MESHGuides

Crawley’s (2014) research gathered discussion points and responses on TEds’ professional situation, activity and values from over 250 FES teacher educators through focus groups and an online questionnaire, itself completed by 161 respondents. A theoretical framework was constructed from reviews of research to analyse the responses.

Mevorach and Ezer (2010) carried out a study of TEds’ perceptions of Teacher Education practices. This included eight different teacher education colleges in Israel, and an analysis of 75 questionnaires. A set of four models was constructed from literature, one of which was the ‘moral agent professional model’. This involved:

Belief among teacher educators that teacher education plays a pivotal moral role in the preparation of teachers including the development of reflexivity, inclusivity, equality and social justice is present in research from Apple (2009), Bentley (2009), Freedman et al. (2004), Mevorach and Ezer (2010), Roofe (2021), Thurston (2010) and Zeichner (2009).

The focus of the research was English teacher educators within the English Further Education and Skills sector. Despite particular contextual factors associated with that provision and the TEds concerned, the key pedagogical themes which emerged are likely to be transferrable to other teacher education situations.

The evidence provided in this MESH guide is robust and allows for translation into other areas of teacher education, particularly all teacher educators’ professional development regardless of the education sector or age range for which they are educating and student teachers. Teacher Educators do not have any recognised professional development to become teacher educators, which means this guide to underpin any development of this kind would be incredibly useful and allow for a fully informed provision in translating this research for knowledge mobilisation.

Korthagen et al. (2006) analysed ‘three cases from different continents’. The IVLOS Institute of Education at Utrecht University, The Netherlands; the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University, Canada and at the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Australia.

Mussett (2010: 1) argues there is no consensus in ‘the way pedagogy should be integrated in teacher education’.

Further Education and Vocational Teacher Education (FEVTE) is defined as all the teacher education activity and provision included in the UK Further Education and Skills sector, and other vocational teacher education elsewhere.

The UK Further Education and Skills (FES) sector is the current name for the sector which has replaced the previous Lifelong Learning sector (LLS).

The evidence presented here is primarily from the research carried out by the author for his PhD, which was a study of the professional situation of English FEVTE Teacher Educators (TEds), and their future professional development. The research engaged in excess of 250 FEVTE TEds.

A key source for this MESH guide is the literature review carried out as part of the research. Additional relevant research is also utilised where it adds to the guide, and sources or resources included.