PGCE in the Process of Teacher Education
The emphasis upon the PGCE as only one strand, albeit a vital one,
in the professional preparation of teachers came about largely as
a consequence of developments in
the Alternative Course, rather than
fori
ing
an explicit
part
of its
intentions.
The structures of the
Alternative Course
ade
possible
a continuity and a depth of contact
between a group of
students
and a tutor that
increasingly made it
possible to include
and work with areas of students’ prior experience
and to relate PGCE work to students
future professional plans.
At the point of selection involving Alternative Course tutors the
parameters of the total PGCE experience are known and initial
explorations of links between past experience and the possibilities
of the course can be made. An emphasis upon the personal needs and
responses of students can only take place in a structure that is
predicated upon responsiveness and this has to be matched by a
sensitive and flexible form of assessment. Developments in these
areas took place throughout the life of the Alternative Course and
made it abundantly clear that the sources of dislocation and separ-
ateness referred to above had to be faced and transcended in a
professional preparation that purported to be realistic and relevant.
Nature of Postgraduate Population
In the research of Patrick et al (1982) one source of the separate-
ness is seen in the selective nature of the PGCE population which
serves largely the university undergraduate population.