This review of the literature was commissioned by the New Zealand Post-Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua as a means of informing the decision-making of the Association and its members about the Teach For All (TFA) scheme seeking to prepare teachers for New Zealand’s schools.
Download Fast track teacher education: A review of the research literature on Teach For All schemes.
The review was conducted by Andrew McConney, Anne Price and Amanda Woods-McConney, all lecturers at Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia.
This review of the research literature is about fast track schemes in teacher education, and specifically focuses on what is currently known about such schemes run by the organisation Teach For All (TFA). In stark contrast to traditional university-based teacher education, schemes characterised as fast track provide would-be teachers a greatly accelerated programme of study and practical experience for gaining entry to teaching in schools.
Within a wide variety of alternative routes for teacher training and eventual certification (credentialing), so-called fast track programs have been one of the more visible and aggressively developed and marketed schemes over the last twenty-five years. Initially conceived and developed as Teach For America, similar fast track teacher education programs are now also established as Teach First UK and Teach For Australia, and such a scheme is currently under negotiation and development as Teach First New Zealand. TFA schemes have been established in some 18 countries around the world.
McConney, A., Price, A., & Woods-McConney, A. (2012). Fast track teacher education: A review of the research literature on Teach For All schemes. Perth: Murdoch University, Centre for Learning, Change and Development.
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Barbara Preston
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Terrific review! Thanks, PPTA, for commissioning this work - it's important well beyond NZ! Some additional thoughts re. TFA: * research reports comparing the effectiveness of TFA teachers with other teachers are reviewed, with the general conclusion that TFA teachers are much the same or a little better. However, NONE of the research compares like with like. TFA recruits high achieving graduates through a very selective process, and they make much of bringing such high achieving graduates into the teaching workforce. The comparison should at least be with teachers who graduated from very selective teacher education programs. It would not be hard to find such beginning teachers in the studied jurisdictions. * Following that: A policy objective of many countries (including those with TFA schemes)is to increase the proportion of the teaching workforce drawn from the 'top quartile' of university students. Professional associations, teacher unions etc have been publicly concerned that TFA lowers the status of teaching by its basic assumption that to teach effectively you only need to get a good undergraduate degree and have six weeks professional preparation. Yet there is no research into the impact of TFA (or a hypothetical example based on TFA) on the views of high achieving students generally regarding the status, attractiveness, and professionality of teaching - including how you might have effective, collegial relationships, working on serious educational matters, with colleagues with only six weeks professional preparation. * More importantly, what is the impact of TFA (or a hypothetical example based on TFA) on students curretnly enrolled in highly selective post-graduate teacher education programs - students who might well have been selected for TFA if they had applied? (An important paper that touches on these isses, though the actual research has not been done is: Maier, Adam. (2012). Doing Good and Doing Well. Journal of Teacher Education, 63(1), 10-22. doi: 10.1177/0022487111422071.) Thanks again, PPTA! cheers Barbara Preston |
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