How do Further Education (FE) teachers see their role changing in the future to exploit digital teaching and learning opportunities in an increasingly digital education environment?

Abstract

This research explores and reveals the complexity of Further Education (FE) teachers’ viewpoints in relation to digital teaching and learning technologies. The enquiry begins by reviewing the Government policies that surround digital learning technologies in Further Education (FE) and recognises the challenges that policy, reform, social, economic and educational changes present to the FE Sector. Policy suggests that changes in education may be necessary for developing skills that are required to live and work effectively in a globally connected world and for what the UK Government terms a modern Britain. This means teaching, learning and assessment in FE might need to change, which may lead to considerable changes to the role of the teacher. This research argues that government policy is underestimating the complexities of developing a culture of integrated digital teaching and learning technologies, and has a view too simplistic for the upskilling of teaching staff and transformation of the FE Sector with digital learning technologies. Q-methodology and qualitative semi-structured interviews have been used to illuminate the views of teachers and how they position themselves for using digital learning technologies in their teaching. By selecting a group of experienced teachers who are considered, by the College, to be advanced teachers and a second group of teacher-education (TED) students, the research demonstrates the nuances of the teaching habitus, whether evolving through long-term teaching experience or through the initial teacher-education (ITE) programme. This research explores the concept of the digital teaching habitus through Bourdieu’s theoretical lens of field, habitus and capital from which the participants are revealed to have a continuum of positions and level of digital capital at play within their digital teaching habitus. By interpreting these different emerging positions, several digital teaching habitus are identified with associated levels of digital capital for the participants. The teachers’ voice provides current knowledge on what teachers feel is important to the teacher-student relationship in a digital education environment and the prominence that FE teachers assign to managing students’ aspirations and to preparing students for their occupations and future workplaces.