‘ … the current focus on initial teacher education as the be-all and end-all of teacher education ignores the importance of ongoing professional development. This should take place not only in the first years of teaching, but throughout teachers’ careers.
‘As a comparison, medicine graduates study at university for five or six years, then still need to undertake an internship of one year before being allowed to register for general practice. Most go on to undertake a further two to three years of residency before beginning specialist training.
‘Perhaps we should be taking our cue from medicine, and treating our graduate teachers in a similar manner to medical interns and residents. Learning to teach is a process that begins at universities, but continues for an entire career.’