Becoming innovative, research-informed and critical-reflexive practitioners: lessons from our Cambridge PGCE trainees
In my previous editorials for JoTTER, I have explored the idea of becoming a teacher during periods of uncertainty, both during the COVID-19 pandemic (HERE) and then in a so-called ‘post-pandemic’ world which is still embedded in the legacies of that global emergency and of other intersecting challenges, (e.g., wars, mental health and wellbeing crises, global and local inequalities, environmental crises, etc.) (HERE). I have also argued across those editorials that our trainees’ publications in this journal can be seen as “pieces of ‘utopian work’ because they inspire (and are inspired by) new visions for education”, offering us “insights into what early career educators hope and enact for the future of education in this ‘post-pandemic’ world” (Gandolfi, 2023, n.p.). These two points then come together, we hope, in the work we do across our Cambridge PGCE programmes, where we seek to support our trainees in developing not only their pedagogical practices and subject teaching knowledge and skills to work in the ’world as it is’, but also their critical thinking and reflexivity so they can become reflexive practitioners capable of envisioning and enacting educational practices for a ‘world as it could/should be’ (Biesta, 2015).
In practice, we seek to enable our trainees to develop as practitioners who teach not only by drawing on, but also by contributing themselves to the historically accumulated bodies of knowledge on which their practice depends (Ellis, 2011) through learning to do develop – and then undertaking – their own critical-reflexive research projects. The articles published in this Volume 15 of JoTTER then illustrate such critical-reflexive research-informed work which is embedded in our Cambridge PGCE programmes, as developed by our former trainees from the 2022-2023 cohort. These former trainees – now published authors in JoTTER – worked hard across 2023-2024 (i.e., even after having completed their official degrees with us) to transform their end-of-degree practitioner-led research projects into the finalised academic articles we see in this volume, going through rounds of peer review, revisions, and responses to the JoTTER’s editorial team.
Coincidentally, during this same 2023-2024 academic year in which our authors in this Volume 15 were working on their JoTTER articles, our Cambridge PGCE programme was inspected by Ofsted – the UK government’s Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills – which is responsible not only for school inspections but also for Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes inspections across the UK. More specifically, we received these inspectors at our Faculty of Education and across the schools which are part of our PGCE Partnership – and where our trainees undertake their placements and develop their research projects across their PGCE year – at the end of April and beginning of May/2024. As expected, central to this inspection process were conversations with current (around 57) and former (around 27) trainees across our Primary and Secondary PGCE programmes, and with both faculty-based and school-based PGCE staff around a myriad of areas related to learnings and experiences around becoming a teacher. An important element that kept emerging across these different conversations was exactly around our hopes and vision for our PGCE programmes as innovative, research-informed and critical-reflexive and, very crucially, centred on supporting our own trainees to become – and feel confident in being – innovative, research-informed and critical-reflexive practitioners themselves.
We are then delighted that the Ofsted inspectors recognised the centrality of such vision and work across our outstanding PGCE programmes, as they noted in their final report: “[The PGCE] is underpinned by a belief in research and professional development that permeates the partnership. Trainees gain an excellent grasp of the fundamental theories, traditions and approaches that teachers must master. They embrace the notion that completing this course is the start of their journey as reflective and informed practitioners, not the end” (Ofsted, 2024, p. 1). JoTTER, in particular, was mentioned across several of these meetings with inspectors: it was crucial to our outline of the Primary and Secondary PGCE course assignments and their research and practice-informed natures; it was a core example – and a database for inspectors to look at – of how we support our trainees’ academic engagement with and in educational research; and an important part of our explanation for how we help trainees in their transitions to being early career teachers (ECTs), especially around how many of our published authors in JoTTER come back to the faculty to undertake Masters degrees in their first years of teaching to expand the original research underpinning their JoTTER articles, as indeed recognised by the inspectors: “Trainees benefit greatly from the partnership’s steadfast focus on educational research. Trainees scrutinise each school of thought. They make informed decisions that elevate their teaching and encourage pupils’ love of learning. The faculty’s expertise inspires many trainees to complete a Master of Education qualification. Doing so allows trainees to contribute to the faculty’s wide body of research with the aim to raise standards in state education.” (Ofsted, 2024, p. 3).
The articles published by our former trainees in this Volume 15 (as in the previous volumes) are then the culmination of such learnings, experiences, and priorities when becoming the ambitious, innovative and critical-reflexive practitioners over their Cambridge PGCE programme “with the aim to raise standards in state education”. Here in JoTTER we then celebrate their outcomes and visions emerging from such endeavours, which readers will have the opportunity to explore across the different articles published in this volume, for instance:
• A study examining the notion of ‘audiation’ (the ability to think in sound) at Key Stage 3 music education, particularly seeking to build mixed-ability students’ confidence in and enjoyment of music composition tasks (Annabel Sargent).
• A mixed-method case study looking at Year 2 children’s subject preferences and their reasoning around such preferences, also considering its implications for practitioners at primary school level (Siobhan Mulholland-Cox).
• A study on children’s views about the connections between interpersonal relationships and their learning across different stages of primary education (Years 2, 4 and 6), with the aim of contributing to primary teachers’ work grounded on an understanding of the role of emotions in their students’ learning (Jewel Yu Ka-Rei).
• A case study around the introduction of gender history into Year 7 History classes, and its impact on supporting students’ more nuanced understanding of women’s roles and experiences in the medieval world (Isabel Nugent).
• An exploration of Year 10 high attainting students’ diverse approaches to and misconceptions about mathematical proof and their connections, for instance, with areas of growing interest in wider education such as (maths) anxiety and problem-solving skills (Darion Mayes).
• An exploration of Year 6 students’ views on mixed attainment grouping for collaborative learning, grounded on the philosophical notion of ‘fairness’, and its implications to collaborative pedagogical practices (Linnea Samuelsson).
• A study around the possibilities of ‘values-driven intervention’ with Year 8 Design and Technology (DT) students to improving their understanding of this subject’s academic and professional relevance, and its uptake of DT at GCSE level (Jemima Snelson).
• A case study around Year 2 students’ perspectives on their learning and general perceived benefits from outdoor learning experiences, with the aim of informing primary teachers’ work grounded on such pedagogical practice (Tessa McLeish).
Among these articles, what we then see is our trainees’ commitment to an engagement with a wide range of issues surrounding educational practices, from more subject-specific perspectives to approaches to research and practice grounded on students’ voice. In particular, central to these articles is our trainees’ clear appreciation for the role that their students’ own perspectives and experiences need to occupy in their professional practice both at primary and secondary levels. Indeed, as noted by Ofsted in our recent inspection, our trainees “understand the importance of building effective relationships with pupils, while establishing clear boundaries and expectations. They are eloquent as they speak about their research and how pupils are motivated to learn” (Ofsted, 2024, p. 5). In a time where students’ wellbeing and engagement with education and schools have been facing several challenges (Hunt, 2023), it is then encouraging to see our trainees committed to student voice when becoming innovative, research-informed and critical-reflexive practitioners who seek to support all their students’ enjoyment and positive experiences in their learning and wider school lives.
*With thanks to my colleagues across the Primary and Secondary PGCE programmes here in the faculty, whose insightful lectures, workshops, reading lists and informal conversations have inspired several of my comments above.
References
Biesta, G. (2015). What is Education For? On Good Education, Teacher Judgement, and Educational Professionalism. European Journal of Education, 50(1), 75-87.
Ellis, V. (Ed.) (2011). Learning and Teaching in Secondary Schools (4th ed.). Exeter: Learning Matters.
Gandolfi, H. (2023). Editorial: Becoming ‘real utopian’ teachers in a ‘post-pandemic’ world: lessons from our Cambridge PGCE trainees. JoTTER, 14.
Hunt, E. (2023). Examining post-pandemic absences in England. Education Policy Institute. Retrieved from: https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/absence/
Ofsted. (2024).
Inspection Report - University of Cambridge. Retrieved from: https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50250253