The name is absent

352

disparate strands of their own thinking and practice in a way that

made sense to them» Examples of this are discussed in the research
but it should be noted that they come from periods in the course
when the present pattern of assessment was being developed, when
it existed within and had to accommodate to that undertaken by the
majority of PGCE students in the Institute. Since 1983 the form

the assessment has become quite distinct and work submitted sug-

gests its potential value in enabling examination of its related
modes of working. It contains and represents student theorising
over a wide range of aspects of the process of becoming a teacher.
Hirst points to the value of studying the process when he writes

In education, as in ary other area of activity

come to understand the activity,

its problems

and

their answers from engagement in the activity itself.

We have to penetrate the idiom of the activity by
practising it. Then, gradually, by a variety of
means, we can improve and extend our knowledge of
how to pursue it, analysis of the activity and
reflection on its rules and principles having their
part to play in that process. (1983)

Once the process of theorising is accepted and a reflective practice
is an acceptable goal then the structure of teaching and learning
relationships within which the PGCE operates is open to change.

Patterns of assessment

Changing assessment patterns

loomed large in the

life of the Alter-

native

Course

especially when

conflicting

forms

of pedagogy

and

assessment co-existed uncomfortably.