But training schools - there are 82 nationwide - are making an impact on a new generation of classroom staff. Neil Levis reports

Geoff Cumner-Price is wearing a striped teapot-shaped hat, a loud shawl and a brightly coloured wrap-around skirt. He has a leek pinned to his more conventional clothes underneath. The headteacher is about to take assembly and, as we make our way to the hall, he stops repeatedly to talk to his captivated pupils.

There is a happy, purposeful atmosphere about the place and the children are obviously engaged. Everyone is wearing as many colours as possible to reflect the theme of today’s assembly. But this is also St David’s Day, hence the leek.

There are colourful displays everywhere - in classrooms, corridors and the neat areas that have been converted from old stock cupboards and cloakrooms to enable small groups to work discretely.

The other noticeable characteristic of the school is the number of adults in evidence - 95 according to a recent audit. Not bad for a two-form all-through primary - and that’s not counting the students who come here to learn the craft of teaching.

Oakthorpe primary school in Palmers Green, north London, is the first of a growing number of training schools set up in the wake of Labour’s first education Green Paper in December 1998. Along with 53 others (14 primaries and 39 secondaries), it began work in September 2000. A further 28 schools swelled the number to 82 last September. The schools receive additional money from the Standards Fund to release staff so that they can supervise trainees.

Many staff also conduct research and develop models of good practice in teacher training, particularly in the use of information technology in the classroom.

As we leave assembly, a good-humoured celebration of the children’s enthusiasm for exotic clothing mixed with a well-balanced display of banter between Geoff Cumner-Price, his staff and students, the headteacher issues a challenge.

“Can you tell which ones were student teachers in there? - I bet you can’t.

There’s no difference at all in the way we or the pupils treat them. They earn their respect by the way they conduct themselves and, in most cases, you can’t tell the difference.”

Oakthorpe’s interest in teacher training first came about through a link with Nottingham University that aimed to develop school-based training and regular contact with its local training university, Middlesex, which used Oakthorpe as a mentoring school.

“Under the old system, tutors often wouldn’t know the students they were watching because they would be chosen to observe at the school nearest to where they lived,” explains Lynda Grant, one of two teachers at Oakthorpe who work with students full-time. “As a mentoring school, we know the students and help them practically - they check their planning with our subject co ordinators. We are on the spot and can sort out their problems as they go along.”

As well as having students on teaching practice, Oakthorpe also has four trainees on the graduate teacher programme and three overseas-trained students who are working towards qualified teacher status.

One project that Oakthorpe is particularly keen on is organising curriculum weeks - for science, maths, the arts and so on - with local higher education institutions. During National Book Week, 26 trainee teachers came into the school for three days to work with small groups of pupils and help to supplement a whole-school blitz on reading activities.

“We used to have the students for five days but it proved too much of a distraction from the main work of advancing the pupils’ work,” says Alan Goddard, the other teacher who supervises students.

Mr Goddard also doubles as the school’s ICT co-ordinator, and he is anxious that students should be at the cutting edge of classroom technology. The school has already installed 10 computerised whiteboards, and has another eight on order so that there will be one in every classroom. “We’re learning the technology alongside the student teachers - this makes it exciting and challenging for us,” he says.

One benefit of seeing so much teaching talent going through the school is that Oakthorpe is never short of recruits.“From our point of view, it’s a year-long interview,” says Geoff Cumner-Price. “The new staff know what to expect and we know what we’re getting.”