Can disruption lead to positive changes in Initial Teacher Training?

‘You don’t learn from experience but from reflecting on experiences’.

OK, I know this is to slightly misquote John Dewey but it is pertinent given the unprecedented experiences we are going through and, I would argue, also the unprecedented opportunities to reflect and make positive changes for the future. 

Amidst the chaos, confusion and tragedy, many colleagues have responded with incredible flexibility and remarkable dedication: I have the utmost respect and I am in awe at the work of so many and would like to believe that their efforts could have some positive outcomes in the future. 

There has been an helter-skelter of innovation and ad-hoc innovation to support both pupils and student teachers. There has been little time to pause and think more constructively but now, maybe, is the time to pause from doing the urgent and focus on building a positive future.

The ongoing challenges for ITT, not just in the current crisis, are significant.

Many schools, teachers, industry partners and others have responded flexibly to put materials online, and some of it is excellent, but is simply transferring work online enough? Is there much more that needs to be done? IRIS Connect, for example, has reviewed, refined and developed many aspects of its platform in response to need and, in particular, to support the medical profession.

The system has been stress tested; lessons have been learned, weaknesses exposed, strengths identified and opportunities have arisen.

We now have choices: In our use of educational technology we can either consider online learning a simple stop-gap before we return to what we did before, or we can reflect on both the disadvantages and advantages of the broader use of technology and consider what this means for the future. 

I keep being reminded of the essay by Charles William Elliot, President of Harvard University when, in 1869, he wrote a road-map for education in his seminal essay, ‘The New Education’. In this essay he made the case for continuously updating how and what students learn so that education could evolve in step with society. Society has changed beyond recognition in the last 150 years and technology has driven much of this change. Has education, the contents and the ways in which we work with trainee teachers kept up with these changes? I am not suggesting that all teaching or training can ‘move online’; it can't, but maybe it can help develop embedded practices that can be improved on.

Again, a slight misquote, Plato in the ‘Republic’ said “Our need will be the real creator”.

Over the last months, exposure to technology and digital learning has been greater than ever before. Teachers and those responsible for training teachers have needed to develop new skills and new approaches.

So, just a few questions for colleagues providing Initial Teacher Training:

1. Have you a ready and constructive alternative for traditional observations of trainee teachers? Solutions that could save staff time and reduce your carbon footprint. Solutions that provide genuine formative feedback?
2. Did you prepare trainee teachers with the adaptive skills to respond to new situations? 
3. Was the training of digital skills and technology a core competence in students’ learning?
4. Have you grasped the opportunities of technology to improve the learning experience of your own trainee teachers?
5. Do you enable trainee teachers to collaborate through technology?
6. Have you explored how technology can help shape new pedagogies for pupils?
7. Have you developed the skills of your own staff to help them deliver online teaching and learning?
8. Have you seen the opportunities that greater use of technology can provide to enable you to be more financially efficient and effective?
9. Do current solutions meet the rigorous standards of online security?

Graham Newell, Director of Education set out much of this thinking in a recent article in NAACE.

We don’t know yet whether there will be a second wave or even a third wave but we do know the world will never be quite the same again and this can be for the better - if we allow it. 

How can IRIS Connect help? A few examples from around the world

The IRIS Connect platform is very much more than a simple video capture or video streaming tool and has many features that enable collaborative working, analysis, research, coaching, reflection and teaching. The system is used in 30 countries and contributes to many projects and research activities across many sectors, including the most sensitive and confidential areas such as for the observation and coaching of medical staff and doctors.

Here are just a very few of the ideas and solutions that colleagues in schools and universities have developed: