Association for Partnership

in Teacher Education

Dr d’Reen Struthers

CPD – links to partnership

Working in ITE partnership

• Partnership staff often work in isolation

• Collaboration offers the sharing of good practice

• Often positioned in HEIs as engaging managerial partnerships

• There is a growing global research base for partnership practices

• Certainly now becoming more than just school placements

The changing face of partnership

•Both Schools and HEIs are now working in multi-agency partnerships

•Tensions continue between HEI and school-led routes to QTS

•Some tensions arise from views about what types of knowledge are necessary for preparing teachers from both schools and HEIs

•Tensions about QA as the recommending QTS partner still is responsible

CPD - Partnership matters

• in HEIs the tension is often between income generation (MAs) and enhancing school improvement for quality/quantity placements

• Views about school improvement and school management not universal with implications for QA in ITE

Challenges of changing skill base

Translating across borders

Changing skills for liaison tutors:

Different skills already developed in schools:

• mentor/coaching for NQTS,

• GTP mentoring

• Previous work as Teacher tutor assessors for QTS

• MTL requirements

Resourcing for staff development in HEIs as pace of change in schools overtakes change in HEIs

Influences from other models:

PDS (Holmes 2005) American Professional Development schools

•Use teaching fellows•MA students

NZ ‘Normal school’ linked to ITE•seconded school liaison staff who

across school and university.

PLS (Struthers 2009)Roehampton University’s Professional Learning School

•Tutors move out to schools with students and

work alongside teachers to deconstruct practice.

Notion of ‘blending’

Vocationally based model linked to university depts with professors and readers offering critical edge to beginning teachers (practice in Australia)

Schools often sceptical of skill-base of university tutors…when teachers reflect on new roles and skills they have developed in schools.

Challenge posed for HEI staff with speed of change and adaption in schools

Looking ahead –

Change management in HEIs??

Shifting view of teachers as consumers of knowledge to now being knowledge producers

Resources for staff to work within a ‘school improvement’ agenda

Impact of MTL developments for sustaining pedagogical partnership

What does APTE offer?

A national network and professional association which

•encourages, promotes and supports professional discourse relating to partnerships

• provides a forum to share good practice, update & lead development

•advocates and champions partnership within and beyond ITE

• encourages research and staff support

The value of local and grass-root discussion

•Addressing the needs of partnership staff (admin and academic)

• Opportunity to consider different models and to inquire into other ways of meeting the current challenges of centrally led policy changes.

Annual Conferences

2008 Quality and Capacity in School Partnership

2009 Partnership Landscapes

2010 Extending partnerships

For further details and to be kept informed of our conferences please contact d’Reen:

d.struthers@roehampton.ac.uk

Or visit our website:

www.apte.org.uk