The challenges facing Postgraduate Trainees in Initial Teacher Education coming from practical or vocational degrees

Abstract

This study explores some of the challenges experienced by one-year Initial Teacher Training (ITT) students, on a Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) course, coming from practical or vocational undergraduate degrees and their experience of postgraduate writing at Masters Level (M-Level). The study originated from trainees’ self-reported and perceived difficulties when engaging with the diffuse and cyclic nature of reflection and reflective writing, requiring beginning teachers to evaluate and reinvent themselves. The argument of this paper is that ITT trainees’ prior experience of academia and professional disciplines influences their perceptions of performance in postgraduate writing. This may contribute to a perceived uneven playing field, with trainees from some disciplines beginning their PGCE with different experience of academic writing disciplines: raising practical questions about the expectations of ITT programmes and pedagogical approaches to supporting trainees from particular subject disciplines.

 Key Words

Initial Teacher Education; PGCE; M-Level; academic writing; vocational; practical; academic; reflection; Design and Technology; Engineering.