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and students. The learning here is both personal and institutional
for over time individual teachers may move and certainly changes
take place throughout the institution.
A limited departmental and subject focus insulates the student group
and the training institution from such changes^ with not only lost
opportunities for participation but also a loss of learning about
the inter-dependence of institutional elements and the capacity for
change that exists within the institution.
The school group should
be a mixed subject
group with two students from each subject wherever
possible to allow the depth of subject focus and student support
which is essential but equally to facilitate cross curricular parti-
cipation and understanding. The school group tutor works alongside
the students in school in a variety of ways related to his or her
own expertise and interests as well as to the opportunities afforded
by the particular school. The central activities of the group give
opportunities for learning at a variety of levels - school, classroom,
group, individual, subject, curriculum and pastoral, for example.
It is the group which is important here^ for whilst each individual
cannot personally experience everything the variety of individual
experiences can be made available within the group. Direct experience
is a central component of the way of working but of equal importance
is space to reflect upon, to plan and to broaden that experience.
The
school group seminar is
given a formal place
in the activities
of the school-based day and its inclusion.
in the student’s formal
timetable not only creates
the space but
helps to establish
the
students as
a distinct group
Oflearners in a school who require for-
mal opportunities for
learning with and from teachers as a basis
for their own effective participation
in the
school.