Smith, C. (Ed.) Proceedings of the British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics 32(3) November 2012 From Informal Proceedings 32-3 (BSRLM) available at bsrlm.org.uk © the author - 13 Rethinking partnership in initial teacher education and developing professional identities for a new subject specialist team which includes a joint school- university appointment: A case study in mathematics Rosa Archer, Siân Morgan and Sue Pope* University of Manchester In a time of rapid and extensive change in initial teacher education policy, a new team of mathematics educators is establishing at the University of Manchester. How does a new team of mathematics educators (some with experience of other institutions) establish itself and ensure that previous strengths and successes are maintained and developed? One member of the team is a joint school-university appointment. What are the affordances of a joint school-university appointment? What are the personal challenges for the appointee and colleagues working with the appointee – in school and in university? Evidence for the paper is through personal reflective accounts, focus group discussions with school and university colleagues, an anonymous questionnaire of student teachers and their course outcomes. The outcomes of this early experience have implications for the developing practice of the University of Manchester PGCE mathematics team and the way in which university and school based colleagues work together to optimise learning for beginning teachers, as new models of ITE are adopted within a well-established partnership. These implications may provide areas for consideration by institutions rethinking partnership in initial teacher education. Keywords: initial teacher education, partnership, secondary mathematics Introduction In the rapidly changing landscape of initial teacher education in England following the change of government in 2010, the need to appoint a new team of mathematics educators presented both challenges and opportunities. Alongside experienced mathematics educators, the university worked with one of its partnership schools in the vanguard of Teaching Schools to make a joint appointment. An experienced teacher and former National Strategies consultant, the appointee brought complementary strengths to the university tutor team. Conscious that this was a novel situation, the team determined to investigate the impact on student outcomes and their emerging professional identities. We adopted a case study approach (Wellington 2000) using mixed methods: student questionnaire and summative attainment data, focus group and one to one interviews and tutors’ reflective diaries, with a view to providing a rich evidence base. The principal aim was to ensure that the quality of the provision was maintained, whilst enhancing learning of tutors, teachers/mentors and student teachers through the opportunities of the new arrangements. Through exploring this novel context we hoped to be able to identify priorities for our future development and provide a case which others might find a valuable reference point when considering ways of developing their initial teacher education provision.