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mentored and immersed in their professional practice as part of their academic pro-
gram, graduated with greater understanding of their respective professions.
The idea of an ‘immersive experience’ to support preservice teachers to be work-
force ready (Apsland, 2016 ) has led to a wide range of extended, practical innova-
tions within initial teacher education. The use of communities of practice (Lave &
Wenger, 1991 ; Le Cornu, 2010 ; Rossner & Commins, 2012 ) has been advocated as
a means of providing immersive experiences for preservice teachers in schools.
However, creating a learning community is often not possible in traditional practi-
cums due to time constraints and other logistical challenges, the focus being on
preservice teachers’ demonstrating effective teaching practice and supervising
teachers’ assessing that practice (Allen & Peach, 2007 ; Furlong & Maynard, 1995 ;
Hastings, 2004 , 2010 ). Hence, there has been a need to reconceptualise school/uni-
versity partnerships and practicums to ensure that experiences in schools are rigor-
ous and meaningful, that the theory-practice divide is addressed and that opportunities
for preservice teachers to work in partnership over a sustained period of time with
mentor teachers are created. Kruger, Davies, Eckersley, Newell, and Cherednichenko
( 2009 ) conceptualise partnerships between initial teacher educators and schools:
... as a distinguishing characteristic of those teacher education programs with practices
linking school teachers, preservice teachers and teacher educators in more direct and ongo-
ing ways than the conventional teacher practicum. The nature of the partnership is that its
impact is in the participation and learning of the individual participants but also that the
enhanced university–school relationship needs to be organised at the level of the institu-
tions. (p. 43)
More than a decade ago, Korthagen, Loughran, and Russell ( 2006 ) offered a
framework of seven principles that guide effective initial teacher education pro-
grams. Two of these principles directly speak to the efficacy of immersion pro-
grams, that is, learning about teaching requires an emphasis on those learning to
teach working closely with teachers as peers in supportive communities of learners,
and learning about teaching requires meaningful relationships between schools,
universities and preservice teachers.
Practicum as partnership affords preservice teachers an immersive experience
within the whole range of activities in the teaching profession, enabling the preser-
vice teacher to experience a greater cross-section of the life of the school, as well as
the multifaceted tasks of a teacher. When immersed in practice, preservice teachers
have access to department intranets, assessment procedures, resources and day-to-
day tasks such as roll keeping, reporting, individual education plans and ongoing
interactions with colleagues and parents. These so-called ‘hidden’ elements of the
teaching profession are ‘learnt’ whilst immersed in practice and can contribute to
producing ‘classroom-ready’ graduates (Broadley et al., 2013 ). Preservice teachers
are more than ‘visitors’ in the classroom; the benefits of this immersion can be lik-
ened to Zeichner’s ( 2010 ) notion of a transforming ‘third space’ enabling the pre-
service teachers ‘to inhabit simultaneously their student and teacher identities
[through] gently being eased into a sense of belonging to the broader teacher and
school communities, at least partly because of the confidence and comfort...’
(Forgasz, 2016 , p. 110).
S. Tindall-Ford et al.