The Covid-19 pandemic and its effects on teacher education in England: how teacher educators moved practicum learning online

The shutdown of universities and schools in England, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, came just as many pre-service students began their final practicum. This research focuses on the challenges this posed for teacher educators. Using qualitative research methods and concepts from spatial geography, the article explores how pedagogies adapted as the removal of the practicum relocated learning communities to new online spaces. Established practices changed quickly, with educators showing ‘pedagogic agility’. Despite the relocation to newly-formed online spaces, many principles and ‘intentionalities’ of practice remained unchanged, as did the teacher educators’ orientating values. Overall, there was a sense of both sameness and difference in some of the innovative pedagogies developed on the (g)local level. This research has international relevance in considering the spaces in which authentic teacher education can occur and the alternative pedagogies and technologies to support professional learning in the case of a ‘missing’ practicum.