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Myth and Substance: The Concept of ‘Recent Relevant Experience’ in Initial Teacher Education

This paper examines a key concern frequently raised in the debate regarding initial teacher education (ITE) over many years, and also identified in the McCrone Report (2000), about the ‘recent relevant experience’ (RRE) of teacher education staff. Despite policy initiatives to direct teacher education institutions to guarantee that ITE staff have RRE, and acceptance of the RRE principle by ITE stakeholders, questions exploring the concept and rationale of RRE, as well as the effectiveness of strategies to address this issue, have been neglected in research studies. The study on which this paper is based indicates that the concept of RRE is problematic with no agreed definition and varying interpretations of the RRE concept amongst ITE stakeholders. The findings shed some light on the nature of the disquiet about RRE which would appear to relate to fundamental debates about teacher education. The study shows agreement among ITE partners that valid classroom currency is essential to maintain quality in all ITE programmes, but there are different views on how this can be achieved. The study concludes that RRE is a key feature of the ‘partnership’ aspirations of ITE and further confirms that existing partnership arrangements would benefit from clarification and strengthening of stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities.