Gillian Waugh

The meaning and concept of ‘professionalism’ for Literacy tutors in the Further Education or Learning and Skills Sector became a government focus in 1990’s following the publication of the Moser report and has been the subject of ongoing change since this point. The New Labour Government proposed a qualification reform including professional standards and subject specialist awards in 2002 and this was brought in under the new inspection framework of Ofsted in 2002. This new structure identified the need for those teaching Literacy and ESOL to have subject specialist qualifications that would be delivered alongside their generic teacher training. This was necessary to meet the needs of the learners.
The focus of this study is to examine Trainee and Novice teachers of Literacy perceptions of how well prepared they feel to teach in the sector following their course of study on a Post Graduate Certificate or Certificate of Education qualification Initial Teacher Training course.
The work also examines the background of the development of the Literacy subject specialist qualifications and why they need to be in existence; the definitions of Literacy standards and the reasons for the definitions; why learners have not acquired skills in Literacy by the time they reach adulthood; and what Literacy actually means for learners in the post compulsory sector. The study follows two cohorts of NTs through from their perceptions as they begin their studies through to their perceptions on completion of their studies and six months into their roles as Novice teachers. The methodology involved focus groups, observation of classes to collect quantitative data, questionnaires and interviews.
The findings revealed the trainee teachers placed significant value on the knowledge of a literacy teacher and there is evidence that they considered individual personality traits and characteristics to be important in their role as a professional tutor. There is significant evidence that the trainees did not feel that they are fully prepared for the diverse sector that they will work in and there is particular emphasis on the lack of coverage of the GCSE curriculum and the concept of being a specialist in what is evolving into three distinct areas, those of Literacy, ESOL and GCSE English.
The implications of the study are that the standards for Initial Teacher Training for Literacy specialists, and thus the teaching qualifications that these are built on, have not developed in line with the needs of the sector. One clear aspect that emerges from the study is this mismatch between the needs of the sector and the preparation of trainee teachers. The researcher approached the study from a stance of being firmly committed to the need for prescribed national standards for teachers of Literacy.

What factors determine success at University? For many years the construct of intelligence was felt to be critical. More recently, the construct of grit, has attracted the attention of many researchers, along with related concepts such as self-control, growth mind-sets and resilience. The authors of this paper have developed a specific measure of tenacity and self-composure, two constructs crucial to academic achievement. This measure comprises of 12 items drawn from the above constructs, but also including mental well-being and strengths use. In the first study, the authors report on the psychometric properties of the Bolton Uni-Stride Scale (BUSS). The new scale was administered to 1117 university students. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) revealed two underlying factors, one labelled "tenacity" had seven items and accounted for 30% of the variance. The second was labelled "self-composure," and accounted for 14% of the variance. In the second study the BUSS was given to 340 undergraduate students along with the Grit Scale, the Self-Control Scale, the Mind-sets Quiz, the Connor Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC 10) and the short Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS). This study presented evidence for good internal consistency reliability (.74) and test-retest reliability over three weeks was .70 for Tenacity and .77 for Self-composure. BUSS Academic Tenacity correlated highly with grit (.63), self-control (.59), resilience (.52), mind-sets (.35) and mental well-being (.54). The study also evidences good discriminative validity of the BUSS. A second study conducted confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), explaining a total of 44% of the variance. The authors have shown good support for the reliability and validity of the BUSS scale. It now needs to be tested in other universities and in different countries. It is the contention of the authors that academic tenacity will be a better measure of academic success than other competing measures, such as grit, on their own. Further research is needed to test this assertion.

The present research looked at the importance of the concept of grit in University students based on a mixed-method approach. Study 1 comprised 440 University students. All were given the Grit Scale, the Perceived Stress Scale, the short Warwick– Edinburgh MentalWell-being Scale, the Office of National StatisticsWell-being items and the Self-Control Scale. Levels of grit were significantly higher in female students, older students and postgraduates. Grit correlated highest with self-control. Study 2 looked at 340 University students. In addition to measuring self-control, mental well-being and grit, measures of resilience and mindsets were also added. A construct validity test of the Grit Scale showed that high grit scorers had significantly higher levels of selfcontrol and mental well-being, were more resilient and were more likely to have a more growth oriented mindset. Grit varies with age and is most closely associated with the concept of self-control. The third study was a qualitative investigation with 10 successful graduates. Semi-structured interviews were coded using thematic analysis. Three broad themes emerged. The first, Passion and Perseverance, included themes of having short and long terms goals, resilience, dedication, and endurance. The second, Self-Control, included time management, self-awareness, prioritizing tasks and knowing strengths and weaknesses. The third theme identified was Positive Mindsets. This included having a positive attitude toward learning, the importance of feedback and constructive criticism and that success is not materialistic. The qualitative research has helped “unpack” concepts from the grit research and may enable University tutors to guide students better. Though these studies were only conducted in one English University, they have been stepping stones in our quest to discover what are the most important factors in determining student academic success? The development and piloting of our new Uni-Stride Scale, is the next step in this process.