Abstract

Debates about professionalism have been a long standing feature of research in English further education (Avis, 1999; Randle and Brady, 1997; James and Gleeson, 2007). This research veers between discussion emphasising proletarianisation and that stressing re-professionalisation and development of new forms of identity that may presage progressive possibilities (Gleeson, et al, 2005). This debate is set within a turbulent socio-economic and policy context, but is one in which the state continues to emphasise the development of economic competitiveness (see for example, DIUS, 2007; DIUS DWP, 2007). In the debates surrounding competitiveness we encounter conceptualisations of the knowledge and information society, together with those of life long learning.

Paradoxically, for those working within English further education, state interventions emphasise not only performativity and surveillance but also the development of the professionalism and pedagogic capabilities, this being indicated in the call for a fully qualified teaching body (Avis, 2003; QIA, 2007). Concurrently, changes in the FE qualification framework, for example the development of vocationally orientated diplomas for 14-19s, as well as those for the humanities, have an impact upon those working within the sector (see, Balls, 2007; DCSF, 2007; Hodgson and Spours, 2007). Such curricular interventions coincide with moves towards compulsorily increasing the age of participation in education to eighteen (DfES, 2007). The preceding indicates the socio-economic, professional and educational context in which the paper is set and in which trainees work, who form the focus of the studyon which the paper is based.

The paper draws on data from a small scale longitudinal study which explored FE trainee teachers' experiences during their training and after its completion. The research involved interviews with respondents at three stages in their careers: firstly, when they had just embarked on their FE teacher training, secondly towards its end, and thirdly, a year to 18 months after completion of the course. The interviews were conducted by the two authors, either face-to-face or by telephone. All interviews were recorded and transcribed. In addition a questionnaire was completed by respondents at the same time as the first interview. This questionnaire provided biographical data which included information about prior occupational and educational histories, which were further explored during the interviews.

Although an increasing body of work has addressed the experiences of FE trainee teachers, little has adopted a longitudinal approach contacting students after completion of their course (Bathmaker and Avis, 2007; Wallace, 2002). This paper addresses the lived experiences of our respondents during their training and into work. It explores their conceptualisation of pedagogic practice, constructions of learners and their explicit or implicit understandings of social justice. In order to make sense of the above it is necessary to develop an analysis that acknowledges the significance of previous occupational and educational experiences as well as class locations. We therefore explore the on-going formation of professional identity and the manner in which biography can help us make sense of this. In addition the paper engages with the relationship between structure and agency and the development of trainees' professional identity and orientation towards pedagogic practice. This leads to an analysis that acknowledges the temporal contradictions and continuities that cohere within respondents' practice. The paper concludes by suggesting that trainees' educational commitment to the tenets of social justice needs to be accompanied by an expansive and politicised notion of practice.

The paper locates trainee experiences within the socio-economic and policy context and contributes towards discussions of teacher training for those working in tertiary vocational education and training, as well as to the salience given to the economising of educational relations by the English state.

Methods

Interviews with lecturers in vocational education and training over a period of time from their training course into practice

Results

Implications for teacher training

The links between the economising of educational relations and the development of teacher education programmes

the shaping of lecturer identities

Bibliography

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