Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on school-based initial teacher education: Holding onto respectful assessment processes

FELICITY DEWSBERY, CHRISTINE PARKER AND ANGELA PRODGER, PEN GREEN TEACHING SCHOOL ALLIANCE, UK The context of this case study is a School Direct teacher education programme (2019–2020) with a group of 20 trainee teachers and three tutors. What was, pre-lockdown, an active and co-constructive approach to teacher education had to rapidly change to an online learning experience for the teacher education community of practice. Philpott explains that a community of practice is not ‘just about abstracted formal knowledge’ but ‘makes us look at different places for different things when we are trying to facilitate practice’ (2014, p. 44). Our purpose was to unpick the end-of-year trainee teacher final assessment process, identify recurring themes and see what emerged. The Pen Green Teaching School Alliance (TSA) is one of three teaching school alliances belonging to the Two Mile Ash ITT Partnership, based in Milton Keynes. At the Pen Green TSA, our underpinning approach develops