IPDA Scotland reflects on the 2020 IPDA Conference

IPDA Scotland’s Nova Scott and Suzie Dick reflect on some of pertinent themes raised in keynotes and presentations at the IPDA Annual Conference 2020.

Dr Vicky Wasner by Nova Scott

Networking is an important part of any conference. IPDA 2020 was online due to Covid restrictions so the usual “mingling” over coffee and scones wasn’t possible. However, one of the joys of Zoom (other platforms are available), is being able to “zoom” through the participants and see names and faces of people you hold in high esteem. This functionality enables you to “hunt the academic celebrities” without appearing like a stalker!

I had a bit of a “fan girl” moment when I listened to Dr Vicky Wasner speak. Now, before anyone gets worried and starts arranging security detail for Vicky, let me explain the connection. Vicky’s doctoral journey was supervised by the wonderful Professor Kate Wall, now of Strathclyde University and then of Durham. Since she has been lured even further north than Durham, Kate is now my supervisor at Strathclyde.

Kate had very patiently listened to many months of me whinging; gnashing my teeth and going round in methodological circles as I lurched from hermeneutic phenomenology to case study to mixed methods and back again via any other methodological approach that didn’t involve too many numbers! I was tentatively toying with the idea of being a bit more creative and looking at a storytelling approach when Kate sent me a link to Vicky’s thesis. Curled up in my “reading chair,” I was engrossed from the very beginning when Vicky started off saying “let me tell you about me and let me tell you my story.”

Hearing Vicky speak at IPDA 2020 was wonderful and although our research focus is quite different, I connected with lots of what she talked about. Her Pedagogy of CARE (Consciousness, Action, Responsibility and Experimentation) is a fascinating framework and one that I would encourage you to read more about.

Vicky had confessed to being nervous about speaking but she did a brilliant job and I told her so! That supportive ethos threaded throughout the IPDA 2020 conference and is a key attraction for me of both the conference and the organisation as a whole. Knowing that there are spaces for early career researchers (or like me, late in career but early in research) to share their thinking in a supportive space is a real encouragement. Maybe I will even lock the imposter syndrome in the cupboard in time for IPDA 2021!

The value of memoing by Suzie Dick

So, I should be reflecting here on presenting at the IPDA 2020 conference, however the presentation, in the main, was straightforward. I was the third presenter on, and that allowed me time to listen to how they were presenting and to make some additional notes to ensure what I said was as straightforward and to the point as I could be, reflecting the fact that with an international audience words like ‘curriculum for excellence’ and probationers’ wouldn’t hold the same meaning as those who are familiar with the Scottish education system. 

That aside, what caused me to pause and reflect was the questions that were asked at the end of my presentation regarding utilising a grounded theory approach to tell part of the story of the newly qualified teachers in Argyll and Bute. One question in particular was with regards to the memoing process and how I go back and code my memos. This is something I have previously reflected upon and asked the Grounded Theory Network on twitter regarding good practice for doing this and why/how the researcher should use their memos. I had started the process in believing that memoing was ‘just’ there to force our own biases to the surface and ensure they are noted, so that one can go back and chart the evolution of their own thinking. What I didn’t say during my presentation was, that though I knew the theory behind the coding, that I had found myself not going back, I hadn’t yet found the time to code my memos; I was still memoing as the processes demanded but I didn’t go back and recheck what I had written before. It was always a job for later, I was too busy, as my presentation reflected, in the minutia of data collection and chartering the stories, coding the stories and getting lost in deciding which codes should become categories, the anticipation of the potential theories emerging from the ground up. 

So, after the conference I stopped and read my memos. What I discovered was my storyline. Another thing I knew that would evolve over time, but another thing I thought I would come back to. The fallacy of those actions has been that I have missed, or forgotten, important points and genuine ‘ah ha’ and ‘oh yeah!’ moments as I carry on to the next bit of my research.

For me presenting at IPDA, or other conferences or symposiums for that matter, is a bit like putting on some much needed brakes to stop and think about what I am doing, why, and through the questions asked, enable further reflection. Also, it serves as pointers to other areas of research which you think you know a little about, and realise how little you know but also where to go look. In particular I was struck by Nathan Douglas’s presentation on talking about dialogical self-theory and his literature review on identity theory. I enjoyed listening to Catriona Oates talking about professional identity and the emerging themes from her joint narrative enquiry into the lived experiences of transitioning student teachers during Covid-19. The four emerging themes from Scotland resonated with what I was discovering and I gained some good pointers of other authors to look into including Sachs (2016) and Kennedy, et al, 2020).

Finally, I enjoy the space that an IPDA conference provides, where a teacher researcher can occupy the same space as a university academic and for the bridge between both sides of educational research to continue to become stronger. 

Professor Eline Vanassche – Success or Failure in teacher education: Moving beyond standards and the idea of (in) competent individual teacher educators. By Nova Scott

Professor Eline Vanassche delivered her IPDA 2020 keynote from her kitchen table in Belgium, in flawless English and peppered her stimulating academic arguments with delightful charm and wit. She held the audience in the way that you might expect Mary Poppins to captivate a nursery class! From her opening admission of being “paralysed with presenting fear” (yes, folks, Professors have imposter syndrome too), I was hooked.

Eline led us into a fascinating look at standards for teacher educators and challenged us to think about the language used by policy makers. Standards, she argued, are not just words. The way we talk about something, not without consequence. Eline encouraged us to consider how language can both select and deflect and, quoting Kenneth Burke, how every way of seeing is also a way of not seeing.

Eline argues for a more rounded approach and suggests there is a gap between intention and reality in “assessing quality” in teacher education. Does the “tick box approach” to standards mean that if a teacher educator can put a tick against each criterion, they are doing a great job? Eline suggests not and this reminded me of the Benchmarks for Curriculum for Excellence. Documents produced as standards, competencies, things to be achieved. In grid format, almost asking to be ticked in spite of the instructions that they should not be used as a tick list!

Professionalism is talked a lot about in education and in teacher education but until this is enacted, Eline argues, it is nothing but an aspiration. This reminded me of the work of Judith Sachs and her 2016 paper “Teacher Professionalism – Why are we still talking about it?”

This was a fascinating keynote, delivered with real style and in a very accessible manner. Eline took some really complex ideas and made them understandable. A true sign of someone who can afford to lock the Imposter Syndrome firmly back in the cupboard!