Moving the debate on partnership in Initial Teacher Education forward: compromise or innovation?

This paper explores the degree to which partnership models reflect ‘real life’ practice. It focuses on whether a three year B.Ed (Hons) Early Years degree programme, with qualified teacher status, at an English Higher Education Institute (HEI) has made significant inroads into the concept of partnership between schools and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Through researching what constitutes an effective partnership a comparison is made between the partnership ‘in practice’ and the three key models of partnership that have emerged and been developed by Furlong et al (1996 & 2000). The paper concludes by recognising that the partnership in practice is unique and innovative and pushes the boundaries of the existing three models of partnership. However it also acknowledges that more research is needed to investigate whether the success of the partnership outweighs any doubts as to its sustainability