Teacher Agency in the New Curriculum with Dr Judith Kneen

It's the final episode for this season of the PGCE podcast, and we've got a fascinating discussion that gives our listeners plenty to chew over, whether you're a brand-new member of the profession or a high-powered senior leader.

We're joined again by Dr Judith Kneen to discuss an article she has lead-authored, entitled Pioneer teachers: how far can individual teachers achieve agency within curriculum development?

We hear a lot about the need for teachers to have more agency - the power to do things, essentially - and this is a major change in direction after decades in which teacher agency has been reduced by the introduction of a central National Curriculum and an increasingly challenging accountability culture. Here in Wales, our pioneer teachers, who met to co-construct the new curriculum documents for the Curriculum for Wales were essentially also pioneers of a major shift in teacher agency. Judith was there during the process to see what it looked like.

Judith's article asks some powerful questions about the extent of teachers' agency at primary and secondary, and how the view changes if you look at the individual, school or national level.

The findings raise some challenging topics of conversation about where the potential sticking-points for teacher agency lie, and where we need to look to address potential obstacles to giving teachers the agency they need.

In a final run-out for the regular slots this year, Tom returns to the celebrated Daisy Christodoulou for a book recommendation (and is a lot more positive than last time), the team reflect on how we use our existing teacher skills to navigate the brave new world of coronavirus-lockdown remote teaching, and Emma's wellbeing recommendation is a stock-take of all the things we've stopped doing during the pandemic. Do we really need to start doing them all again once things are back to normal?

Judith's article will be published somewhere once the academic peer-review process reaches its slow and stately conclusion; we'll update these show-notes with a reference once publication is complete.

That's it for this academic year. Thanks for sticking with us, especially while we worked out how to keep recording while in separate locations - apologies for the lapses in sound quality. Our very best wishes to all our listeners, and especially the Initial Teacher Education students of Cardiff Metropolitan University (PGCE and BA) who have been loyal and supportive listeners this year, and many of whom had to deal with the shutdown of their schools mid-placement.

Once we've recovered from the insanity that is the end of the PGCE year, we'll record a few bits and bobs to see you through the summer, so keep an eye on your podcast feeds. Please do rate and review us, and tell your friends about the podcast. We'd love to hear your suggestions for topics for next year (we will be back!) so feel free to tweet us: @ethayer_cmu and @thomasbreeze.

Have a wonderful summer, keep well and we'll be back very soon!

All the best from Emma and Tom

----------

Recorded remotely on 27th May 2020

We're joined again by Dr Judith Kneen to discuss an article she has lead-authored, entitled Pioneer teachers: how far can individual teachers achieve agency within curriculum development?

We hear a lot about the need for teachers to have more agency - the power to do things, essentially - and this is a major change in direction after decades in which teacher agency has been reduced by the introduction of a central National Curriculum and an increasingly challenging accountability culture. Here in Wales, our pioneer teachers, who met to co-construct the new curriculum documents for the Curriculum for Wales were essentially also pioneers of a major shift in teacher agency. Judith was there during the process to see what it looked like.

Judith's article asks some powerful questions about the extent of teachers' agency at primary and secondary, and how the view changes if you look at the individual, school or national level.

The findings raise some challenging topics of conversation about where the potential sticking-points for teacher agency lie, and where we need to look to address potential obstacles to giving teachers the agency they need.

In a final run-out for the regular slots this year, Tom returns to the celebrated Daisy Christodoulou for a book recommendation (and is a lot more positive than last time), the team reflect on how we use our existing teacher skills to navigate the brave new world of coronavirus-lockdown remote teaching, and Emma's wellbeing recommendation is a stock-take of all the things we've stopped doing during the pandemic. Do we really need to start doing them all again once things are back to normal?

Judith's article will be published somewhere once the academic peer-review process reaches its slow and stately conclusion; we'll update these show-notes with a reference once publication is complete.

That's it for this academic year. Thanks for sticking with us, especially while we worked out how to keep recording while in separate locations - apologies for the lapses in sound quality. Our very best wishes to all our listeners, and especially the Initial Teacher Education students of Cardiff Metropolitan University (PGCE and BA) who have been loyal and supportive listeners this year, and many of whom had to deal with the shutdown of their schools mid-placement.

Once we've recovered from the insanity that is the end of the PGCE year, we'll record a few bits and bobs to see you through the summer, so keep an eye on your podcast feeds. Please do rate and review us, and tell your friends about the podcast. We'd love to hear your suggestions for topics for next year (we will be back!) so feel free to tweet us: @ethayer_cmu and @thomasbreeze.

Have a wonderful summer, keep well and we'll be back very soon!

All the best from Emma and Tom

----------

Recorded remotely on 27th May 2020