or simply more time spent in schools, but as an occupation responsive to the
changing needs of young people in the modern age:
The capacity of the teacher should be built not just through extensive‘teaching practice’but
through reflecting on and learning from the experience of supporting children’s learning
with all the complexities which characterise twenty-first century childhood. The‘craft’
components of teaching must be based upon and informed by fresh insights into how best
to meet the increasingly fast pace of change in the world which our children inhabit. Simply
advocating more time in the classroom as a means of preparing teachers for their role is
therefore not the answer to creating better teachers. (Donaldson 2011 :4–5; emphasis
added)Further, the Scottish approach resists the current“over-emphasis on preparation for
thefirst post”(Donaldson 2011 : 5). Donaldson argues for continual refinement of
teachers’skills through ongoing professional development,‘career-long growth’
(2010: 5) and viewing teaching experience and capacity as a continuum. He also
suggests that professional experience should not be limited to classroom time, but
include time with parents and other professionals associated with schools in order
for student-teachers to gain a more rounded experience.
35.1.4 Better School-University Relations
Along with this privileging of the practical, all three jurisdictions are concerned to
develop greater integration and better relationships between universities and
schools in delivering TE, although the basis for such concern varies. In Australia,
the focus is on professional experience placements that enable pre-service teachers
to translate“theory into practice”. This assumes such translation does not already
occur and that TE courses are too theory-heavy. Thus TEMAG calls for‘mutually
beneficial’school-university partnerships that“set criteria for professional experi-
ence across a range of classroom situations”(2014b: xiii). This involves providing
mentors to assist student-teachers and opportunities for them to“continually reflect
on their own practice”(2014b: xiii).
The Donaldson Review similarly calls for more reflective practice but in concert
with a more elaborate and integrated approach to school-university partnerships. In
this account, professional experience should not just be better integrated with
university studies but allow for“reflection on practice and its interpretation in ways
which bring theoretical and research perspectives to bear in relation to actual
experience”(Donaldson 2011 : 7). Donaldson emphasises that partnerships should
be collaborative and involve schools and local authorities in all aspects of TE. Such
‘shared responsibility’(7), he argues, should be based on:
a new concept of partnership among universities, local authorities, schools, national
agencies and other services which embraces selection, course content and assessment,
which sets practical experience in a much more reflective and inquiring culture and which
makes optimum use of ICT for professional learning. (11)35 The Prevailing Logic of Teacher Education... 531