ITE Research Group newsletter

2 November 2026

Hi Everyone!

Welcome to the October newsletter of our ITE research group!

We have new people in the group this month so welcome everyone, you are joining a fab group of people. If you know anyone who might like to join the group (there are over 200 of us now!), please pass them this link and we will add them in for November: ITE Research Group – Fill in form. If you ever want to contact us with news, queries or to leave the group (but please don’t go!) you can email us: aimee.quickfall@durham.ac.uk, Philip.wood@ntu.ac.uk

Contents

Events
Research Support
Blogs relating to ITE
Podcasts relating to ITE
A selection of recent papers

Events

If you have an event you would like us to share with the group, please drop us an email with details and we will put it in the next newsletter.

UCET Annual Conference 2026, 10th and 11th November, The Queen's Hotel, Leeds
The role of university-led teacher education in a changing world

You can still book your tickets until 9th November! If you haven’t been to the UCET Conference before, this is a really friendly ITE conference, where you will find out so much about what is going on in the sector, meet amazing people working in ITE and have time to think about the big picture of what we do. You can register here.

NATE ITE Conference 2026: Friday 13th November, in person at the University of Bristol and online

This year’s theme is ‘Becoming an English Teacher: exploring the challenges, opportunities, and everyday realities in a changing educational landscape’. Talks will explore AI use, the importance of creativity, identity and more.
https://www.nate.org.uk/nate-ite-conference/

BERA Virtual Conference 2027: 25th and 26th February 2027

Next year BERA will be holding their first online conference on the 25th and 26th February 2027. Abstracts have closed but you can register for the conference here: https://www.bera.ac.uk/conference/a-bera-virtual-conference-exploring-ethical-engagement-in-education-2027

BERA TEAN Conference 2027: 19th May 2027 to 20th May 2027
Sheffield Hallam University
Abstract submission now open: Deadline 17 November 2026
https://www.bera.ac.uk/conference/bera-tean-conference-2027

ITE Research Group Events

Writing Retreats

Back by popular demand, we have planned online writing retreats for the Autumn term. These are for everyone. Retreats start at 9.30 and finish at 4, but you can pop in whenever you want to. We start with a quick meet up on Teams to share what we are working on, and meet up again before the close of the retreat to see how everyone is getting on, and you can jump back on Teams at any point if you want to let us know how it is going! Equally, if you just want to block out some time in your diary and get cracking on some reading or writing, we are very happy to be your excuse!

Online Writing Retreat, Friday 6th November 2026, 9.30 – 4.30
Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/361959804477506?p=HHgQMvIY3gN3TXvPPr
Meeting ID: 361 959 804 477 506
Passcode: NG7qn6jT

Online Writing Retreat, 4th December 2026, 9.30 – 4.30
Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/36108320461242?p=A39NJ3gMxzW18DnebP
Meeting ID: 361 083 204 612 42
Passcode: b96BR7qm

Research Support

The Teacher Supply Alliance (TSA) Website: https://teachingsupplyalliance.co.uk

A new resource for anyone researching teacher supply, brought to you by the TSA Secretariat (Prof. Tanya Ovenden-Hope, Emma Hollis, Prof. Caroline Daly, Jessica Cowen and Robert Caudwell): ‘The Teaching Supply Alliance (TSA) website provides curated, published, predominantly open-access evidence on teacher recruitment, retention and workforce development in schools and Further Education. It also provides links to journal articles, books and chapters that may not always be open-access but that are relevant to the analysis of teacher supply in England.’

Blogs relating to ITE

Identity formation during teacher education: Exploring the three pillars of influence (BERA Blog)
Sharon Phillips and Gareth Watkins, University of South Wales
https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/identity-formation-during-teacher-education-exploring-the-three-pillars-of-influence

Preparing Teachers for 2050: Why Our Current Frameworks Aren’t Enough (UCET Blog)
Professor Clare Brooks (University of Cambridge) https://www.ucet.ac.uk/blog/17835/preparing-teachers-for-2050-why-our-current-frameworks-arent-enough

Student Teachers on the brink: a provocation concerning ITE poverty (UCET Blog)
Professor Claire E Ball-Smith (University of York) and Professor Aimee Quickfall (Durham University)
https://www.ucet.ac.uk/blog/17822/student-teachers-on-the-brink-a-provocation-concerning-ite-poverty

Developing as inquiring professionals through professional networks and communities of practice (UET Blog)

Dr Viki Veale (St Mary's University Twickenham), Eleanor Milligan (University of East Anglia), Janet Morris (University of Greenwich), Lorna Williams (University of Worcester)
https://www.ucet.ac.uk/blog/17807/developing-as-inquiring-professionals-through-professional-networks-and-communities-of-practice

The Oracy Debate
Deb Niven (Sheffield Institute of Education)
https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/sioe/2026/10/30/the-oracy-debate/

Collaboration in Further Education Initial Teacher Education (FE ITE): Messy, complex and worth it
Dr Sarah Boodt (Sheffield Hallam), Anna Kettlewell-Brown (UCEN Manchester) and Scott Reed (Chesterfield College).
https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/sioe/2026/10/01/collaboration-in-further-education-initial-teacher-education-fe-ite-messy-complex-and-worth-it/

Podcasts

Inside Teacher Education (hosted by Steve McNichol). Latest episode is about student teachers who are also parents. Emma Sheppard joins the podcast to discuss how providers can support trainees who are also parents to complete teacher training successfully.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ApMDJcLVbyC8rsqymnCVm

BERA Podcast: Richard Doherty and Jonathan Glazzard. ‘There are days when I just feel like packing it all in’: Exploring resilience in pre-service teachers using participatory approaches.

In this episode, produced by the BERA Education and Psychology SIG, Professor Jonathan Glazzard and Richard Doherty introduce and discuss their research around the factors which influence the resilience of pre-service teachers.https://www.bera.ac.uk/media/there-are-days-when-i-just-feel-like-packing-it-all-in-exploring-resilience-in-pre-service-teachers-using-participatory-approaches.

A selection of recent papers

Below are some recent publications that may be of interest - please let us know what we have missed and we will add it to the November newsletter!

Burn K, Mutton T (2026;), "Addressing the challenges of sustainable partnership working in initial teacher education: a view from England". School-University Partnerships, Vol. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/SUP-03-2026-0011

Kim, A. (2026). Institutional pathways linking teacher education and professional development to instructional quality. Journal of Education for Teaching, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2026.2743855

Jayantilal, K. (2026). ‘The plate that always falls’: preliminary findings on performativity in primary physical education. Journal of Education for Teaching, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2026.2743885

Cao, H., & Xun, Y. (2026). Inevitable journey of “practice shock”? A thematic analysis of the experiences of Chinese student teachers’ teaching practice. Journal of Education for Teaching, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2026.2719562

Ma, K., Cavanagh, M., Wang, P., & Dong, J. (2026). Perceived quality of professional experience placement and teacher self-efficacy among pre-service teachers: a latent profile analysis. European Journal of Teacher Education, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2026.2753196

Vanassche, E., Berry, A., Flores, M. A., & Mayer, D. (2026). From policy objects to self-regulating subjects: reimagining the role of teacher educators. European Journal of Teacher Education, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2026.2754903

Azevedo, J., Araújo, R., Costa, J., & Amaral-da-Cunha, M. (2026). Mapping the concept of practitioner research in physical education and teacher education: a scoping review. European Journal of Teacher Education, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2026.2753605

Rink, L. S., & Peter, C. (2026). Data and AI Literacy in Geography Education: A Needs Assessment of Pre-Service Geography Teachers. Education Sciences, 16(11), 1824. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci16111824

Riquelme, E., Lagos, P., Quinan, D., Valeria, A., & Villar, J. (2026). Bidirectionality in the Teaching Practicum: A Systematic Review. Education Sciences, 16(11), 1792. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci16111792

Brice, L. P., McMinn, M., Radford, S., Solomon, J., & Broadley, M. L. (2026). Exploring Authentic Partnership in Distance Initial Teacher Education: Associate Teachers’ Perspectives from Aotearoa New Zealand. Education Sciences, 16(10), 1597. https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/16/10/1597

We hope you all have a lovely November, say hello to Aimee if you go to UCET Conference, and we will be back in your inboxes with our next edition next month!

Aimee and Phil

Professor Aimee Quickfall
Director of Initial Teacher Training