Innovation in teacher education: Collective creativity in the development of a teacher education internship

Abstract This article reports on research into the development of a teacher education internship scheme at Oxford University from 1973 to 1987. Based on an analysis of an archive of documents and interviews with key protagonists, the paper uses insights from cultural-historical theory to show how the scheme emerged interactively within a multi-layered social system. The article makes a contribution to the history of teacher education and how we theorise change in the field by providing an empirical description and analysis of one highly influential programme internationally and using the tools of CHAT to theorise innovation.