3⅛o
taking them as in some way 'given1. The school group and tutors
over time must
deal with what sometimes seemχ if left to individual
the student's efforts can be seen differently both by the student
and by others. The basic experience of joining an institution as
a newcomer and a stranger can be changed when the approach is made
with others along routes that have been followed before and are
informed by participants who have detailed knowledge of the terrain
and guides who can make the journey meaningful. With that set of
possibilities it is less important for the group to follow a predet-
ermined path for individual needs and interests will often suggest
more unconventional but suitable alternatives. This is where the
collaboration of school and teacher tutor is essential, for whether
the focus is teachers, pupils, classroom or subject, understanding
them and their relationship with the student is both vital and complex.
Teachers headed the list intentionally here for the research demon-
strated
how much of
students
concern is with teachers, both what
they can or cannot achieve and how they do this, but also and at
times
centrally ,
how they impinge upon
what students can or
cannot
do. Teacher education often focuses upon factors relating to pupils
rather than it does upon ways in which student teachers experience
teachers themselves. They need access to teachers in their own
classrooms to begin to gain some understanding of teaching and
learning relationships. Without such access and without the organised
possibility for observation, participation and reflection students
are being cut off from a central area of their learning which is
the
performance ,
intentions and evaluations
of fellow professionals.
This is not to advocate an apprenticeship model for this would be