Redefining what it means to be a teacher through professional standards: implications for continuing teacher education

Torrance, D. and Forde, C. (2017) Redefining what it means to be a teacher through professional standards: implications for continuing teacher education. European Journal of Teacher Education, 40(1), pp. 110-126. (doi: 10.1080/02619768.2016.1246527)

Abstract

This article connects with an international debate around the place of professional standards in educational policy targeted at enhancing teacher quality, with associated implications for continuing teacher education. Scotland provides a fertile context for discussion, having developed sets of professional standards in response to a recent national review of career-long teacher education. That review called for a reprofessionalisation of the teaching profession and the revision of the standards was an element of this process. Scotland is utilised as a lens through which one country’s response to international trends is viewed, with a focus on ‘teacher leadership’ and ‘practitioner enquiry’ as policy endorsed sets of practices. The analysis demonstrates the complex and contested nature of these terms and the tensions posed between the need to meet professional standards as part of teacher education and aspirational dimensions of the current policy project of reprofessionalisation. The article concludes by considering the implications for continuing teacher education.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Forde, Prof Christine and Torrance, Dr Deirdre
• Authors: Torrance, D., and Forde, C.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Education > Professional Learning and Leadership ; College of Social Sciences > School of Education > Educational Leadership & Policy
• Journal Name: European Journal of Teacher Education
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 0261-9768
• ISSN (Online): 1469-5928
• Published Online: 21 October 2016
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2016 Association for Teacher Education in Europe
• First Published: First published in European Journal of Teacher Education 40(1): 110-126
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy