The Future of Education at Edge Hill University

A conference discussing the future of the UK education workforce took place at Edge Hill University this week.

On the day changes to the training of education professionals were announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review, the University used its position as one of the largest and most progressive providers of teacher training in the country to hold Learning and Achieving Together, where a response to the challenges set out by the Coalition government were outlined.

Keynote speaker Dr Mary Bousted, General Secretary of Teaching Union ATL, spoke about how the sector should respond to the policy changes and how to best meet the demands of a changing environment.

The conference looked the growing importance of schools in the training of teachers, where learning by observing the best teachers is likely to assume growing importance. The synergy between Edge Hill University and its partnership schools were examined as examples of best practice, particularly in the current climate of refocusing priorities.

The second keynote speaker Professor Jack Whitehead, Visiting Professor of Education at Edge Hill University and a leader in classroom based research, described a new role for universities in seeking out the sector's leading teachers. Professor Whitehead cited the use of the Faculty of Education's Teacher Research Associate Programme, an initiative created by the University's Faculty of Education to actively support and empower those at the top of their profession to conduct and disseminate key practice-based research.

The conference heard from some of the UK's leading secondary and primary school headteachers, who gave their views on how a new workable agenda needs to be created based on the Coalition's new priorities in the coming years.

Dean of the Faculty of Education Robert Smedley, said: "This year Edge Hill University celebrates its 125^th anniversary. We have a long tradition of innovation and blazing a trail for truly unique and successful approaches to developing the very best teachers and we will continue to do so within the current challenges presented to us." 

"For me, the Learning and Achieving Together conference confirmed the University's status as a pre-eminent provider of training and research for the school workforce. It also proved the importance of building and maintaining strategic partnerships - our relationships with schools and colleges are and will always be one of the most important dimensions of our work."