The following text is the university's description of the course that I have taken:
Anglia Ruskin University has been involved in teacher education over four decades and works in strong partnership with schools across the region - in Essex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk and London Boroughs. We have a proven record of training teachers who are sought by local and national education employers.
Trainees will spend approximately 12 weeks at university and 24 weeks practical training in two different schools (partner schools are spread throughout the Eastern region).
Trainees will have a professional tutor and a subject mentor in each school. The professional tutor has overall responsibility within the school for preparing you to become an effective and successful classroom teacher; your mentor will have day to day responsibility for your training and subject teaching.
University tutors work closely with school staff to ensure you become familiar with the National Curriculum and with the wide variety of resources and strategies which enable effective teaching and assessment to take place.
Those students who undertake the Masters level modules, within the Postgraduate route [as I did], will engage in research where the emphasis is on developing teaching and learning, related to professional development for teachers.
Links are clearly developed between school based activities and university lectures and workshops. At the university you will work extensively with others pursuing the same subject specialism, and these workshops are led by a subject specialist tutor. In addition you will have the opportunity to work in cross-curricular groups for general professional studies.
You will be assessed on your practical teaching ability through a series of formal observations throughout the year. These are carried out by the school and are moderated by university tutors. Academic assignments enable you to develop your own subject knowledge, become familiar with the literature and research about teaching your subject. In addition you will keep a Professional Development Portfolio to provide evidence that you have met the Standards for Qualifying to Teach.