[First paragraph] Since the early 1990s, initial teacher education (ITE) in England has been largely school-based and
characterised by school-university partnerships. Over the course of a one-year post-graduate
programme, student-teachers typically spend 24 of 36 weeks in schools, the remainder based in the
partner university. At the end of the training year, national surveys regularly report high levels of
satisfaction that increase each year (Teaching Agency, 2012). Nevertheless, as in other
countries, ITE is challenged because ‘what is taught in education classes is disconnected from
teachers’ work in the classroom’ (Kotelawala, 2012: 67). Consequently, there is constant demand for
change with successive Secretaries of State taking steps to shift responsibility for ITE to schools