This issue's problem: Ellen Wilkinson regards her PGCE assignments as an unhelpful distraction from the real business of learning to teach.

Ellen has just had her first PGCE assignment returned to her by her tutor and is furious about the comments she has received and the indicative Masters level mark it has been given. She had invested as much effort in the reading and school-based investigation as she thought appropriate - and yet has been told that the assignment is weak, barely an Honours level piece, let alone worthy of a Masters award...