Distilling the comparative essence of teachers’ centres in England and Spain 1960-1990: past perspectives and current potential for teacher professional development?

ABSTRACT

This paper seeks to examine a specific development in the history of teacher education to explore whether it might illuminate and inform contemporary debate. It offers a historical/comparative analysis of the contribution of teachers’ centres to the professional development of teachers in England and Spain during the late 1960s to the early 1990s. In looking back to the impact that teachers’ centres had on teachers in these very different social and political contexts, the paper examines whether, in spite of being adopted and adapted differently in the English and Spanish contexts, there was a fundamental essence of the teachers’ centre model that could transcend both time and space. Thus, although essentially historical in method and focus, the paper will problematise just how far new forms of teacher professional development have lessons to learn from older, now largely overlooked forms, as found in the practice of the teachers’ centres, with their focus on grassroots teacher autonomy and collaboration. The paper is in four parts: setting the scene and methodology; outlining the rise and fall of teachers’ centres in England and Spain; identifying the core essence of the teachers’ centre model; and finally exploring potential implications for current policy and practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher professional development
• teachers centres
• teacher education
• history of education - Spain and England
• teacher professionalism
• educational transfer

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work on the English teachers’ centres was supported by the British Academy under a British Academy Research Development Award Grant (number 53026).

Notes on contributors

Tamar Groves

Professor Tamar Groves is the Associate Dean of International Affairs at the Universidad de Extremadura and has formerly held academic appointments at the Universidad de Salamanca. Her academic specialism is the history of Spanish education, gender and education and higher education, where she has published widely and her work has been influential around the world.

Wendy Robinson

Professor Wendy Robinson is currently the Pro Vice Chancellor Education at Lancaster University and previously held academic appointments at Exeter, Warwick and Cambridge Universities. Her academic specialism is in the history of the development of the teaching profession, where she has published widely and her work has been influential around the world.