Strategies for co-constructing an initial teacher education curriculum: A school-university partnership

Abstract

The intended output of this small-scale project was to develop and to document effective strategies that would facilitate the co-construction of an initial teacher education (ITE) curriculum in a school-university partnership. In so doing, this project sought to make links between theories underpinning effective pedagogies, taught at the university, with the day to day practice of teaching and learning in three Normal Schools in the Manawatū. Using qualitative methodology, consisting of field notes from meetings, focus group discussions, observations and interviews, the following findings were identified as supporting the effective co-construction of a university ITE curriculum with school partners:  Building trust  Making visible our shared values  Willingness to share power and expertise  Being responsive to the school context  Promoting dialogue  Setting and resourcing manageable goals  Communicating effectively