THE RADICAL RIGHT AND TEACHER EDUCATION: AN ANALYSIS OF AND RESPONSE TO THE RESTRUCTURING OF INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION IN ENGLAND AND WALES UNDER THE CONSERVATIVE AND NEW LABOUR GOVERNMENTS 1979-2001 David Stanley Hill Institute of Education University of London October 2001 Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1 ABSTRACT Following the 1979 general election, Conservative governments radically restructured Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in England and Wales (a process that I argue is substantially retained by New Labour in its policy on ITE and in education more widely). The aim of this thesis is to examine and evaluate Radical Right policy on ITE and responses to it, and to propose an alternative Radical Left policy based on the theories and data analysed. The thesis begins by describing the content and context of the restructuring and by charting various responses from the education community. It proceeds to identify ideological approaches to ITE that are 'alternative' and 'oppositional' to the Radical Right. To make sense of the restructuring, I examine five theoretical analyses of state policy and of the articulations and disarticulations within the ITE policy process. These are 'state autonomy', postmodernist, 'quasi- postmodernist', culturalist neo-Marxist, and structuralist neo-Marxist analyses. I then describe and evaluate what aimed to be a Radical Left 'critical transformative' ITE course (the Crawley BEd) that I led from 1990-1995. Here I present data on student teacher and NQT reactions to that course, which I compare to other courses that I surveyed. In the light of this data I then revisit the theoretical explanations by referring to the limited 'transformativeness' of the Crawley BEd, and to the success of Radical Right policy on ITE (and education more widely) nationally. My theoretical conclusion is that a structuralist neo-Marxist analysis best explains the data and policy developments. Finally, I suggest some implications for policy, deriving from structuralist neo-Marxist analysis. 2 CONTENTS Introduction pp 13-18 Chapter One pp 19-44 CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT POLICY ON INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION 1979-97 Conservative ITE Policy: a Summary Setting up a Market in Initial Teacher Training/Education with a Diversity of Entry Routes The Attempt to Recompose the Teaching Force Introduction of a New, Highly Prescriptive and Monitored National Curriculum for HEI-Based ITE: The 1984 CATE Criteria The 1989 CATE Criteria The 1992 and 1993 CATE Criteria Effects on the ITE Curriculum The Content of BEd/BA(QTS) and PGCE Courses - Domination by the National Curriculum for Schools Funding, Control and Staffmg of ITE The location of HEI-based courses The Ideology of BEd/BA(QTS) and PGCE Courses — the Conservative ITE Curriculum Notes Chapter Two pp 45-71 RADICAL RIGHT DISCOURSE AND THE JUSTIFICATION OF POLICY ON INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION Sixteen Radical Right (society-level) Ideological Themes Radical Right Policy on Initial Teacher Education Changes to ITE in the context of Conservative Education Policy The Bigger Picture of Conservative Ideology: Thatcherism, Neo- Liberalism and Neo-Conservatism Phases in Thatcherism and post-Thatcherite Conservative Party Education Policy The Neo-liberals The Neo-Conservatives The Unity of the Radical Right? Notes 3 Chapter Three pp 72-110 RESPONSES TO POLICY DEVELOPMENTS FROM THE EDUCATIONAL COMMUNITY Part One: The Views of Headteachers Two Local Surveys of Headteacher Opinions on School-Based ITE and HEI-Based ITE, and the Relevance of Theory (The Surveys of 1992 and 1993) Headteacher observations on student teachers' strengths and weaknesses The 1993 NUT/ Carrington and Tymms Survey The 1993 Devon Association of Primary Headteachers (DAPH) Survey (Hannan 1995) The 1994 SCOP Survey of Headteachers The 1993 Ofsted New Teacher in School Report The Surveys of 2001 Headteachers: Summary and Conclusion Part Two: The Views of Teachers, Inspectors, Other Agencies and Teacher Educators The Views of Teachers: The 1995 University of the West of England/ National Union of Teachers' Report HIVIU0fsted Opinions The 1995 Ofsted Report: School-Centred Initial Teacher Training Other Evaluations of School-Based ITE Schemes and Curricular Change The Views of Teacher Educators Part Three: The Views of Newly Qualified Teachers 1989-1996, Final Year Primary Undergraduate Student Teachers 1993-1996 and of Student Teachers in1999 The New Teacher In School Reports of 1988 (HMI) and 1993 (Ofsted) The Hill Survey of NQTs and Student Teachers (1989-1996) Overall NQT and Student Teacher Satisfaction with ITE Courses Detailed Results NQT and student teacher satisfaction with their preparation for teaching and with the emphasis on various aspects of ITE Courses Degrees of satisfaction with the balance of /emphasis on 21 aspects within ITE courses Highest levels of satisfaction with course emphasis/ balance Lowest levels of satisfaction with aspects of preparation for teaching Satisfaction with the balance of/emphasis on contextual/political aspects of courses A Comparison of Responses from the School-Based Articled Teacher Scheme with Responses from the HEI-Based PGCE and BEdIBA(QTS) Courses Conclusion Notes Chapter Four pp 111-114 ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION: LIBERAL PROGRESSIVISM AND SOCIAL DEMOCRACY Part One: The Nebulous Nature of 'Reflection' Part Two: Three Levels of Reflection in Education Reflection Level One: Technical Reflection 4 Chapter Four (Continued) pp 111-114 ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION: LIBERAL PROGRESSIVISM AND SOCIAL DEMOCRACY Technical Reflection, 'race' and racial inequality Technical Reflection and theory Reflection Level Two: Situational or Contextual Reflection Situational/ Contextual Reflection, 'race' and racial inequality Situational/ Contextual Reflection and theory Reflection Level Three: Critical Reflection Critical Reflection, 'race' and racial inequality Critical Reflection and theory Part Three: Critical Reflection in ITE in England and Wales — the Case of 'Race'- Education Critical Reflection in ITE Antiracism in ITE in England and Wales Part Four: Liberal Progressivism Liberal Progressivism/ Plowdenism and Education Liberal progressivism in teacher education and 'The Reflective Practitioner' The liberal Conservative centre and Initial Teacher Education Social Democracy/ 'Old Labour' and education Social Democracy/ 'Old Labour' and Initial Teacher Education (1991-1996) Imaginative Projects The Hillcole Group's Whose Teachers? Notes Chapter Five pp 145-187 ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION: NEW LABOUR Part One: New Labour Policy on Initial Teacher Education prior to the 1997 General Election and since taking Office New Labour and Initial Teacher Education Policy prior to the 1997 General Election Michael Barber's The Learning Game (1996) and Initial Teacher Education New Labour in Government and Policy on Initial Teacher Education New Labour and two new employment-based routes into teaching The National Curriculum for Teacher Training: New Labour and the Criteria of 1997 (Circulars 10/97 and 4/98) Differences and similarities of New Labour's Circulars 10/97 and 4/98 and the Conservative Circulars 9/92 and 10/93 New Labour proposals on teacher training of July 2001 Comparing Old Labour and New Labour Policies on ITE Constraints on teacher education within the school teaching context Part Two: New Labour, Initial Teacher Education and Ideology Social Democratic Policies for Initial Teacher Education Continuation of Conservative Government technicist policies for Teacher Education New Labour Extension of Ideologically Neo-Liberal, Neo-Conservative or Thatcherite Policies for Teacher Education 5 Chapter Five (Continued) pp 145-187 ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION: NEW LABOUR Overall Analysis of New Labour's Policy in Initial Teacher Education Part Three: New Labour Education Policy and Ideology New Labour and Education prior to the 1997 General Election New Labour's Principles in Education for 1997 to 2001, and for 2001 to 2006 New Labour Education Policies: Ideological Categories Conclusion Notes Chapter Six pp 188-218 OPPOSITIONAL APPROACHES TO INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION: THE RADICAL LEFT Part One: The Radical Left Commitment Initial Teacher Education Education in General Part Two: Radical Left Models For Teacher Education Oppositional Radical Left Discourse The Culturalist Voluntaristic Transformative Model The Voluntaristic Pluralist Model The Structuralist Reproductionist Transformative Model Part Three: Relative Autonomy, Political Activism and the Transformative Intellectual The Culturalist Voluntaristic Transformative Model Critique of Reproductionism in education Critique of Modernist and Postmodernist Pluralism in education The Voluntaristic Pluralist Model The Structuralist Reproductionist Transformative Model New Labour and 'New Times' Criticisms of the Radical Left — and a Radical Left Response Notes Chapter Seven pp 219-258 MAKING SENSE OF CHANGES: TEACHER EDUCATION POLICY AND CONTEMPORARY THEORY Part One: Changes to Initial Teacher Education and the Challenge to Theory Hegemonic Projects Ideological and Repressive State Apparatuses in Schooling and Initial Teacher Education The Importance of Teachers and Teacher Educators Global Capitalism, Neo-liberalism and the Restructuring of Education Part Two: The Policy Process and Theories of Relative Autonomy Articulations and Disarticulations in the Policy Process State Autonomy Theory and Education Postmodern Theory and