Understanding school teachers’ perceptions of expertise: Impact on Initial Teacher Education programmes

In 2015-16, for the first time, school-centred Initial Teacher Education (ITE) recruited more student teachers than universities did. It seems that schools and teachers are gaining more power to decide the future of ITE and to shape teachers’ practice. Eliciting teachers’ perceptions of Newly Qualified Teachers’ (NQT) readiness and their own understandings of teaching could raise awareness among schoolcentred programmes and teachers about their teaching positions and potential areas of improvement, and also help universities to reposition themselves as providers and ITE, particularly in school-university partnerships. This study aims to explore teachers’ perceptions of NQTs’ preparedness for two reasons: First, to explore the perceived level of preparedness among colleagues, and second, to gain understanding of teachers’ conceptions of expertise