Sai Loo (廬世胤*)

By: Sai Loo (廬世胤*)
Subjects: Education

Multiple Dimensions of Teacher Educators in the Global Further Education and Lifelong Learning Sector

Call for Papers

Editor: Sai Loo

This Call for Papers is on teacher educators in the related further education (and skills) (FE) sector across the world. This call follows the Routledge publication of Professional Development of Teacher Educators in Further Education: Pathways, knowledge, identities and vocationalism (Loo, 2020 published in December 2019). Teacher educators are “ those who are educating prospective teachers, and they include prospective teachers in all education sectors irrespective of national boundaries, as it is dependent on contexts, be they education settings (sectoral, or institution-related) or country-related” (Loo, 2007, p. 426). This edited research monograph aims to understand how teacher educators across the globe perform as trainers in the sector.

This sector may be viewed as ‘significantly different’ to the compulsory, higher education sectors, and professional education. These differences might relate to the significant provisions of work or occupation-related disciplines, for instance, in England, over 70 per cent of these provisions are vocational-related (Frontier Economics Limited, 2016, Table 17). However, one may also argue that work-related programmes are also increasingly offered in secondary, higher and professional education. The previous studies on vocational education and training in the FE sector still have significant gaps (Loo and Jameson, 2017). Coffield (1998) was critical of the cosy arrangements of research findings in the education sector. Terminologies such as pedagogy and vocational education and training were not clearly defined nor contested with the tacit notion that there were collective agreements amongst the academic fraternity. In short, the sector rather than viewed as ‘distinctive’, it should be perceived, for research purposes, as having commonalities with other educational areas. These commonalities include academic and vocational as a continuum, academic levels from the pre-university to higher levels, and the age groups of the learners from 14+ and beyond. These overlaps with other sectors offer interesting dilemmas for teacher educators in their roles as training the next generation of FE teachers and also in terms of their professional development. It is these educators that the call is focused.

The editor is keen to accept manuscripts, preferably based on empirical research, using theoretical frameworks that have applicability in teacher training and related explicitly to teacher educators. Contributors may come from academics, researchers, practitioners, managers and associated stakeholders.

Contributions should cover one or more of the following areas:

1. Perspectives of teacher educators who are involved in teacher training programmes.
2. Views of policymakers, professional/occupational bodies and other related stakeholders. They might include researchers from academic and professional institutions and socio-development change agencies, think tanks and transnational organisations (such as the OECD).
3. The impact of information, communication and electronic technologies (ICET) on the pedagogic delivery by teacher educators.
4. Training or education, including professional development of novice and experienced teacher educators.
5.  Professional identities of teacher educators.
6. Teacher educators’ teaching know-how and its application (pedagogy).
7. The professionalization of teacher educators.
8. Opportunities and issues of teacher educators.
9. International comparisons and perspectives of teacher educators.
10. Ethical, gender and social justice dimensions of teacher educators.

Investigating and understanding these actors and agencies are the foci of this Call for Papers. There is a two-phase approach starting with abstracts. Each abstract should be around 300 words (+ or - 10%) inclusive of a short reference list using Harvard referencing style, in Times New Roman font and font size of 12. The abstract should include a title, author’s name and institution, e-mail address, the topic of investigation, related conceptual frameworks, details of the empirical study (qualitative and/or quantitative methodologies), findings and contributions of the study. It is unlikely that ongoing projects will offer sufficient criticality in this edited research monograph. The successful authors will be invited to submit a full manuscript of 5,000-word length (all-inclusive) with specific instructions at the next phase.

Submission Instructions

Interested authors are invited to address their queries and submit their manuscripts by e-mail to Sai Loo at [email protected].

Please note the following dates:

Phase 1: Abstract screening (deadline for submitting abstracts: 31 March 2020)

Date by which authors of successful proposals will be notified: 30 April 2020

Phase 2: Manuscript review (deadline for submitting manuscripts: 31 October 2020)

Date by which authors of successful submissions will be notified: 31 January 2021

Expected research monograph publication date: Latter half of 2021

Each submitted manuscript will undergo a double-blind review process and the decision of the reviewers and editors will be final.

Contact email: [email protected]

Editor

Dr Sai Loo, UCL Institute of Education, University College London, England.

References

Coffield F 1998 A fresh approach to learning for the learning age: the contribution of research. Higher Education Digest, 31: 4-6

Frontier Economics 2016 Further Education workforce data for England: Analysis of the 2014-2015 Staff Individualised Record (SIR) data. London, Frontier Economics

Loo S 2007 Learning to be teachers of adult numeracy. Journal of Education for Teaching, 33(4): 425-440

Loo S 2019 Further Education, Professional and Occupational Pedagogy: Knowledge and Experiences. Abingdon, Routledge

Loo S, Jameson J 2017 Introduction: Vocationalism in the English context. In: Loo S, Jameson J (Eds) Vocationalism in Further and Higher Education: Policy, Programmes and Pedagogy. Abingdon, Routledge

By: Sai Loo (廬世胤*)

This proposal focuses on the use of reflective practice in education and especially in teacher training/education in the post-compulsory sector. Researchers such as Loo (2014) argued that this practice though suggested in the current teacher education guidelines by LSIS (2013), but salient details such as its definition, related theoretical frameworks, and strategies for its facilitation were not indicated. Educationists such as Schon (1991), Hillier (2005) and Pollard, Anderson, Maddock, Swaffield, Warin, and Warwick (2008) offer more comprehensive delineations of this subject. Pollard et al. (2008), for example, offer very detailed supporting structures for pedagogic activities in the compulsory sectors. Hillier (2005) acknowledges that reflective practice is relevant in the further education sector. However, conceptual frameworks of a more robust nature (Atkins and Murphy, 1993; Moon, 1999) along with specific strategies for teacher trainees in reflective practice are to be explicated.

This proposal seeks to ascertain a more robust conceptual framework and to ascertain specific strategies for teacher trainees to assimilate reflective practice in their training and pedagogic practices. The research questions are:

1. What is the current understanding of reflective practice by teacher educators in the post-compulsory sector?

2. Can practitioners in other disciplines such as psychoanalysis offer a more robust conceptual framework in this area?

3. What strategies can be learned from other disciplines for use in teacher training?

By: Sai Loo (廬世胤*)

This project focuses on the workings/activities of creative people in three sectors of architecture, artificial intelligence and robotics. These sectors may be viewed as part of the knowledge economy (Castells, 2000; Quah, 2002). Creative workers are those who use their creativity, knowledge, abilities and skill sets in the eventual production of goods in the knowledge economy, with a supportive information, communications and electronic technologies environment (Loo, 2017). This empirically evidenced perspective of creative working follows on from the Routledge research monograph, ‘Creative Working in the Knowledge Economy’ (Loo, 2017). Two sectors – advertising and information technology software – were studied.

Using the theoretical framework from the research monograph (Loo, 2017, p. 49), this proposal seeks to investigate how creative workers perform their activities in the sectors of architecture, artificial intelligence and robotics. The recent coverage, particularly, of events such as ‘The Japanese House Exhibition’ (Barbican, London, 2017), ‘Robots: The 500-Year Quest to Make Machines Human’ Exhibition (Science Museum, London, 2017), and publications such as ‘Digital Technology: Past and Present’ (Open University, 2015 accompanying the BBC television series on computers, and algorithms) offer enriching and supportive backdrops to this investigation.

The main research questions:

1.  What is the relevance of creativity in the knowledge economy?

2.  How significant is knowledge (sources, types and application) for these creative workers in the knowledge economy?

3. What are the necessary contexts for this type of work?

By: Sai Loo (廬世胤*)

This current project is about practitioner inquiry, informal learning and occupational education. 

There appear to be two opposing schools of thought regarding learning and the world of work from a front-loaded approach of the necessary know-how before working to the informal learning while working. This research monograph aims to investigate the in-between areas of the two ends of the work-learning spectrum. Know-how such as disciplinary knowledge, experiences, abilities, dispositions and skill sets may be viewed as an epistemological approach to understanding the work-learning phenomenon. Additionally, the learning, acquisition and application of this know-how may be transformed from the learner/user's perspectives in the performance of her/his work/occupational practices.

In this research monograph, the aim is to explore the grey areas of this educational dichotomy. In so doing, the broader remits include a critique of the definition of informal education, a conceptualisation of informal learning as practitioner inquiry in occupational settings, a pedagogic theory of practitioner inquiry, and the inclusion of nuanced case studies of practitioners’ practices in different work settings. This distinctive approach to occupational education (with a tripartite dimension of teaching, learning and working) aims to open up the debate between formal and informal education in the world of occupational/professional practices. This monograph seeks to create understanding and research space to explore this relatively mysterious area of occupational education.

By: Sai Loo (廬世胤*)

I am working on a research monograph to be published by Routledge called Professional Development of Teacher Educators in Further Education: Pathways, knowledge, identities and vocationalism.

The further education and skills (FE) or post-compulsory and lifelong learning sector in England have been viewed as a backwater of educational research compared to the other sectors such as primary and secondary. This comparative lack of research and related publications may be due in part to the vast diversity of the sector and thus lacks coherence in understanding this sector. This diversity includes the variety of programme offers (from vocational-related and academic courses, accredited and non-accredited, and higher education provisions), and a wide range of learners concerning age groups (14 plus onwards to post-retirement age). Further diversity includes learning needs (learners with learning issues, non-academic achievements and associated with these, notions of widening participation) and a range of teaching settings (including colleges, community centres, prisons, work placements, etc.) to name a few. These diverse dimensions of the sector offer issues and challenges for teacher educators whose jobs are to train teachers for the sector.

This research monograph uses a project consisting of eight researchers who have been or are currently teacher educators in the sector. They come from higher education institutions, further education colleges and private providers, all with a common focus of studying teacher educators in the sector. Drawing on empirical evidence from a total of 33 participants from this community, the book uses theoretical frameworks and analysed data to delineate issues relating to journeys, pathways, professional identities, teacher educator knowledge, and continuous professional development. This monograph is expected to be published in autumn 2019.