The conclusion stresses the importance of a high level of academic attainment for leaders of primary schools. An evaluation after 1 year considers expectations, progress and needs of teachers who were unfamiliar with distance learning. Although there is much commitment to working together collaboratively in special education, there is little training to help staff do this effectively. This paper contains a record of attempts to develop training for collaboration, using mainly reflective enquiry. It is the result of a 4-year project at the University of Birmingham, designed to evaluate these attempts.
Results indicate that specific training in collaboration is effective in improving practice.
This study is based on data obtained from 61 experienced teachers who were interviewed, and asked to tell their personal and professional stories. As part of the interpretation of the patterns of data emerging from the teachers' responses, a literature survey is presented dealing with five approaches to teacher education to help in forming the patterns. Based on the analysis of the interviews and the literature survey, a preferred approach to teacher education is suggested, which conceptualises teaching as a reflective-practical process. The roles and responsibilities are changing, not only for teachers supporting students in school, but for tutors in Higher Education who supervise the students' experience. This paper draws on information gathered from tutors supervising students working in school.