Teaching for the future professional partnership: the school perspective

The authors present the third case study arising from a professional
experience project implemented in a regional secondary school in Australia.
Foundational to the project is the use of a strengths approach to professional
experience. The case study explores the project through the perspectives of the
school-based teacher educators involved. A compelling finding was that the
partnership provided a safe platform to reflect on current practices and explore
new strategies for enhancing professional experience. As with the previous case
studies, professional respect, identity and confidence themes were evident
through school-based teacher educators’ reflections. Significantly, a new theme
of ‘empowerment’ also arose from the data of this case study. The educators
recognised and particularly valued that this was occurring for the teacher
education students on placement in their school. A recommendation for future
research would be to explore the use of professional terms for recognising
teacher education students to further enhance professional experience for all
stakeholders.