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attitudes of staff working within different structures.
It was also
necessary to demonstrate to Initial Courses and the Subject Committee
that financial implications were of minimal
concern
there was a strong
’anti-alternative course* lobby who continually used the cost-factor as a
negative argument.
However in the event it was shown that the course
innovation had no adverse financial commitment although for its
establishment it required highly committed staff.
The pressure to attempt such changes involved the commitment to the
illuminative evaluation stance which led to the Research reported in the
thesis.
This provided a balance to the immediate pressures to influence
and obtain essential decisions
for it meant that staff could be involved
in the longer term work of making aspects of the innovation more generally
available.
This involved locating the innovation more widely and accepting
the interrelation of the spheres of influence.
In conclusion brief reference will be made to the third sphere of influence
and constraint which provides the wider context of practice and ideology
with reference to the PGCE.
Aspects of this are documented in Chapter I of
the thesis and reference is made to it here because the wider context and
the climate of teacher education which draw upon and reflect attitudes and
practices are an essential but hidden aspect of the political agenda
referred to here.
Not only do the attitudes and practices inform the
decision making arenas that have been referred to but they affect staff
directly and continually as they attempt to build and consolidate a practice
that at critical points contradicts the commonsense with which they are
surrounded.
A more personal view of the political is involved here but