Education has never mattered more, so why won't the UK invest in it properly?
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Version 0 of 1. In the run up to the general election, we’re profiling subject areas to see how they could be affected by a change of government and policy priorities. This week our focus is on education. The key issues: What you think We hear from vice-chancellors, education professors, an MP and sector experts about why political debate needs to place greater value on this area. ‘Current policies put the education research and development infrastructure at risk’ Chris Husbands, professor of education and director of the UCL Institute of Education (IOE) “Politicians invariably express themselves frustrated by education researchers, who, they say, work too slowly, offer complex answers hedged around with caveats and fail to understand the pressures of decision-making: ‘How can they be so out-of-touch’? For their part, researchers invariably express themselves frustrated by politicians, who they say, make their mind up before looking at the evidence, never learn the lessons of previous policies and fail to understand how complex the world is: ‘How can they be so obtuse?’ “The last 20 years have proved that these stereotypes are wildly outdated. As the 2014 Ref exercise demonstrated, education research has an impact on policy and on practice: across the education unit of assessment, 218 case studies of impact were submitted and 166 were rated as of international significance or better. Anyone who doubts the contribution education has made should spend a few moments looking up the evidence on the Ref impact website. That said, the Ref was retrospective, and current policies put the education research and development infrastructure at risk. Initial and continuing teacher education in universities is at risk as policies shift resources and priority away from higher education. “For every promising research and development network – as at the IoE – there is news of universities struggling to maintain the quality of their work. And our competitors are forging ahead: Singapore is in the middle of a major investment in education R&D to improve further an already successful school system, while Ontario leads the way in connecting researchers and practitioners. The most far-sighted governments have understood that designing and developing education systems which meet the needs of the many involves serious education R&D.” ‘Parents will soon start to notice if there is no teacher for their child’ Mary Bousted, general secretary, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, says: “Education will not attract the political attention it deserves in the run up to the election. This is a great shame. As a society we urgently need to debate what skills and abilities will be required of the next generation. This debate has happened in Scotland and is now happening in Wales. In England, by contrast, we are introducing a facts based, knowledge-heavy curriculum assessed by timed, written exams. How this approach will enable young people to develop the skills and abilities they will need for success in a high tech, IT-enabled, media-saturated world is a question that no one has sought to answer. “Teachers are leaving the profession in droves unable to cope with the relentless pace and scale of change to every aspect of their working lives. Teachers work more unpaid overtime than any other profession and endure 60-hour working weeks (this figure includes holidays). The tragedy is that so much of teachers’ work is not focused on the complex professional knowledge which underpins effective teaching and learning but on bureaucracy and paperwork generated by an inspection agency, Ofsted, which appears to value compliance rather than creativity and effectiveness. The teacher recruitment and retention crisis looms at a time of an 18% rise in primary pupil numbers. Parents will soon start to notice if there is no teacher for their child. That prospect is becoming ever more of a reality whichever party forms the next government.” ‘While education research can better inform decisions, it does not provide system-wide answers’ David Bell, vice-chancellor, Reading University, says: “Successive governments have used education research effectively – not, as some think, merely to ‘justify’ decisions already taken. Labour commissioned shorter-term policy analysis and long-term research to influence everything from investment in early years education to the raising of the education participation age. The downside was the online ‘dump’ of all recent published research on the department’s website on the last Thursday of every month to minimise negative media coverage. Michael Gove was often criticised as being dogmatic but he took a close interest in strengthening the research base. Policymakers were pointed to neuroscience research to understand how children’s cognitive functions develop and the brain accumulates knowledge. The National Pupil Database was opened up to researchers and as much raw data on school performance as possible was published to stimulate new analysis. It was not all perfect though, as the increasing exclusion of universities from teacher education demonstrated. “There are two truisms about education policy which researchers need to bear in mind. Everyone has a view and no one ever agrees. So while research can better inform decisions, it does not necessarily provide system-wide answers and certainly not ‘right’ answers. The same research could be used to support diametrically opposed policies – phonics being a good example. In the end, ‘this is what I believe’ can be more important than ‘this is what the research tells me’. The impact of education research could undoubtedly be better. Looking for the ‘perfect’ research-led answer to every education policy question, however, is as fruitful as hunting for the snark.” ‘The instability of funding for teacher education could result in universities pulling out of the subject altogether’ Professor Cara Aitchison, vice-chancellor of the University of St Mark & St John, which incorporates England’s oldest teacher training college, says: “There’s an increasing divergence between England and the rest of the world in relation to teacher education and this will, inevitably, lead to a detrimental impact on learning outcomes in English schools. Following the 2010 Donaldson review, the eight providers of initial teacher education in Scotland regrouped to develop a range of bold and aspirational approaches, including replacing BEd degrees with more challenging degrees which integrate teacher education more fully within universities. This reflects a wider European model. But England is moving in the opposite direction with School Direct. “There’s also a demographic time bomb in our university schools of education where the expansion of the 70s and early 80s will result in a wave of retirements over the next few years. While this might enable both teacher education and education research to undergo a refresh, this will only occur with investment – and there is only a narrow window in which to make this happen if the UK is to develop world-leading education research. For some universities the instability of funding for teacher education combined with the demographic challenges might result in them pulling out of the subject area altogether. I’d encourage the new UK government to put all notions of ‘the blob’ behind us and see universities as research-based powerhouses with the potential to generate a new class of teachers.” ‘No strategic approach to planning the teaching workforce has resulted in a worrying shortfall in recruits’ Paul Woodgates, education expert at PA Consulting Group, says: “University education faculties have had a tough time under the coalition and have missed the certainty of centrally planned and funded initial teacher training that was once their exclusive preserve. The School Direct model has put schools in control of teacher training and Teach First has been remarkably successful in attracting talented graduates through its own alternative route. There is a good argument that the quality of new entrants to teaching has never been higher but the absence of a strategic approach to planning the teaching workforce has resulted in a worrying shortfall in recruits (17% lower now than five years ago). Education faculties (or those that survive the inevitable market shake-out) should be central to the development of the teaching workforce, playing a key role in enhancing classroom practice through applying research and lessons from international innovations. That will require universities to think innovatively about how they develop teachers in partnership with schools. It will also require government, of whichever hue or hybrid, to manage the teacher training system so it balances local responsiveness and accountability with the strategic approach that’s needed to develop a world-class teaching workforce.” ‘We need to work together to meet the skills gap’ Andrew Miller MP, chair of the Science & Technology Select Committee, says: “Science will suffer if we carry on with the same approach to education. A shambolic approach to science practicals at both GCSE and A-level and ill-thought out engagement with universities. As my select committee agreed in our report on A-levels, the whole issue had been mishandled by Ofqual – we told the minister what we were doing and there was little response. “I have long argued as a country we need to work together to meet the skills gap and for this to succeed we will need to support more young women to do Stem (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects. We also need to take on the challenge of those little Englanders who think we can manage without skilled migrants. Overseas students are not only a huge asset but can help us grow our economy into new markets. In every corner of the country both in academia and industry we have great scientists and engineers – we need to adopt policies that exploit that talent everywhere in the UK.” Join the higher education network for more comment, analysis and job opportunities, direct to your inbox. Follow us on Twitter @gdnhighered. |