One of the joys I had when working at the University of Tasmania was to work as the liaison between the Faculty of Education and the Department of Educations award winning and innovative pathway, the Partnership in Teaching Excellence Programme. This paper I wish to share was originally presented as a poster, which after it had been presented at the 2009 UTAS Teaching Matters conference, hung for some time in the entry to the Rokeby Teaching Learning Centre.
Pathways to Practice: Piloting a new partnership in teacher education
by Karin Oerlemans and Bob Phillips
Abstract
This paper presents the beginnings of an innovative new program about piloting an extended model of practice between the University of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Department of Education. A number of alternative pathways in teacher education have re-emerged in recent years, especially those situated within the school community. The current community-based program is for students in their second year of the Bachelor of Teaching, and is a pilot teacher education pathway for pre-service teachers, tailored towards the local teaching needs of Tasmanian schools.
Research suggests that there are likely to be a variety of effective pathways into teaching and the challenge for the partnership is to ensure that elements of program excellence are embedded (Zeichner & Conklin, 2008). The focus of the program will be on reflective practice with an aim of enhancing pre-service teacher’s practice in the classroom.