Integrating theoretical knowledge within teacher education has often been portrayed as difficult, with previous studies reporting student teachers' ambivalence, or even scepticism, about the value of research findings and theory to classroom practice. Moreover, the nature of teachers' professional knowledge is itself uncertain and highly complex. This paper reports on the developing conceptions held by a group of postgraduate student teachers about the relationship of theory to classroom practice in learning to teach. The data are drawn from a small-scale longitudinal case study. They capture participants' preconceptions about theory before beginning training and subsequent developments through the course and into the first teaching post. The research finds these students to be far from naïve at the outset, entering training open to a range of forms of learning, with a positive view of the potential contribution of theory to practice. Alongside a growing appreciation of the complex, situated and contested nature of theory, the data suggest that theory comes to be increasingly valued over time. As newly qualified teachers, the participants not only see theory as integral to their practice, but recognise the important, largely unanticipated, role of the university in this process. As a result of these insights, potential considerations for course design are offered, at a time when teacher education in many countries is becoming more school-based and new forms of partnership are being developed.

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The landscape of teacher education is undergoing significant change in many countries and this is often associated with a move towards greater school involvement in the preparation of teachers. One aspect of teaching expertise that is particularly challenging for primary student teachers is the development of subject knowledge across a wide range of subject areas. Subject knowledge for teaching is multi-faceted and is itself linked to broader questions about curriculum and the content that should be taught. It is timely, therefore, to consider how subject knowledge development might be reconceived in a school setting and how university and school staff might work in new ways with student teachers to this end.Communities of practice theory is employed as a framework for analysing the learning environment and evaluating these future possibilities. It is argued that collaboration with peers, with their mentoring teachers and with a wider professional community is an underexploited way of integrating facets of subject knowledge: giving this time and status through structured activities might be a particularly fruitful form of hybrid working in situ. The paper concludes by proposing four principles to underpin this sort of practice.

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Schools and the families they serve are sometimes perceived as deficient and in need of fixing. One response has been the implementation of evidence-based family intervention programmes, which may be highly regulated and prescriptive as a condition of their (often philanthropic) funding. This article seeks to explore and bring to the foreground the often hidden role of the pre-existing, informal community networks with a view to more authentic evaluation of these externally imposed programmes. The article draws on a range of qualitative data reflecting the lived experiences of participants -including parents and other community members -in a family and parenting programme at an English primary school.The analysis uses the work of Tönnies as a theoretical lens. It suggests that while there are tensions caused by the rigid requirements of external programmes, these are overcome in many cases by the highly effective, but often unacknowledged, contributions of the informal aspects of community. It is argued that these operate within and complement the formal programme. Far from subverting the more overt procedures, they actually enable it to function successfully, leading to additional, unanticipated transformations among participants. The article concludes that these organic, often invisible connections need to be identified, documented and nurtured if their full potential is to be recognised and realised when evaluating similar interventions. IntroductionSchools in socio-economically disadvantaged contexts and the families they serve can be perceived as deficient and in need of 'fixing', a stance often, but not exclusively, reflected in the literature on urban education (Tricarico et al. 2015). In response, an increasingly common remedy is a highly prescriptive, externally-funded intervention programme. This article explores how one such philanthropically funded, evidence-based programme, long established in the United States, was enacted in an urban primary school in England. Our observations of the experiences of the diverse facilitators, or 'partners', within this project centre on the ways in which existing school community structures interact with this externally imposed programme. In light of an increase in approaches to intervention predicated on quantifiable measures of impact, we offer in this article an additional, complementary perspective. As teacher educators and researchers with a commitment to social justice and empowerment within local communities, including that served by this school, we hope to demonstrate how such programmes can be more authentically evaluated by also acknowledging the existing assets and workings of the community.We begin with a brief consideration of some of the literatures of policy directions, intervention programmes, philanthropy and community which we have found relevant before outlining Tönnies' ([1887] 2002) metaphors of Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, a theoretical perspective that has been helpful in exploring the complexities involved in working with such a programme...

Dialogic teaching has enormous potential to harness the power of talk in developing children's thinking but is sometimes challenging to enact within today's policy context. Similarly, sustained shared thinking is an established and powerful practice with children in the early years but faces pressure within today's educational climate. Though closely related, the two have been addressed largely separately until now. The authors argue for drawing dialogic teaching and sustained shared thinking together more explicitly by reviewing how they are similar yet distinctive, and by offering a continuum model for practice, throughout school, which takes a dialogic stance. They suggest that this more holistic approach may empower teachers to utilise these powerful forms of pedagogy. Establishing a continuum within which sustained shared thinking and the many pedagogies of dialogic teaching align may strengthen both perspectives in the face of outside pressures and help to clarify the position of productive dialogue throughout the curriculum.