School Direct' attempts to leverage control away from universities towards schools deemed 'outstanding'. Such schools may apply to become 'Teaching Schools', form alliances with others and bid to government for an allocation of 'places' for pre-service teachers. Teaching Schools may decide to purchase services from universities or to go it alone, disconnected from academic accreditation. The School Direct reform therefore represents perhaps the biggest challenge to higher education's involvement in teacher education ever seen in England. It is a disruptive innovation and, at the time of writing, many believe it is likely to create teacher shortage.
The purpose of this paper is to offer a critical analysis of School Direct and its evolution in the lived experience of schools in England. School Direct is an interesting example of a neoliberal reform ostensibly based on market principles inserted into a post-welfare state political economy. Given the austerity policies imposed by the Coalition, the reform was introduced without resources. Indeed, the reforms to higher education generally in England have created a fee economy where university courses in social sciences receive no direct government funding and have to rely on tuition fee income from student loans. The shift to student loan funding represents a major, still unworked-through change in the organisation of higher education in England.
In this context, prospective teachers are considering where to spend their loans. In a ‘market’ of 'providers' of pre-service teacher education - something the Coalition argues for - prospective teachers are therefore examining the track-record and branding of these providers. Given the debt they will accumulate, a history of successful involvement in teacher education and a good 'academic pedigree' will prove important. Perhaps unexpectedly, they are also perceiving the exchange value of Master's accreditation. Similarly, Teaching Schools see Master's accreditation as an added value and tool for teacher retention.
In attempting to manage this reform, the government has started to intervene in the market by, for example, writing to prospective teachers who have applied for 'traditional' courses, encouraging them to consider the School Direct alternative. It has also restricted the capacity of universities to admit teacher education students - and to accept their loan funding - by capping their student numbers in relation to their compliance with an inspection framework. At best, therefore, the current situation can be described as a quasi-market where the state intervenes to control and curtail supply.
Our data comprises texts in the public sphere (Circulars, White Papers, websites, email communications) as well as interviews with leaders of Teaching School alliances that are participating in the School Direct initiative. Given the profound disruption created by School Direct, this paper offers a timely analysis of changes in the structures of power and control in teacher education in England, specifically in relation to neoliberal commitments to market-based reforms.

Authors

• Viv Ellis, Brunel University

• Meg M. Maguire, Kings College, London