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She goes on to emphasise the numerous social groupings and contexts
which are relevant and suggests that
..... the different kinds Ofknowledge that we acquire
through such groupings may be hard to integrate or
even to reconcile.
But this is an essential task for the PGCE to accept.
Students' prior educational experience as part of PGCE
The recognition that the PGCE is only one part of the student's long
socialisation into educational institutions is so much an accepted
fact of life that it appears to go unrecognised in teacher education.
The recent White Paper (19θ3) emphasised the value of recruiting
students with previous work experience to PGCE courses but Patrick
et al (1982) did not find that it occurred to any significant extent
in the general PGCE population that they studied.
For a significant number of students their personal experience as
pupils was one of passivity matched by a degree of authoritarianism
on the part of their teachers. This conflicts with models of active
learning and teachers as authorities in relation to their subject
or to ways of learning which may be propounded in the training insti-
tution. The research suggested that higher education for many PGCE
students made little or no change in underlying pedagogic relation-
ships. One potential channel for consideration of change is the
student's own experience of work or learning settings which can give
awareness of other possibilities. It is awareness which comes from
experience which is important for theoretical perspectives alone
tend to
confirm
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the peculiar hardness of perceived reality and
give little awareness of what might make for change. Both previous
educational and work experience should be recognised as important