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Promoting Quality in Teacher Education

Note of the meeting of the UCET Research & International Forum held on-line at 1.00pm on Tuesday 18 January 2022

Welcome, introductions and minutes of the previous meeting

Colleagues were welcomed to the meeting. The note of the meeting held on 12 October 2021 was agreed. There were no matters arising not included elsewhere on the agenda.

Discussion

A range of issues was discussed, including:

An update from JNR on non-R&I related issues, including: discussions with DfE about the implications of Covid on ITE and school placements; the resumption of OfSTED ITE inspections; the development of a new teaching qualification for the learning & skills sector; and developments in Wales and Northern Ireland.

The key points from that morning’s symposium on ‘Research integrity and the ITE Market Review’ which had been led by Rachel Lofthouse and Paul Vare, and which had been followed by an update on Market Review issue from JNR. It was agreed that the topics for the next morning symposium would be: (i) international issues; and (ii) decolonizing the curriculum, with volunteers to present to be issued to R&I forum members.

International issues, including: the BERA Research Intelligence special edition on international perspectives (which was noted); iQTS pilots; and UCET Travel Scholarships, where it was agreed that applications should be invited, including those from international colleagues interested in travelling to carry out research in partnership with UCET members in the UK.

Equalities issues, including: the BERJ issue on refugee education, and a report back from the November meeting of the UCET Equalities Group which covered:

A report on research on the de-colonization of curricula being led by Martin Johnson from OCR. Questions had been drafted, revised and measures identified to support de-colonization. In regards ITE, suggested revisions to curricula will be mapped against the teachers’ standards, the Core Content Framework (CCF) and OfSTED expectations. Engagement would also take place with examination boards on the full range of school curricula.

A report on a proposal from Liz Chamberlain from the OU to develop resources and programmes to encourage applications from minority ethnic groups into teaching which would be hosted on the OU’s Future Learn platform, and would build on an existing project to encourage the recruitment of men into primary school teaching. Forum members were invited to contribute to the development of the new programmes.

Feedback from Pinky Jain on the work of the Data-Collection sub-group, including the drafting of questions to ask of existing ITE students, and would complement an NFER research project being led by Jack Worth.

The Anti-racists ITE/T framework, which was being partly funded by the NEU and would be hosted on the NEU website, was nearing completion.

Items for information

The December UCET newsletter was noted.

Any other business

The attention of forum members was brought to the attention of the 2022 ICET World Assembly, which would take place at Bath Spa University in June.

Date of next meeting

23 May 2022, Friends Meeting House, London