- Inward/outward referencing, i.e. focus purely on Scotland (inward) or Scotland
located within the wider global context (outward)
Each article was read in turn with responses noted against each of the above
categories. In some cases the responses were explicit in the article, but in other
cases they were either implicit or not discernable. The analysis below summarises
the key aspects of each article in turn, in line with the categories in the analytical
frame. It thereafter takes each aspect within the analytical frame and discusses the
common themes, divergences and omissions.
38.4 Analysis
Gray and Weir (2014) set out to provide an account of‘key periods, players and
events’(p. 569) in teacher education policy in Scotland from the 1960s to the current
Donaldson Review period. There is no funding source acknowledged, and the article
is entirely inward referencing in that it describes the Scottish context without ref-
erence or appeal to wider policy developments or influences elsewhere. There is no
explicit outline of the methodological approach adopted, but it draws on research
and policy literature in providing a chronological, historical account of CPD policy
development. While the article is not structured around any one particular theoretical
framework, the conclusions do draw on Zeichner’s( 2006 ) four tests of high quality
public education. The‘insider’perspective from which the article is written (by two
longstanding Scottish teacher education academics) is also defended explicitly in the
article when the authors discuss the need for academics with intimate knowledge of
the national education system in order to have influence on policy makers. There is
no explicit claim made to intended impact of the article, but it does set out to
illustrate the way(s) in which‘Scotland’s teachers and their teacher education have
retained well-deserved public and political trust’(p. 584), and in this regard is
perhaps presented as an inward-referencing piece of self-promotion for the Scottish
system, as opposed to an outward-referencing critique.
Humes (2014) focuses on Professional Update and practitioner enquiry, sug-
gesting in the title that this is perhaps a repackaging of existing policy:‘Professional
update and practitioner enquiry: Old wine in new bottles’? The intended impact of
the article is made clear when Humes asserts that‘the paper concludes by arguing for
greater intellectual freedom in defining what counts as legitimate professional
learning and cautioning against the expectation that new systems and structures will
by themselves bring about major shifts in attitude’(p. 54). He provides a challenge to
what he perceives as a technicist, managerial and systems-focused approach to the
development of teacher professional learning policy. This is a standalone piece of
work, which does not acknowledge any external funding. The article uses discourse
analysis, adopting a comparative historical perspective, although is limited in
specific methodological detail. Theoretically, it draws on the notion of discourse as a
discursive site that reflects changes in policy direction.
38 Researching Teacher Education Policy: A Case Study from Scotland 573