This is an ESCalate research project awarded to Dr Sean MacBlain of University College Plymouth St Mark and St John in 2008/9. University College Plymouth St. Mark and St. John is undertaking a joint project with Stranmillis University College Queen's University Belfast to investigate current thinking behind the employability of Newly Qualified Teachers (NQT's) working with disadvantaged children in cities experiencing regeneration. The project seeks to understand the decision making processes behind the recruitment of NQT's and the desired knowledge and skills base that head teachers seek when making appointments. Faced with a growing number of children with complex social and emotional needs many of whom will come from disadvantaged inner city backgrounds and increasing numbers of pupils whose first language is not English head teachers are finding themselves faced with the challenge of employing NQT's who need a different type of skills and knowledge base and the necessary personal qualities to effectively respond to the "Every Child Matters" and "Extended Schools" agendas. In reality however the initial training of teachers in the U.K. continues to come under intense scrutiny with suggestions being made in some quarters that some teachers entering the profession are ill-prepared and that following expensive appointment processes many are leaving the profession after only a short period of employment
Grant type: Research
Round: Research grant 2008
Amount awarded £9 999.42
Leader(s): Dr Sean MacBlain
Organisation: University College Plymouth St Mark & St John
Contact Email: smacblain@marjon.ac.uk
Contact phone: 01752636700 (Ext. 5666)
Partners: Annie Fisher
School of Education and Professional Development University College Plymouth St. Mark & St. John
Audrey Curry
School of Education Stranmillis University College Queen's University of Belfast
Dr Noel Purdy
School of Education Stranmillis University College Queen's University of Belfast
Kathy Jarrett
School of Education and Professional Development University College Plymouth St. Mark & St. John
Sharon James
School of Education and Professional Development University College Plymouth St. Mark & St. John
Wendy Geens
School of Education and Professional Development University College Plymouth St. Mark & St. John
Start Date: 11 November 2008
End Date: 31 August 2011
Interim report received: 29 September 2009
This joint project between University College Plymouth St. Mark & St. John and Stranmillis University College aims to explore against the "Every Child Matters" and "Extended Schools" agendas and the regeneration of the respective cities of Plymouth and Belfast the current thinking behind the employability of Newly Qualified Teachers (NQT's).
More specifically the project seeks to understand the decision making processes that inform the recruitment of NQT's into disadvantaged inner city schools the desired knowledge and skills base that head teachers seek when making appointments and how Higher Education Institutions might adapt to support employability by meeting the needs of employers. Plymouth and Belfast have been traditionally viewed as dockyard employers and it is well recognised that both cities experience high levels of disadvantage. In the case of Belfast the company Harland and Wolff employed generations of the city's workforce until more recent years when the dockyards all but closed. Belfast is known throughout the world for its ship building having built such great ships as the Titanic. In the case of Plymouth the Devonport dockyards have also employed generations of workers in the city.
Within the last decade Plymouth and Belfast have been moving with increased speed towards a status where they are now being viewed as "university" cities with both drawing in greater numbers of students and forging partnerships with new and different types of employers drawn to both regions because of the changing workforce and the potential that is increasingly being offered by the two cities. The effects of this have been far reaching and it has become increasingly recognised at a local and government level that children in these cities who would have in years gone by required the minimum education to gain employment will now be faced with the need to improve existing and develop new skills and qualifications. Arguably for the first time many children in the disadvantaged areas of these two cities will have around them much greater opportunities to develop and ensure that they and their own future families can break out of cycles of poverty and disadvantage.
With such change of course comes the need for schools and teachers to examine their curricula the way they teach and the expectations they have for their pupils many of whom will increasingly have opportunities to access a different and more positive type of future. The training and preparation of teachers to work within these schools in terms of their skills knowledge base belief systems and expectations will however need to be examined and more fully understood as will be the criteria by which they are selected for employment in schools which are at the centre of major regeneration. For example the extent to which schools are in reality responding to the social emotional and health needs of their pupils in addition to their academic needs needs to be more fully understood as will be the need to more fully understand how "teacher trainers" are preparing them.
In reality the initial training of teachers in the U. K. has come under intense scrutiny with suggestions being made in some quarters that some teachers entering the profession are ill-prepared and that following expensive appointment processes many are leaving the profession after only a short period of employment.
Specifically the project seeks to ascertain:
1.what personal qualities headteachers seek when making appointments of newly qualified teachers.
2.what level of skills base they are looking for in regard to understanding the emotional health and social development of their pupils in addition to their academic needs.
3.what continuing professional development schools expect to provide for newly qualified teachers.
4.how Higher Education Institutions can adapt to prepare teachers in training for working in schools where there are high levels of need amongst pupils.
This project is unique in that it explores employability of newly qualified teachers within the context of regeneration.
