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the future orientation of much that is alluded to. Whilst the PGCE
offers a range of skills to be learned/ and their importance should
not be Underemphasised-What in the end matters most is the teacher’s
ability to obtain, create and maintain the conditions in which the
skills can be used and developed. These abilities enable choice,
organisation and synthesis to occur. They provide the bridge from
PGCE to Probationary Year and beyond and equally enable students
to develop with awareness the attitudes, skills and values that they
bring to the PGCE. Accomplishing the development of such abilities
during the PGCE year is demanding, sometimes stressful and requires
both the firm base of the group and personal tutorial guidance.
The nature of this guidance is not the focus of the work here but
should not be lost sight of for in no small part it contributes to
the way in which the PGCE student becomes a professional. Much
emphasis has to be placed in the selection of students on identifying
qualities that indicate the likelihood of someone becoming a good
teacher. The professional use of such attributes requires much more
than their possession, as the following extracts suggest.
School B 2⅛.11.81 P19 vɪ
E8θ
You say something
you were convinced of ages
and ages ago and hadn’t thought was
to cause problems and people dive into
going
their
teacups
mention
to get away from discussing
something and people say ’Oh
ability, it doesn’t work. We’ve tried it.’
and you’re there and you’re the young teacher
and
are
you wear the crazy jumpers and there
ways
in which you can be got
at and you will be got at.
Knowing that
some of what you practice and believe is a matter for
conflict and dissent within the profession is arguably as important
as knowing it. In their diaries and in discussions students recount