Courses / Module

Education has many contested discourses in relation to its values, practices and influences. How we conceive the purpose of education has a deep effect on what we view as good teaching and learning, thereby impacting on our resultant definition of quality educational practices.

Murray (2008) has drawn attention to the necessity for teacher educators to have a knowledge base beyond the limited local knowledge of teacher education. Professional development of those who work in the field of teacher education should include a focus on the policies that inform and influence the field and on discourses that underpin the ways in which the purpose of education is understood.

This module examines the development of policy in relation to teacher education and teacher educators at national and international levels. Using historical, philosophical and sociological lenses, this module will examine issues such as equality and gender and their influences on the development of the teacher and teacher educator. National and international considerations of current issues such as school culture and organisation, the evolving role of teachers, the changing nature of learning and learners and factors that influence on schools as learning environments for pupils and teachers, facilitate a broader and deeper understanding of the first order setting i.e. the school.