As teacher educators we are conscious of the contested discourse around evidence-informed change, whether in school classrooms or in terms of teacher education itself, and we feel that there is an important debate to be had around the role of evidence in driving innovation: what sort of evidence is needed? Who is producing it? Is it adequate? Are policy makers listening? What are the consequences of not listening?  Are there tensions around values and evidence, and if so, how do we reconcile them? How do we address the tendency to have ‘one size fits all’ innovation? How do we obtain the best balance among decision makers: policy makers, researchers, professional educators?

The 2017 Annual SCoTENS conference theme aimed to encourage speakers, panel members and delegates to consider these kinds of questions in a way that prompts reflection, discussion and debate.

There was keynote addresses by Professor Viv Ellis, School of Education, Communication and Society, King’s College London and Professor Colleen McLaughlin, Director of Innovation, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge.   The panel discussion and workshops were built around cross-border partnerships and sought to develop our understanding of educational innovation in practice.  After the success of last year’s pilot a doctoral workshop was once again held during the conference further details available here).  This year participants were also interviewed to capture their perceptions on the value of SCoTENS for a piece of research led by members of the committee.

We very much hoped you enjoyed the challenging theme of this year’s conference and had the chance to make new connections North and South, and of course to renew old friendships.

The photos from the conference are displayed in the attached gallery. If anyone would like any photos removed please contact crossborder@qub.ac.uk