September 2009 — Volume 3, Issue 5

Repository a rich resource

A national data library to support large-scale research into teacher education would improve the quality of teacher education and the future development of the teachingA national data library to support large-scale research into teacher education would improve the quality of teacher education and the future development of the teaching profession, a new study finds.

The scoping study by Professor Sue Willis, Dean of Education at Monash University, and researcher Barbara Preston finds a clear need for such a repository and strong support for it from key organisations, which want to promote and support its wide use once it is established.

The $100,000 project funded by the ALTC points to a paucity of large-scale, high-quality research in teacher education in Australia despite Australian research in the field of education being of “very high international standing”.

Teacher education students make up 10 per cent of all students and 12 per cent of all domestic students in Australian universities. Education professionals make up almost 5 per cent of all Australian workers, the report says. Yet only 1.6 per cent of all Australian research and development spending is directed towards education and training objectives.

“Thus it is clear that teacher education is an important area and there is great capability among researchers for high quality research to inform policy and practice in the area. Yet there is not the database infrastructure to effectively and efficiently support such research,’’ the report says.

This means that there has not been sufficient evidence on which to base decisions about the structure, content and quality of courses and insufficient longitudinal data to be used in research into pedagogy and practice.

The project evaluated the need for, feasibility of, support for and specifications of a national data library, or repository, aimed at improving the initial and continuing education of teachers.
 
It looked at the content, structure, possible locations and operational standards for the repository and how it might be accessed and by whom. The report concludes that an effective and efficient data library would need annual funding of between $1.5 million and $2 million, with ongoing core federal government funding.

The proposed data library would be accessible via a website. Its three main components would be a document repository, a public access data repository and a full, restricted data repository. It would contain a wide range of datasets, some of them readily available from, say, the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, some that need expert specification or manipulation before they can be used, data of new collections from bodies such as education faculties, and data from new collections that require significant funding and ongoing commitment, such as findings from a new longitudinal survey of student teachers.

The report flags several options for the location of a data repository. For example it could be hosted by the
proposed national accreditation body for teacher education programs or a revamped Teaching Australia or in a centre or unit within an existing organisation. It could also be established as an autonomous, independent organisation under its own legislation or created as a public company.

Whatever its location and structure, the report says it would need a management structure, such as a council or board, involving stakeholders in teacher education and experts in data repositories.