Shaping communities of practice : history and civics teacher professionalization and regulation across Europe. Some illustrative case studies.

Abstract

Teacher identity, performance and effectiveness are shaped by many factors, and across Europe national systems of teacher training and professional regulation seek to define the knowledge, skills and aptitudes required for success as an educator. Teaching, however, is complex and does not easily fit a one-size fits all taxonomy of measurable behaviours or checklists of aptitudes. In England, in 2000, teachers were asked the question: What makes an effective teacher? Experienced teachers found it hard to answer with any tight specifics. they knew what they did each day in general, but much had become intuitive to them rather than consciously pondered and analysed. Indeed, the average teaching day and teacher’s workload leaves little time to ponder anything. Management consultants worked with teachers, and the resulting Hay-McBer Report (2000) showed how difficult capable, reflective teachers find it to articulate what they do and why. Sometime after initial training teacher auto-pilot seems to take over, managing the complex web of interactions and tasks of the teaching day as a ‘lived experience.’ Despite this surprising inarticulacy governments continue to seek to define, and regulate, what it is to be a successful teacher. This report provides case studies of different national responses to the quest to define competencies and regulate professional classroom behaviours. The contribution of initial teacher training to shaping communities of practice (Lave and Wenger 1991) and the role of higher education in influencing subject identity is raised. The influence of performance management is considered. The case studies in Part I address the questions: • ‘What regulatory frameworks are there for Initial Teacher Training (ITE)?’ and • ‘What are the routes to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)?’ In Part II we ask: • ‘How do we support professional reflection and development?’ and • How do we assess and monitor in initial teacher