Why this, and why now? When I was younger my late father had piles of Haynes manuals for various vehicles – some he’d owned, some he hadn’t, some merely aspirational – that were the go-to text for anything to do with the workings, repairs or running of the vehicle itself.
In essence, the Haynes manual provided a simple version of the theory on which the practical aspect was built. That’s the idea with The Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework: A Handbook for Mentors and Mentees – we are compelled (and complied) to use the ITTECF as the framework against which we map and deliver our curricula in ITE, and it is revisited with increasing experience insight during the ECTE phase also; we must therefore seek to make it as accessible as possible.
The ITTECF is not an exercise in completion, nor is it a reductive document that we must merely ‘comply’ with; it is a map that allows the provider (and therein, the trainee teacher) to explore the facets of what is deemed to be effective teaching – as with any map, it is the user that determines how to utilise it, and it is specific to the contexts of the individual, their setting and their students, as well as their own learning as a pre-service teacher.
The coining of the term ‘didagogy’ by the Teacher Development Trust has finally given a name to the old question – who educates the educators, and how? All pre-service teachers must juggle the competing challenges of learning to teach whilst teaching to learn; how do we best support this, maintain fidelity to the ITTECF and ensure that we acknowledge the essentially humanistic nature of teacher education?
That’s where this book – hopefully – offers support; the map of the ITTECF can be used to navigate the journey of teacher development in many ways, and provides simple, accessible support at each milestone on the unique journey of the neophyte pedagogue.
Like a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ story, different teachers will take different journeys and face different challenges; the ITTECF provides both a window and a mirror – the window through which pre-service teachers can see their careers unfolding in a structured and supported fashion, and a mirror in which they can see reflected their existing knowledge, skills, beliefs, competencies and preconceptions.
There’s a wonderful Snoopy cartoon in which Snoopy sits at a typewriter and writes ‘Always remember that beauty is only skin deep’; after some thought he edits this to ‘fur deep’. Why? Because he has fur, not skin. The next day Woodstock (the little bird) clearly has had something to say, because Snoopy edits again in Woodstock’s presence, this time to ‘feather deep’. Why, again? Because Woodstock has feathers, not fur. The point? Everyone names their meaning through the lens of their own experience; just because the ITTECF is a generic document doesn’t mean it can’t be read, navigated, understood and manifested in myriad different ways, depending on the user and their own circumstance.
To continue with the map analogy from earlier, teacher development is not a journey to be completed but a landscape to be explored. Maps indicate the relative positions of key landmarks, but they don’t determine the speed of travel, the climate, the time of day or the respective interests of the user – these come from within the pre-service and early career teacher and their own inherent beliefs and ideologies; teacher education, training and development deals ostensibly with humans, who in turn seek to reach other humans and help them on the path to knowledge – knowledge of subjects, of self and of their role in society; as we explore the domain of the ITTECF, we all learn a little as we go. As Tennysson said, ‘All experience is an arch wherethro’ gleams an untravell’d world’.
The ITTECF also provides a shared language of teacher development, used by teachers and mentors alike, that ensures communication is efficient and understood, avoiding a dreaded Tower of Babel where the ITT or ECT hears ‘advice’ from many different voices in their setting – and from outside in their provisions. As with any language, there can be different accents and dialects, but the definitions are the same, and therefore the message is efficiently and authentically delivered. By simplifying the evidence, supporting reflection, guiding practice and sharing language we quell the tyranny of the urgent, and navigate that landscape alluded to above in a calmer, more measured way.
As with any expedition of exploration, there will be challenges, but by – as this book strives to do – demystifying the landmarks navigation is made easier. There’s no such thing as a perfect teacher – teachers strive every day, and fail every day, but that’s what teaching is – to paraphrase Samuel Beckett: ‘Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better’.
Henry Sauntson is Teach East SCITT Director and author of The Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework, part of the Essential Guides for Early Career Teachers edited by NASBTT CEO Emma Hollis.