Postgraduate Course: Developing Teacher Professionalism (1) (EDUA11375)
Course Outline
| School | Moray House School of Education and Sport |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 30 |
ECTS Credits | 15 |
| Summary | Developing Teacher Professionalism (DTP) is a 60 credit core which runs throughout the entire two-year MSc programme. It is assessed via two 30 credit courses; one in each year of the programme. In DTP, students are introduced to ideas that support an activist conception of teacher professionalism; an activist conception being one that sees teaching as a transformative profession, where the teacher works collaboratively and transparently to enhance children's learning experiences and life chances.
Central to this course, and to the programme as a whole, is the notion of professional authenticity, and this course therefore seeks to support students to develop their own professional identity and capacity in ways that might be expected of fully-qualified teachers. DTP focuses on four key themes: self and others; and teacher as inquirer; teacher as pedagogical expert; teacher as learner. |
| Course description |
The DTP course has been designed to be a professionally authentic experience, aligning itself with, and pushing forward, current policy thinking in Scotland on teacher education. In particular, the course supports several themes arising from "Teaching Scotland's Future" (Donaldson, 2011), namely: a reconceptualised approach to 'teacher professionalism'; greater partnership between universities, schools and local authorities and professional learning at Masters level.
The conceptualisation of the programme as a whole draws on international research on teacher education, which suggests that 'The most powerful programs require students to spend extensive time in the field throughout the entire program, examining and applying the concepts and strategies they are simultaneously learning about in their courses' (Darling-Hammond, 2006, p. 307). The DTP course actively supports that endeavor by providing an explicit link between different sites of learning (university and school/community) which focuses on the central aim of developing teacher professionalism. Through the DTP course, and its attention to how teachers learn, students will be able to make explicit their own pedagogical aims, engaging in constructivist, critically-informed and transparent teaching which reflects the activist conception that we wish our students to aspire to and enact.
The placing of clusters of students in school clusters for site-based learning will enable them to develop their identity as a teacher in a way that takes cognisance of the environment in which their pupils live and learn, providing opportunities for students to work with parents and other professional as well as a broad range of teachers. The DTP course will support students in mapping and planning their professional learning in the programme as a whole, against a developing personal philosophy of teaching with transformative aims at its core.
The DTP course has four central elements that run throughout:
SELF AND OTHERS
Understanding and articulating own professional values and identity, understanding and articulating 'the cultural self', understanding others through theories of sociology and social justice, developing activist practices for social justice.
TEACHER AS INQUIRER
Concept of 'inquiry as stance' (Cochran Smith & Lytle, 2009), developing professional research skills, problematising practice, adopting an activist stance to research and inquiry.
TEACHER AS PEDAGOGICAL EXPERT
Understanding different pedagogical approaches, e.g. pedagogies of place, early years pedagogies, critical pedagogy, culturally responsive pedagogy, restorative practices.
TEACHER AS LEARNER
Understanding teachers as learners: processes of professional, lifelong learning, policy context for professional learning, developing reflective and planning skills, developing professional networks within and beyond the programme, including international links.
DTP will be taught principally through seminar-based activities, requiring students to have undertaken reading, observation and other activities in their cluster schools. Students will be supported by tutors, peers and school-based colleagues to engage critically with the GTCS Standard for Provisional Registration throughout the course, planning, reflecting on, and evidencing their progress as they build towards the final professional viva in which they will present evidence of having met the Standard for Provisional Registration.
The course will comprise 9 hours of whole group teaching and 21 hours of smaller group teaching. Students will engage in 105 hours of site-based learning and 165 hours of self/group study.
|
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2022/23, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
|
Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Full Year |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
300
(
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 6,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
294 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
1. Exploration of own teacher identity and aspirations: who/where am I as a teacher, where do I want to be, rationale and plan for cluster experiences and the choice and option courses. The format of assessment product will be decided in negotiation with students, but might include a written piece or a video with written commentary.
(Summative, 50% of credit, 3000 words or equivalent)
2. Collaborative professional inquiry in cluster community context. The inquiry will be designed and implement in collaboration with peers and/or teaching staff in the school cluster. Students will negotiate the form of the individual assessment product, which might include a journal article, a presentation in the school cluster site, a video presentation for the programme website.
(Summative, 50% of credit, 3000 words or equivalent)
3. Engaging with the Standard for Provisional Registration to plan, reflect on and evidence learning: Peer and tutor discussion of portfolio to date, which will include feedback from cluster-based teachers (formative peer and tutor feedback)
Compensation is available on this course, i.e the final mark for the course will be the total of the two summative tasks, regardless of the individual scores for each. |
| Feedback |
Students will be given ongoing formative feedback from peers and tutors through seminar activities. They will also receive formative feedback from cluster tutor and teacher mentors in site-based learning clusters. Written formative feedback will be given on the developing professional portfolio. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate and articulate critical awareness of their own professional values, identity and 'cultural self', and make informed judgements about how best to progress continued professional growth within a complex education environment
- Demonstrate critical understanding of teacher learning through engagement with policy, theory and professional practice
- Design, implement and evaluate a collaborative inquiry in school(s) demonstrating skills in critical analysis, evaluation and synthesis, and the ability to share findings with a range of audiences
- Demonstrate critical understanding of pedagogical theories through applying them in practice and reflecting on their impact
- Analyse their learning on this course in relation to relevant core concepts of social justice, sustainability, global perspectives, digital and statistical literacies and professional inquiry skills.
|
Reading List
INDICATIVE TEXTS:
Arshad, R., Wrigley, T. & Pratt, L. (Eds.). (2012). Social justice re-examined. Dilemmas and solutions for the classroom teacher. Stoke-on-Trent, Trentham.
Cochran-Smith, M. & Lytle, S. (2009). Inquiry as stance: Practitioner research for the next generation. New York: Teachers College Press.
Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum.
Moore, A. (2012). Teaching and learning: Pedagogy, curriculum, and culture, 2nd edition. Abingdon: Routledge.
Sachs, J. (2003). The activist teaching profession. Buckingham: Open University Press.
|
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Knowledge and understanding
- recognise diverse styles of thinking and ways of working and developing capabilities to bring out the best in others regardless of their style preferences;
- conduct research and enquiry into relevant issues through research design, the collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, synthesising and reporting;
- have an understanding of contextually relevant ethics and values, self-awareness, mental flexibility and openness, resilience and a commitment to life-long learning
Personal and Intellectual Autonomy
- develop their reflective awareness of ethical dimensions, and responsibilities to others, in work and everyday life;
- be critically self-aware, self-reflective and self-manage in order to fully maximise potential;
- develop personal resilience;
- establish their personal vision and goals;
- seek and value open feedback to help their self-awareness;
- the importance of the development of lifelong learning skills as part of continuing personal and professional development;
Communication
- effective communicators who are able to read and write, present, listen, influence and network;
- an interactive communicator;
- be sensitive to and understand the diversity in people and different situations;
- communicate effectively knowledge, understanding and skills, in a range of settings, and using a variety of media;
- have multicultural and global awareness;
- articulating and effectively explaining information;
- understand that social media leaves a digital footprint.
Personal Effectiveness
- be able to set objectives, motivate, monitor performance, coach and mentor;
- be able to work with people from a range of cultures and backgrounds;
- have the ability to work collaboratively with colleagues both internally and externally, building and maintaining relationships;
- seek and value open feedback to help their self-awareness of working with a team;
- be responsive to their changing surroundings, both being flexible and proactive.
|
| Keywords | professional identity,professional inquiry,professional learning,social justice |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Ml White
Tel: (0131 6)51 6331
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Annabelle MacInnes
Tel: (0131 6)51 7761
Email: |
|
|
University Homepage