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Partnership-based Initial Teacher Education in England: A Discussion of the Oxford Internship Scheme in the Light of Past and Current Reform Agendas

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Governance in der Lehrerausbildung: Analysen aus England und Deutschland

Part of the book series: Educational Governance ((EDUGOV,volume 27))

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Abstract

This contribution outlines and discusses the key structures and contextual factors shaping the Oxford Internship Scheme (OIS). The OIS is a particular model of initial teacher education course, leading to Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE). The contribution explains that the central structural feature is the close partnership between the Oxford University Department of Education and local comprehensive schools and that this partnership regulates the main aspects of the education of interns (teacher trainees). One of the main arguments of the contribution is that, while the central aspects of the Scheme were developed 25 years ago, its conceptual basis and principles have proven flexible enough to react to changing policy imperatives, without losing its main focus.

Zusammenfassung

Dieser Beitrag stellt die grundlegenden Strukturmerkmale des Oxford Internship Scheme (OIS) vor und diskutiert die für seine Entwicklung maßgeblichen Kontextfaktoren. Das OIS ist ein Lehrerausbildungsmodell, das zu einem Abschluss mit dem Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) führt. Der Beitrag beschreibt die enge Zusammenarbeit zwischen dem Department of Education an der Universität Oxford und lokalen Gesamtschulen als zentrales Strukturmerkmal des OIS, das alle bestimmenden Aspekte der Ausbildung von angehenden Lehrkräften (interns) regelt. Obwohl die zentralen Merkmale und Strukturen des OIS vor mehr als 25 Jahren entwickelt wurden, haben sich die zugrunde liegende konzeptuelle Basis sowie die leitenden Prinzipien als flexibel genug erwiesen, um Veränderungen im politischen Umfeld Rechnung tragen zu können, ohne die spezifische Ausrichtung des OIS zu verlieren.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The following overview was compiled from course programme specifications of recent years (see OUDE 2010, for the most recent publicly available specifications) and other descriptive material (OUDE 2009; OUDES 2003). For the initial structural outline of Scheme in the late 1980s see Benton (1990a) and Hagger (1990).

  2. 2.

    Currently, the course covers seven subjects: English, geography, history, mathematics, modern foreign languages (French, German, Spanish, Italian), religious studies and science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics).

  3. 3.

    Practical guidance on the collaboration of different kinds of teaching and mentoring staff as well as on the day-to-day management of the Scheme can be found in McIntyre et al. (1994).

  4. 4.

    For an overview of the development of structured teacher training provision, including the relative importance of different types of programmes, from the 1960s to the early 1990s, see Furlong et al. (2000).

  5. 5.

    For the contextual background of the debate on degree worthiness and the institutional position of teacher education within or outside higher education see Furlong and Lawn (2010), Furlong (2001) and Bell (1981).

  6. 6.

    It should be mentioned that, at the time of the development of the OIS, different models for solving these problems discussed here were considered, most importantly the theory-intopractice model and the apprenticeship model. For an outline of these alternative models and the reasons why they were not adopted see McIntyre (1990, p. 27 f.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Dr. Hubert Ertl

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  1. Dr. Hubert Ertl
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Erziehungswissenschaft, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Dina Kuhlee

  2. Institut für Erziehungswissenschaft, Humbodt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Jürgen van Buer

  3. Department of Education, King's College London, London, United Kingdom

    Christopher Winch

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Ertl, H. (2015). Partnership-based Initial Teacher Education in England: A Discussion of the Oxford Internship Scheme in the Light of Past and Current Reform Agendas. In: Kuhlee, D., van Buer, J., Winch, C. (eds) Governance in der Lehrerausbildung: Analysen aus England und Deutschland. Educational Governance, vol 27. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-05894-4_5

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