school-university partnerships. The principals were excited about the opportunities
afforded through working together to enhance the practicum as they believed that
It was a chance to bring the best of school and the best of university together in a way that’s
collaborative and co-constructed. For once it’s a joint thing, as opposed to the university
over there and the school over here. (Principal, School D).We have outlined elsewhere the outcomes of the development process that con-
tributed to the design of practicums that would align with a school’s professional
culture and meet university credentialing requirements (Grudnoff and Williams
2010 ).
Table15.2provides a summary of the key differences between the reframed
approach to the practicum and the university’s traditional practicum model.
Data on the RPP have been gathered primarily from individual and focus group
interviews of student teachers and associated school and university staff, and from
meeting documentation. The evidence indicates that the aims of the project were
being enacted in practice. For example
There’s a much closer working relationship between the university and the school and...
that’s the way it should be. The project has built relationships between us so that the links
between what happens here in theory and what happens in practice in schools are much
clearer. (Principal, School C)
It is about co-construction in a really authentic sense - about co-constructing powerful
teaching between expert and novice on the basis of knowledge and big goals from both the
university and the school. It is a real collaboration and it’s authentic. (Principal, School A)Table 15.2 Summary of key differences between the reframed and traditional practicum models
University of Auckland
Reframed practicum model Traditional practicum model- Group of 4–6 student teachers assigned
to a school which then selects an appropriate
mentor teacher for each
student teacher - School selects one teacher (Adjunct lecturer
—AL) to have overall professional
responsibility for all student teachers in the
school and to work with the mentor teachers - University selects one lecturer (university
liaison lecturer—ULL) to work with
School/AL - The principal is involved in designing the
practicum that is appropriate for their school - The AL and the ULL have the prime
responsibility of designing a practicum that
meets school culture and university
requirements for that group of student
teachers - Practicum assessment practices involve a
range of professional participants depending
on the elements of the practicum design- University assigns student teacher to
an Associate Teacher in an individual
classroom - School identifies contact person for
practicum administrative purposes
within the school - University supervisor is allocated an
individual student teacher to observe
and assess their performance against
university practicum requirements - The principal’s focus is administrative e.g.
oversight of mentor payments - Associate teacher is responsible for
providing the conditions to enable
the student teacher to meet university
practicum requirements - Student teacher, mentor teacher and
university supervisor meet in a triadic
assessment discussion
- University assigns student teacher to
15 Redesigning Authentic Collaborative... 231