Partnership as cultural practice: forging a Higher and Further Education alliance in the face of neo-liberal reform.
Smith, Rob and O'Leary, Matt (2014) Partnership as cultural practice: forging a Higher and Further Education alliance in the face of neo-liberal reform. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 47 (2). pp. 174-192. ISSN 0022-0620
|
Text
Partnership in neoliberal reform.pdf Download (551kB) |
Abstract
This article examines the nature of an on-going educational partnership between a Higher Education institution and a number of Further Education (FE) colleges in the West Midlands region of England, forged against the backdrop of sectoral marketisation and neoliberal reform. The partnership originates in the organisation and administration of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) courses for FE student-teachers across a range of sites. These collaborative ITE programmes prepare students to teach in FE settings and conceptualise the FE teacher as a critically informed practitioner, equipped to engage with research and knowledge production practices in the sector. The permeable grouping of teacher educators that has emerged identifies itself as a ‘community of practice’ and uses this concept in the development of a pattern of cultural interaction that scaffolds the continuing professional development of practitioners across the region. This article outlines the underpinning values of the Higher Education (HE)/FE partnership and explores how the partnership has responded to the neoliberal policyscape. Through a number of examples, the authors illustrate how this community seeks to translate shared beliefs into everyday practice, not least through a critical and participatory approach to practitioner research activities which challenges the performative practices that have come to dominate FE in England.
| Item Type: | Article | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dates: |
|
||||
| Subjects: | CAH22 - education and teaching > CAH22-01 - education and teaching > CAH22-01-01 - education | ||||
| Divisions: | Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences > Centre for Study of Practice and Culture in Education (C-SPACE) | ||||
| Depositing User: | Rob Smith | ||||
| Date Deposited: | 11 Jan 2019 09:19 | ||||
| Last Modified: | 03 Mar 2022 17:02 | ||||
| URI: | https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/6806 |
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
Tools
Tools