pointed out, establishing a shared vision between school and university is only the
starting point. The implementation of this vision is a complex and long-term pro-
cess to create expanded learning opportunities for prospective teachers that will
better prepare them to be successful in enacting complex teaching practices.
We have gone someway to breaking down the traditional hierarchy between
university and school. However, the transformative spaces (Gutiérrez 2008 ;
Zeichner 2010 ) conceptualised by the developers of these programmes are yet to
become fully realised as school and university capacity is still being developed. The
outstanding classroom teachers we have identified are not necessarily skilled
mentors nor are they familiar with the academic work student teachers are expected
to undertake. At the same time, our university academic staff may have had little
experience in working alongside teachers in classroom contexts, or be unfamiliar
with recent schooling initiatives. Hence both school and university need support to
develop the additional skills required to work as collaborative partners. For true
innovation to occur we need to be continually mindful of McIntyre’s( 2009 )
warning to ensure that the masters’ programmes do not privilege university
knowledge over practising teacher expertise nor emphasise the alignment of school
practice with what is taught in the university setting.
Making time and space for university-school conversations and clarifying the
mix of university and school roles and responsibilities while enacting and inno-
vating a strong university-school partnership is a challenge, as others have found
(e.g. Allen 2011 ; Bloomfield 2009 ). These studies have alerted us to the potential
for limited communication between schools and universities in a partnership model
to increase, rather then decrease, the disconnect between the two partners. As these
EPITE are scaled up with more student teachers, schools and university staff
involved, we need to pay careful attention to these issues. Developing shared
understanding and capacity across all stakeholders is essential if we are to maintain
authentic partnerships, effect innovation and support the academic and practice
rigour intended of these exemplary programmes.
References
Allen, J., Howells, K., & Radford, R. (2013). A‘partnership in teaching excellence’: Ways in
which one school-university partnership has fostered teacher development. Asia-Pacific
Journal of Teacher Education, 41(1), 99–110.
Allen, J. M. (2011). Stakeholders’perspectives of the nature and role of assessment during
practicum.Teaching and Teacher Education, 27, 742 – 750.
Bloomfield, D. (2009). Working within and against neoliberal accreditation agendas:
Opportunities for professional experience.Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 37,
27 – 44.
Carter, A. (2015). Review of initial teacher training (ITT). Retrieved fromwww.gov.uk/
government/publications
Darling-Hammond, L. (2006).Powerful teacher education: Lessons from exemplary programmes.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
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