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CHAPTER SIX
The second term - before teachin
ractice
At the beginning of the
in the Institute where
second term the students spend four weeks
Alternative Course students continue
beginning of the first term.
to spend one day a week in school. From this period three school
group discussions in the Institute were analysed. The groups spent
the first part of the morning in their own group with their school
group tutor and in the second part they joined with another school
group. The topics which had been planned at the end of the first
term were mixed ability teaching, multi-cultural education and auth-
ority and control. On the fourth morning there was joint group work
for the whole morning when the groups were joined by past students
who contributed to discussions about the relationship of the PGCE
and the probationary year, teacher education and early experience
of teaching.
This session was not recorded as one similar in focus
has been recorded in School
(24.11.81).
Research Group discussions suggested that these early weeks at the
beginning of the second term were not easy ones for the students.
They were increasingly conscious of the demands of the coming
teaching practice, now able to relate them to the experience of the
first teaching practice. They were aware of underlying and sometimes
intractable issues affecting their teaching and were concerned about
the role of assessment.
The balance
of
the course was
important
was the possibility of its attending to
2
their key concerns.
was in response to repeated experience
of such factors that a course