University to school: challenging assumptions in subject knowledge development

Abstract

This investigation addresses the complex issue of teachers' subject knowledge. Specifically it focuses on the teaching of secondary school English; however, the principles it suggests apply more widely. Drawing on the experiences of trainee English teachers undertaking full‐time and flexible PGCE courses during both their university‐ and school‐based training, it explores the subject knowledge models of Banks, Leach & Moon and of Grossman, Wilson & Shulman, delineating how these can be used as a foundation on which beginning teachers can build their own personal deliverable models of subject.