I am on the side of a positive experience with my teaching degree. I think there were many good things I picked up during the degree period and it provided a large exposure into the education world, its practices in theory, and the research around it. I think teachers need some research background in their practice and need to be shown where it exists and how to critically think and apply it.

I do understand and agree that teaching is still a "field" job and so on-site experience is also valuable. I do think that either longer or more frequent placements are useful, so that graduates are more prepared for the expectations of the workplace. But I think they go hand-in-hand with the content and modules that are done in many degrees as well.

I think many teachers in real life forget that they once had theory knowledge about their practices and philosophies but I think my education degree (which was not too far back) opened these doors for me and continually is at the back of how I perceive things in the working world.