Perspectives of new Trades tutors to teaching: A very interim report

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Perspectives of new Trades tutors to teaching A
very interim report

• Selena Chan
• Output 2009 CPIT research week
• September 2009

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Overview

• Why do this project?
• Participants profiles
• Initial findings
• Aspects of identity and boundary crossing
• Where to from here
• Some recommendations

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Why?

• CAT review at CPIT
• Ako Aotearoa Southern hub funding required a
  wider perspective to be taken
• Involvement of South Island Educational
  Developers group
• Trades tutors a focus

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Participant profiles

• New trades tutors (starting full-time in 2007)
• 13 male tutors from 5 Polytechnics teaching in 8
  trades
• Age range 27 to 63 average 40 years
• Over ½ left school with minimal qualifications
  but all have at least trade certificate
• All held positions of responsibility before
  beginning teaching

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Broad themes

• Motivators for entry into teaching
• Concepts of teaching in an ITP as compared to
  training in the workplace
• Identity formation as trades teachers -
  concentrating on this one for this presentation
  which also includes aspects of the 2 points above
• Suggestions for the improvement of teacher
  training courses at ITPs
• Support for new tutors not always available

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Identity boundary crossing

• Concepts of craftsmanship (Ainley, 1995) versus
  scholarship of teaching learning (Trigwell,
  Martin, Benjamin Prosser, 2000)
• Identity formation - Erickson Marcia
  (ASHE-ERIC, 2002) but applying the work of
  Vygotsky (Penuel Wertsch, 1995)
• Communities of practice (Wenger, 1998)
  engagement, imagination alignment with
  community, practice, meaning identity
• Learning as becoming (Hodkinson, Biesta James,
  2008)
• Boundary crossing concepts
• (Jones, 2007 Manathunga, 2007)

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• Identification as a trades person
• Arana I think I am both because I cant be one
  without the other really. And I need to maintain
  my integrity in having student respect by still
  being an electrician. So as far as work goes, I
  am a tutor but I still need that recognition as
  electrician. The thing is they still need to
  wire a house say, they still need someone to
  instruct them how to wire up a house. I got to
  still be a sparky.
• Arapeta I love cookingI live for cooking but I
  must admit I enjoy as much the mentoring side.
  Yeah, thats right, its something I love, its
  easy to do, its a hobby for me. Cooking is not a
  job.

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• Rawiri I am not so focused on being a teacher, I
  dont want to be a teacher, still want to be chef
  that happens to teach. So I dont want to be a
  tutor or a teacher that just happens to teach
  cooking. So I dont know if that fits into the
  mould but seventeen years of being locked away in
  a kitchen, cooking, I dont want to lose that. To
  my students that what I am, I am a chef that
  happens to be standing in front of this class
  teaching them about what I love. And I dont
  wanna to lose that.

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• Moving towards becoming a teacher
• Hemi It was good. It was actually quite scary
  and this is going to sound stupid. But that is
  when I realised teaching is another trade. The
  job is teaching it just happens to be painting.
  That I suppose is obvious but all the things
  around how people learning, that was brilliant.
• Maaka I consider myself as a more a teacher than
  I do builder. Ah, it would have been. It was
  fairly early in the piece, because I started
  realising these things fit me.

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• There is a change in how students are perceived
  as compared to apprentices being trained in the
  workplace.
• Maaka Thats a curly question. I think now, I
  find I have more responsibility and whereas
  before you could say they were work colleagues,
  equals and even though they are. And now I see
  that I have quite a lot of influence on the young
  fellas. They look up to you a lot more. With that
  tutor role, you have to be careful what you say,
  how you respond to them. Yeah, a lot more
  responsibility.

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• And for Hemi, a change in focus for his teaching
  from his trade to the literacy skills of his
  students.
• Hemi Encouraging them to write. Which is an
  exercise tutor Hemi defers to does where he
  gives them a notebook which we disguise as
  actually a journal and everyday, they writing
  something that they have learnt, or something
  they have found hard or we avoid feelings and
  things like that.
• And also encouraging them to get out in front of
  a board early on. So just making it, without them
  being aware, they are standing in front of a
  whole class, drawing on the board or writing
  something on the board. Making it safe and
  comfortable about that.
•  

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Where to from here?

• Does this generalise to the wider ITP sector?
• What of work overseas?
• What does this study tell us about our
  professional/vocational identities?

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Some recommendations

• Communities of practice (internal, external)
  important
• Using the apprenticeship model to provide
  mentorship
• Induction systems need to be more effective
• Role models important

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Thank You!!

• Contact
• Selena Chan
• email- chans_at_cpit.ac.nz
• Blogging at- http//mportfolios.blogspot.com