Does Teacher Education Need Research? Does Research Need Teacher Education?

Session Type: Invited Session

Abstract

Two recent publications (BERA/UCET 2012 and Furlong 2013) have demonstrated the links between teacher education and the infrastructure for educational research in the UK; both support Labaree’s (2006) observation that in the US, education as a whole has been and still is intimately bound up with teacher education. Given these links, current policy moves in the UK and the US to undermine the position of university led teacher education are (or should be) a source of considerable concern, not only for university based teacher educators, but for the whole educational research community. It was against this background that the British Education Research Association (BERA) and the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) established the Inquiry into Research and Teacher Education, with the aim of bringing together the international evidence on the contribution of research to all forms of teacher education. This symposium presents key findings from that Inquiry, findings that have major implications for teacher education and for the wider research community.

Sub Unit

• British Educational Research Association - BERA / British Educational Research Association

Cosponsors

• Division K - Teaching and Teacher Education

• Division L - Educational Policies and Politics / Division L - Educational Policy and Politics

Chair

• Ian Menter, University of Oxford

Participant

• Alis Oancea, University of Oxford

Papers

• Research and Teacher Education—The BERA-RSA Inquiry: Background - John Furlong, The University of Oxford

• Research and Teacher Education: The Interim Report - Louise Bamfield, Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce; Christopher Winch, Kings College, London; Janet Orchard, University of Bristol; Katharine Burn, University of Oxford; Trevor Mutton, University of Oxford

• Implications for Teacher Education and for Research in the United States - Marilyn Cochran-Smith, Boston College; Robert E. Floden, Michigan State University

Discussant

• Maria Teresa Tatto, Michigan State University