The Teaching School as a concept came into being in 2000 when Central Queensland University (in Australia) developed and launched its innovative Bachelor of Learning Management Program (BLM).[1][2][3] A core component was the Teaching School which was conceptualised by Professor David Lynch[4] and the first (pilot) 'teaching school' was Kenilworth Community College, on the Sunshine Coast of Australia, under the leadership of Associate Professor David Turner, then the schools principal.[5] The Teaching School is a parallel to the ‘teaching hospital’ in medicine, where the collective capacities and endeavours of a school (ie K-12) and a university (in this case an education faculty) are harnessed through formal partnership to create a sophisticated and enduring community of practice focused on teacher preparation and teaching improvement (Turner & Lynch, 2006; Lynch, 2012). In the medical model, professors and clinicians work side-by side as the constituents of a multi-dimensional ‘medical’ organisation that is sharply focused on practice excellence, improvement, and research. The same logic applies for the teaching school in that it is a new environment for teachers to be prepared (in-service and pre-service) and education research to be undertaken and disseminated for teacher consumption. With the medical teaching hospital construct in mind, the teaching school then conjures an arrangement where a stratified workforce emerges. Think student teachers, interns, associate teachers, working with registered teachers, professors and the numerous advisors from ‘regional education offices’, in a context of inter-related teaching, learning and research assignments. This stratification also represents a continuum of developing expertise, increased site capacities and staff positioning for effects in the teaching school and in the network of schools (or satellite TSs) that are co-opted for global practice scope, scale and impact. On a parallel plane this stratification represents a significant resource and capacity for rethinking how pupils (K-12) in the school might be taught.[4][6]
In England, a Teaching school is referred to as an= Ofsted-graded outstanding school that works with other partners to provide high-quality training and development to school staff. They are part of the UK government's plan to give schools in England a central role in raising standards by developing a self-improving and sustainable school-led system.[7]
They were first introduced in England by the coalition government in 2010, in a white paper entitled "The Importance of Teaching".[8] The intention was to replace the university-based teacher training programmes with a workplace-based school-centred and led approach which devolves responsibility for development and management of education to the schools.[8]
References
- ^ Smith, R., Lynch, D., & Mienczakowski, J. (2003). The Bachelor of Learning Management (BLM) and Education Capability: Why we do not Prepare 'Teachers' Anymore, Change: Transformations in Education, 6(2), 23-37.
- ^ Ingvarson, L., Beavis, A., Danielson, C., Ellis, L., & Elliott, A. (2005). An Evaluation of the Bachelor of Learning Management at Central Queensland University. https://research.acer.edu.au/teacher_education/5
- ^ Smith, D. and Lynch, D., (2006). (Ed). The Rise of the Learning Manager, Pearson Education Australia, Frenches Forest NSW
- ^ a b Lynch, D. (2012) Preparing Teachers in Times of Change: Teaching school, standards, new content and evidence. Primrose Hall: London
- ^ Turner, David (2011). The teaching school model as a means for addressing the knowing-doing gap. CQUniversity. Thesis. https://doi.org/10.25946/13457798
- ^ Turner, D. & Lynch, D. (2006). The Teaching School: A new paradigm in teacher education and catalyst for building capability in the current teaching workforce. International Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Change Management, 6, 10 pages Refereed 1447-9524, 1447-9575 (online), aCQUIRe [electronic resource]: Central Queensland University Institutional Repository
- ^ Teaching Schools
- ^ a b About Teaching Schools
This article incorporates text published under the British Open Government Licence:
