The mentor teachers also valued the collaboration that was a feature of the new
approach to the practicum:
When you [work with] other people to support the students and their teaching...you notice
things that you might overlook because you are in your own little world. I think the whole
thing [the new model] has made us think more broadly and we have benefitted as a team.
(Mentor, School E)Student teachers also noted the benefits of collaboration. For example
This practicum was a partnership between the associate and the others [the ULL and AL]
and us [student teachers] so that we were always working together and alongside each other
modelling what good practice looks like. (Student teacher, School D)The key collaborative relationship was, however, between the school-based
Adjunct Lecturer and the University Liaison Lecturer
We [the AL and ULL] worked very closely...and we looked at usual practices and the
strengths/minuses and interesting points and advantages/disadvantages of the usual practice
and looked very carefully at where we could make dramatic change...We spent a long
time trying to debunk our usual practice. (AL and ULL, School C)Over the last six years, the faculty has worked closely with principals and staff from
eighteen Auckland primary schools who are now involved in the RPP. Two factors
have been critical to the success of the project. First, explicit recognition that
teacher professional knowledge and university theoretical knowledge are comple-
mentary and are of equal value
[The practicum] is now about co-constructing powerful teaching between an expert and a
noviceon thebasis of knowledgefromboththe universityandtheschool. (Principal, SchoolD)Second, empowering the schools to develop contextually relevant ways of working
with student teachers
We (the principal, the AL and ULL) interpreted the [practicum] learning outcomes for us as
a school: What do they look like in the context of [the] school? What does effective
teaching look like in the context of our school. So we’ve have worked with the students
together in terms of contextualising the practicum learning outcomes. (Principal, School C)While the aims and outcomes of the RPP are viewed positively, what cannot be
underestimated is the amount of hard work and commitment that the school prin-
cipals, and those undertaking the new roles of school-based adjunct lecturer
(AL) and the university-based liaison lecturer (ULL) have put into making the new
practicum partnerships work successfully.
15.5 The Master of Teaching (Primary)
We have built on the understandings developed through the Reframing Practicum
Project in the design and development of a new one-year Master of Teaching
(Primary) programme, which began in July 2014. The overarching goal of the
232 B. Cooper and L. Grudnoff