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Teaching & Teacher Education
Overview
This group is co-ordinated by Professor Anne Edwards and Dr Jane McNicholl. Its research programme underpins the development of teacher education at Oxford and has four strands.
Teacher Education Policy
This strand is led by Professor John Furlong who has recently directed the Best Practice Research Scholarships and The National Partnership Project (with Manchester and Liverpool Hope). In 2005 he led the review of ITT provision in Wales on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government producing the Furlong Report.
The Nature of Subject Knowledge in Schools
Dr Anne Watson’s work with Dr Liz Bills, Professor John Mason and Dr Andreas Stylianides in mathematics education sustains a lively sub-grouping and focuses on situated learning and exemplification. Recent studies include Esmee Fairbairn Foundation projects on Improving Attainment in Mathematics (with Birmingham) and Changes in Mathematics Teaching; and Stylianides’ Spencer funded and ESRC projects on the teaching of mathematical proof. Robert Woore’s research on code switching links with work the Applied Linguistics group. Dr Ann Childs and Dr Jane McNicholl have recently undertaken a Gatsby-funded study of teachers’ knowledge in the teaching of science.
The Individual Learning of Beginning Teachers
Work here is led by Dr Hazel Hagger and includes the ‘Developing Expertise in Beginning Teachers’ (DEBT) with Dr Katharine Burn and Trevor Mutton and an ESRC-funded study of the development of self-efficacy amongst PGCE interns with Dr Lars Malmberg.
Professional Learning in Schools
Work here is led by Edwards and includes Mutton’s TDA-funded study of school partnerships; and Childs’ and McNicholl’s work on science departments in their Gatsby study. Childs and McNicholl’s research is now focusing on ‘knowledge rich departments’ as learning environments for teachers in science and in history with Burn.
We are also looking at learning opportunities and changing practices on the boundaries of organisations. Research here includes Dr Viv Ellis’s DETAIL study of school-university research partnerships; and Professor Anne Edwards’s ESRC-funded study of the impact of Every Child Matters on school practices with Professor Ingrid Lunt.
Membership
Membership of the group is wide and its work encompasses studies run by individual academics and students as well as some more substantial projects. There are research collaborations with universities in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Canada, Malaysia, the Middle East, and several European countries. Several members work with TDA, QCA, DCSF, Welsh Assembly, government, local authority and relevant voluntary bodies. Senior members have national and international recognition in their fields, holding positions or otherwise being active in appropriate research associations.