Innovations and developments in initial teacher education: a selection of conference papers presented at St. Martin’s College, Lancaster campus, 18 May 2007

The 2007 ESCalate ITE conference was held at St.Martin’s College in May. This was the last time for St. Martin’s which amalgamated with the Cumbrian Institute of the Arts and the Cumbrian campuses of the University of Central Lancashire to form the University of Cumbria on August 1st 2007. The conference was very well attended and delegates were certainly not disappointed as there was a wide range of excellent symposia and workshops to attend. This booklet draws together papers from some of the symposia and workshops and will be of interest to all staff in schools and Higher Education Institutions concerned with Initial Teacher Education. Reflection is certainly high on the agenda at the moment. One could arguably have hoped that reflective practice and teachers have always gone hand in hand, but if this has slipped somewhat in recent years because of competence-based practice, at least six papers here explore from every angle its re-instatement as a fundamental to the teaching profession. Masters level is never far from people’s thoughts and you will find many references to it. Other topics include research into the differing experiences of PGCE ITE students in college and school, employment-based routes, school leadership, teaching practice observation and wikis.