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CHAPTER NINE
CONCLUSION
of Partnership
In the conclusion there will be a reconsideration of the four major
focuses of the research in the light of their relevance to the plan-
ning of initial teacher education. This involves moving from the
particular form of practice which has been the subject of thesis
to comment upon its desirability and its consequences more generally.
The focus is upon aspects of partnership for it is here that under-
standing of experiment and alternatives are vital in relation to
anticipated change.
Responsive Structures
The School Group
The weakness of the structural link between the training institution
and the school in initial teacher education was the situation that
pre-dated both the Sussex scheme and the Alternative Course. As
Patrick et al (19θ2) have demonstrated it has remained despite chai
Ienges (eg UCET 1979) and it is now the focus of official demands
for partnership (DES 23/84). The weakness of the link and the
divisiveness of present practice was discussed in relation to the
Leicester research discussed in Chapter One. Commonly^ individual
students are placed in schools at a distance from the institution
for non-continuous blocks of time.
Schools
may change from year