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As the only university to be newly accredited through the last UK government’s contentious Market Review process in 2022, colleagues at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) have shaped a new undergraduate offer to award Qualified Teacher Status. The development of the BEd (Hons) Primary Education with QTS provided an opportunity to design a brand-new course from scratch.

We have worked with local teachers to shape an ITT offer which brings something new to an already rich landscape of teacher training in the Eastern region. Developing the placement curriculum has been a particularly demanding task, balancing the need for progression in responsibility with opportunities to develop confidence and expertise in the classroom. Our current Cohort 1 live close to their chosen campus with 87 per cent commuting daily to university in either Cambridge, Chelmsford or Peterborough. To develop a placement curriculum that considers both the cohort’s needs and the needs of partner schools has required ongoing development and refinement, which this blog post explores.

As with all aspects of this work, we have started from a blank piece of paper – shaping a new space rather than holding a line that has previously existed. Innovation is hard and has required us to return again and again to our institutional values – creating the conditions for excellence in delivery, excellence in partnership and ultimately excellence in outcomes.

‘Innovation is hard and has required us to return again and again to our institutional values – creating the conditions for excellence in delivery, excellence in partnership and ultimately excellence in outcomes.’

Developing a framework of placement principles was a key step in the process of creating our placement curriculum. Grouped under three key areas: transformative, collaborative and research informed, our principles help us articulate our shared placement vision and values. Bridging the possible gap between campus and school-based learning, they provide a vision and language for all stakeholders involved. Once agreed, they have been utilised as a framework for all aspects of our placement design, for example with our school mentor training where we have highlighted the importance of forming positive and trusting relationships with trainees in line with effective collaboration.

While wanting placements to be challenging and ambitious, the design of each placement experience enables trainee development to take place incrementally as they gradually take on increasing levels of responsibility. This approach should mitigate against the typical feelings of being overwhelmed that inevitably have a negative impact on wellbeing and hamper the development of a secure teacher identity (Izadinia, 2016).

We recognise that placements are collaborative learning experiences which need to be supportive, relational and enriching (Su & Wood, 2023). Together with our school partners and our Senior Lecturer Practitioners (colleagues working part-time at ARU and who hold part-time roles in partner schools) we have designed and refined our placement curriculum utilising the expertise of professionals well versed in supporting and mentoring trainees in schools.

All aspects of our three-year BEd curriculum utilise Bruner’s spiral curriculum theory (1966) where repeated learning, moving from general to more specific and from simple to more complex, makes learning both immediate and usable. As part of this, we employ simulation-based learning, allowing trainees to practise a range of scenarios before entering their own classroom. For example, use of role-play with peers to practise giving clear instructions to manage a classroom transition. This lessens anxiety and cognitive load while building personal, transformative episodes, and preparing them well for real-life placement experiences (Mulholland et al., 2022). Our placement curriculum design also enables trainees to transform their identity, move from the ‘what’ to the ‘why’, and ultimately become resilient, reflective practitioners with a long and varied teaching career.

In England and Wales, the government requirements for placement expectation often assume a postgraduate route to train. The demands for 120 days and 80 per cent teaching responsibility from the last six weeks are examples where the three years of our route provides not only an opportunity for breadth and depth but also flexibility and personalisation. At the heart of our development have been the needs of our trainees, particularly in recognising the local context of where they live and work by placing them in schools that reflect and contrast their community and are supportive of their three-year route to train. On an undergraduate route, the importance of taking time and space to foster their teacher identity and nurture their passion for the profession should prepare them not only to be excellent teachers but also to enjoy a long and fulfilling career in their local region. Our reflection on the design process is just one aspect of this, there is much more to come as we progress through the next three years of development.

References

Bruner, J. S. (1966). Toward a theory of instruction. Belknap Press.

Izadinia, M. (2016). Student teachers’ and mentor teachers’ perceptions and expectations of a mentoring relationship: Do they match or clash?. Professional Development in Education, 42(3), 387-402.

Mulholland, K., Luke, C., Meller, S., Nichol, D., Anderson, A., Herridge, D., & Gray, W., (2022). Exploring the use of simulation in a primary ITE context. Impact: Journal of the Chartered College of Teaching, 16, 60–62.

Su, F., & Wood, M. (2023). Relational pedagogy in higher education: What might it look like in practice and how do we develop it?. The International Journal for Academic Development, 28(2), 230–233.