Examining 'Global Education Policy': Understanding the Origins, Impact, and International Diffusion of Teach First
Lead Research Organisation:
Manchester Metropolitan University
Department Name: Faculty of Education
Abstract
My research focuses on Teach First and bigger questions regarding how programmes and policies in one place travel and appear in other contexts and how those ideas are reinvented in the process. In my PhD, I examined the launch of Teach First and explored how influential individuals outside of government, or policy entrepreneurs, used their social networks to shape and develop policy. Teach First, which was an idea imported from the U.S. and launched by such policy entrepreneurs in 2002, is a prestigious fast-track teacher recruitment and 'leadership development' scheme in the UK. Its aim has been to raise achievement among pupils in under-resourced schools by turning 'top' graduates into effective teachers for two years while developing them into leaders who pursue a variety of careers but stay involved in improving education.
My doctoral research explored how policy entrepreneurs lobbied, launched, and implemented their idea for the programme between 2001 and 2003 by interviewing 50 people and collecting data from related documents, media accounts, and websites. Through careful analysis, I combined the different types of data to write the policy 'story' of how and why the programme came about. The story revealed how the original American-based idea for the scheme was significantly changed at three critical points to overcome some people's resistance to the idea and gain the approval of others. The study also uncovered the strategies policy entrepreneurs used to build influential networks to transfer policy.
I will move the research forward by sharing it with others through my Fellowship in ways that will make it useful to others and develop my knowledge, skills, and career as an academic researcher. First, I will adapt and publish my doctoral research as a book. This will make it available and interesting to wider audiences. In addition, I will publish three journal articles focusing on valuable insights from my research to inform other researchers in education and policy. In this way, I will share my research with a wide range of audiences and establish a publishing record on which to build my career.
The publications will also expand the very limited research on Teach First. To extend my research further and make it meaningful to practitioners, I will explore Teach First's impact in education from the view of those who partner with it - a perspective that has so far been neglected. To do this, I will run five workshops for middle leaders in schools working with Teach First and two roundtables for university-based teacher educators who train Teach First teachers. In these sessions, attendees will share their experiences and views on Teach First in creative ways. To effectively achieve this, I will first take three courses teaching researchers how to design activities that enable people to express and exchange their views in collaborative and creative ways.
Through these events, I will collect data to understand the impact of Teach First in schools and teacher education, enabling me to plan for future research projects. Those attending these events - and later, others who read my report on their outcomes - will also benefit by gaining a new understanding of Teach First offered from the perspective of those who are experiencing it.
During the Fellowship, I will also build professional networks and share my research by contacting researchers in other countries where a Teach First-inspired programme has been launched. In this way, I will begin develop a research network focused on Teach First-type programmes worldwide and how and why such programmes are rapidly spreading internationally. To share our preliminary research, I will organise a symposium at an international academic conference and arrange to have our work published as a special issue journal.
Finally, I will take additional courses to develop my professional knowledge and skills in conducting different types of studies.
My doctoral research explored how policy entrepreneurs lobbied, launched, and implemented their idea for the programme between 2001 and 2003 by interviewing 50 people and collecting data from related documents, media accounts, and websites. Through careful analysis, I combined the different types of data to write the policy 'story' of how and why the programme came about. The story revealed how the original American-based idea for the scheme was significantly changed at three critical points to overcome some people's resistance to the idea and gain the approval of others. The study also uncovered the strategies policy entrepreneurs used to build influential networks to transfer policy.
I will move the research forward by sharing it with others through my Fellowship in ways that will make it useful to others and develop my knowledge, skills, and career as an academic researcher. First, I will adapt and publish my doctoral research as a book. This will make it available and interesting to wider audiences. In addition, I will publish three journal articles focusing on valuable insights from my research to inform other researchers in education and policy. In this way, I will share my research with a wide range of audiences and establish a publishing record on which to build my career.
The publications will also expand the very limited research on Teach First. To extend my research further and make it meaningful to practitioners, I will explore Teach First's impact in education from the view of those who partner with it - a perspective that has so far been neglected. To do this, I will run five workshops for middle leaders in schools working with Teach First and two roundtables for university-based teacher educators who train Teach First teachers. In these sessions, attendees will share their experiences and views on Teach First in creative ways. To effectively achieve this, I will first take three courses teaching researchers how to design activities that enable people to express and exchange their views in collaborative and creative ways.
Through these events, I will collect data to understand the impact of Teach First in schools and teacher education, enabling me to plan for future research projects. Those attending these events - and later, others who read my report on their outcomes - will also benefit by gaining a new understanding of Teach First offered from the perspective of those who are experiencing it.
During the Fellowship, I will also build professional networks and share my research by contacting researchers in other countries where a Teach First-inspired programme has been launched. In this way, I will begin develop a research network focused on Teach First-type programmes worldwide and how and why such programmes are rapidly spreading internationally. To share our preliminary research, I will organise a symposium at an international academic conference and arrange to have our work published as a special issue journal.
Finally, I will take additional courses to develop my professional knowledge and skills in conducting different types of studies.
| Description | Professional Networks/Collaborations: I have expanded my professional research networks through two activities: (1) working with two scholars based in Australia and the US, respectively, to develop and implement the plan for an edited book on the topic of Teach For All, and (2) organised a seminar that brought together international group of scholars on 9 September 2019 to present and discuss research related to network governance in education. New Research Skills: I have developed new research skills through attending two events. In January 2019, I attended training in media interviewing for researchers, offered by the ESRC and held in London, where I learned how to most effectively interact with tv and radio media to highlight the significance of my research. In November 2019, I attended a day-long NCRM training on 'Creative Approaches to Qualitative Methods', including arts-based and participatory approaches, at the University of Manchester, which is contributing to my ongoing work in designing participant roundtables and workshops during my fellowship. Publications: New publications are forthcoming though not yet available in print. First, I have worked with two colleagues abroad to bring together an edited book on the topic of Teach For All, which will be the first on its kind to present empirical research on this growing global network. The volume, which will be published by Routledge in August 2020, brings together research from a range of international scholars. I am the single author of one chapter and a co-author of three other chapters of the 14 in the book. Second, I am in the process of submitting an article to the journal of Teaching and Teacher Education that critically assessing the historical narratives of Teach For America and Teach First, submitted. Professional Dialogues: I have shared the results of my doctoral studies on Teach First through an invited lecture at King's College London in November 2018 as part of the Centre for Innovation in Teacher Education and Development (CITED) lecture series. I have also been invited and agreed to speak at a conference entitled Pedagogy, Politics, and Teacher Education to be held 13-15 May 2020 at King's College London on the topic of Teach First and Teach For America. |
| Exploitation Route | The book I have worked to develop and publish with my coeditors on the topic of Teach For All will lay the groundwork to encourage and support researchers worldwide in conducting critical, empirical work on Teach For All network and its programmes. It provides an in-depth history of the network's development, an integrated review of the research on the topic to date, and several examples of the impact Teach For All is having globally and the many angles from which it may be critically studied. |
| Sectors | Education |