Current Situation of In-Service Education of Teachers in Britain
―Focused on the Case at Cambridge Institute of Education―
1993 Volume 2 Pages 159-168
Details
1993 Volume 2 Pages 159-168
In this paper, the author intends to clarify the characteristics and significance of current strategies of INSET (In-service Education of Teachers) in Britain (England and Wales). The author's focus is the case analysis of certain INSET course at Cambridge Institute of Education, which the author attended as a participant observer in spring and summer term of 1991-1992 academic year.
In Britain, although the system and provisions of INSET had been greatly developed since the James Report (1972), it seems that current main style of it is course attendance one which are provided by the many related agencies (DES, LEA, institutes of higher education, and professional associations etc.)
The Cambridge Institute of Education was established in 1950 and is funded by direct grant from the Department of Education and Science. This institute are recognized as a centre for in-service education and educational research in the region of East Anglia.
The INSET course that the author selects as a typical and interesting case is as follows. Its title is “Developing whole School Curriculum in the Primary schools.” Its participants are twenty members including headteachers, deputy headteachers, and curriculum coordinators of primary schools. They are required to perform some assignments before every 10 day session. They often present and exchange own concerns and tasks one another and discuss eagerly the effective strategies or methods for whole school curriculum development through two tutors' advices and suggestions. Finally they attain following views of curriculum development: (1) Whole school curriculum development requires all staffs' change of values and beliefs and their dissemination and acceptance among children of the school. (2) It relates to the conditions of both persons and organizations, asks for the persons' spontaneity and enduring pursuit of long-term goal attainment. (3) It has four stages of practical mastery of shared beliefs for attainment of good enough educational products; opportunity, support (by administrative staffs), demonstration (by stimulated staffs), and dissemination.
Based on the above case analysis, as concluding words of this paper the author suggests that Japan's implementation of INSET needs the refinement of basic view of INSET and appropriate and flexible adoption of strategies responding to individual teacher or school needs.
