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the limited varieties that exist to excuse or explain an unwillingness
to commit themselves to a more thoroughgoing experience of change.
Change, however, is no longer an institutional prerogative but for
the moment at least
in the universities it remains an institutional
possibility/ albeit one
that will be shaped by existing practices
and attitudes and
the research
that reflects
The research
at present being conducted at the University of Cambridge under
Professor Hirst is particularly timely. Its focus is upon school-
based training in the PGCE and consists of an evaluation of school-
based work within
four experimental
training
programmes,'.
It uses
a case study methodology to explore "the strengths and weaknesses
of the school-based element of each training course". (1983 Pl)
For the researchers the concept of
partnership
has
emerged
as
central
( 1983 P17) and this informs the enquiry and its intended
audience who are regarded as those with a professional and practical
concern in patterns of teacher education. Whilst taking serious
note of Wraggs’
(1982)
concern that
commitment
to
"particular
innovative
or experimental training programmes
on the part of the
investigator or tutor especially when they are the same person is
not generally Conducivs to good research" (1982 P42)^those concerned
with change can learn from practitioners' accounts. Gwyneth Dows'
admirable account (1979) of an innovatory programmes introduced
at the University
of Melbourne
1973 demonstrates
this point.
For the Alternative
Course her work alerted staff to the possibilities
of self-assessment
and in detailing a practice that went beyond
what they were attempting
she gave directions for course practice
and for theory. The description of her account
All that is being suggested
our students taught us, has
itself ..... (1979 p2).
is that what we learned, what
relevance beyond the course
is perhaps too modest.
Rather it conveys to an interested audience that learning