Using existing lesson plans as a trainee teacher

The 'Move Me On' feature of Teaching History is designed to build critical, informed debate about the character of teacher training, teacher education and professional development. It is also designed to offer practical help to all involved in training new history teachers. Each issue presents a situation in initial teacher education/training with an emphasis upon a particular, history-specific issue.

This issue’s problem: Ellen McArthur is faced with conflicting expectations about the extent to which history trainees should be encouraged – or even allowed – to make use of existing lesson plans.