Professional Learning and Development of Teachers in England and Shanghai: Impact of Policy on Practice

• In Event: The Professional Learning and Development of Teachers in England and Shanghai: Opportunities and Effects

Abstract

Objectives
The economic imperative for education systems to achieve high quality outcomes for all students has intensified the focus on the quality of teaching in schools. The global nature of this concern is echoed in the often cited tenet that ‘the quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers’ (Barber and Mourshed, 2007, p13).
In this paper we examine the influence of policy mobility on professional learning and development (PLD) policy in two contexts: Shanghai and England. The purposes of this analysis are to:
1. illuminate how two jurisdictions with significantly different cultural and historical contexts formulate education policy;
2. compare how policy is enacted in each case site;
3. understand the impact of policy on developing effective classroom practice.
Theoretical Framework

Policy itself is an insufficient instrument for change. Our analysis therefore adopts policy enactment as a process that takes place in different sites and is subject to different interpretations and enactments (Ball et al, 2012).
Methods
The paper examines the processes and contexts that determine PLD policy formulation and enactment in the two case sites. Methods include: analysis of policy documents and empirical questionnaire and interview data from practising teachers.
Data Sources
In England the 2010 ‘Importance of Teaching’ paper set out the policy intention to develop a national network of Teaching School Alliances to lead the development of the teaching profession (DfE, 2010). How far this policy has been implemented and enacted in practice is examined. In Shanghai policy documents assembled from central government, local education bureaux, schools and teacher organizations are analysed with reference to long-established structures for teacher development: the professional demands of teaching, teachers as researchers and an in-service training system.
Results
Our analysis suggests that in England policy formulation is significantly influenced by an eclectic coveting of international practices and can be characterised as functionalist and transient in nature. In comparison, policy changes in Shanghai are incremental and informed by reference to a substantial body of knowledge of local culture and praxis. This comparative analysis leads us to propose a comparative typology of policy enactment: a ‘radically changing’ process and a ‘systematically optimizing’ process. The empirical findings are used to substantiate this model.
Scholarly Significance
International policy mobility is an established phenomenon; the direction of this borrowing is currently from East to West. However, we argue that until greater attention is paid to developing nuanced understandings of policies as they are enacted in the context of schools, each containing a myriad of policy actors, the impact of professional learning and development on teachers’ work is unlikely to be sustainable or effective.

Authors

• Jiexin Lu

• Bernadette Youens, University of Nottingham

• Guoyong Hu