Michael Gove needs to get his research right on teacher training -by John Wadsworth in The Guardian

You report that government plans "appear to favour in-school training over university-based courses" (£20,000 offer to first-class graduates who enter teaching, June 27). As a lecturer in education, this is of some concern to me, given that there does not appear to be any evidence to support this preference.

You quote the education secretary, Michael Gove, saying "our teachers are trained in some of the best institutions in the world" – a view endorsed by Ofsted, which rated university-based courses more highly than school-based ones. So why does Gove prefer school-based routes? In the past he's looked at other countries to support his case, but there is no suggestion in the article that he has done so this time. Could it be because the evidence doesn't fit his ideology?

In Finland's "world-class" system, teachers are educated to master's level before being allowed in the classroom. Their education includes a high proportion of pedagogy and they are expected to engage with current research in their specialism both at undergraduate and postgraduate level. In France there are similar expectations. This depth of understanding – not "techniques" – makes for outstanding teachers. As one French student put it to me, "teaching is not like following a recipe" – an effective teacher needs to understand why they are taking a particular approach.

Gove's suggestion that "training does not focus sharply enough on the techniques teachers most need, such as behaviour management and the effective teaching of reading", suggests an alarming degree of ignorance.

Teaching is a complex task and can't be reduced to a simple list of strategies. What works for one child won't necessarily work for another, but theory gives teachers the tools to know what to do when they don't know what to do.

It is true that beginner teachers would welcome more input on the teaching of reading and behaviour management, but sadly there are no magic bullets. Research helps our students understand that learning to read is a highly complex process and that effective readers (even young ones) employ a range of strategies to make sense of texts. They also understand that this process isn't made simpler when working in a highly irregular language like English.

We need to empower teachers to think for themselves. To paraphrase Robin Alexander, director of the Cambridge Primary Review, we cannot expect "children to think for themselves if their teachers only do what they're told". It's unlikely that the quality of initial teacher education in England will improve if Gove decides to adopt his school-based model. What is needed instead is a climate where schools and university education departments work closely to help student teachers bridge the gap between theory and practice.

If world-class education systems rely on teachers who are able to use research evidence to support their teaching, the least we can expect from the education secretary is that he is rigorous in his use of research too.

via guardian.co.uk