51
experience difficulty the answer accepted by staff and students
is essentially of more practical help. Underlying the perception
of the problem and its solution is the structure of the course and
what
is
thereby
realistically available.
Educational theory
here
is
likely to be irrelevant to either good or bad practice.
The model of teacher education is outlined by Taylor
..... all that good teachers and good teaching require
is a severely practical skill based training, rooted
in the problems of the classroom as they presently
exist, offering unproblematic pedagogic and assess-
ment techniques capable of immediate application.
(Taylor 1983 P16)
For the tutors reported in the research theory in the PGCE is an
addition, the concern for which may be occasioned more by the
uncertainty surrounding the provision of in-service work than the
recognition of its value per se. Despite the report that "there
was a general feeling that students should be introduced to various
∣A
theoretical principles underlying the practice (1983) the emp⅛φsis
in method work itself remained practical.
Education in the PGCE
That the responsibility for the teaching of theory is not accepted
by the method departments may in part be explained by the established
convention in course organisation that separates method departments
as distinct from education departments. Patrick et al introduce
their chapter in ’Education' first by categorising it as "all the
work in the PGCE course that is not obviously method and not obviously
teaching practice" (1982 P114).
their research the primacy of
Since they have emphasised throughout
these elements the following comment
is hardly surprising.