Rethinking partnership in initial teacher education and developing professional identities for a new subject specialist team which includes a joint school-university appointment: A case study in mathematics

In a time of rapid and extensive change in initial teacher education policy, a new team of mathematics educators is establishing at the University of Manchester. How does a new team of mathematics educators (some with experience of other institutions) establish itself and ensure that previous strengths and successes are maintained and developed? One member of the team is a joint school-university appointment. What are the affordances of a joint school-university appointment? What are the personal challenges for the appointee and colleagues working with the appointee in school and in university? Evidence for the paper is through personal reflective accounts, focus group discussions with school and university colleagues, an anonymous questionnaire of student teachers and their course outcomes. The outcomes of this early experience have implications for the developing practice of the University of Manchester PGCE mathematics team and the way in which university and school-based colleagues work together to optimise learning for beginning teachers, as new models of ITE are adopted within a well-established partnership. These implications may provide areas for consideration by institutions rethinking partnership in initial teacher education.