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the
appraisal of their past experience
and present learning. The conviction of new teachers is important
here for unless they are committed to their own learning and more
generally
to that of the
profession initial
education will
be doomed
to become
training and
further change and development
unlikely .
The context within this awareness has to be generated
is one of contraction and stability of the teaching force. The econ-
omic and social circumstances in which this is occurring obviously
concerns those who see education as concerned with development.
Taken together they show clearly the enormity of the task facing
teacher education.
Reflection and theorising
The
emphasis upon the importance of
the pedagogy employed during the
PGCE year is based on observations
of students at work as well as
students commenting upon their work.
Equally it is informed by the
conception of the role of the PGCE in the process by which students
become teachers. This emphasises that it is the whole person that
is involved in the process of becoming a teacher. The demands on
student teachers from teachers, pupils and tutors are personal ones
that require not so much a repertoire of skills but attitudes and
values that underlie ways of working. Conceptions of pupils, class-
rooms , teachers will all be repeatedly challenged throughout the
course as was shown in the research. Unless attention is given both
to students’ original conceptions and the challenge to them, students
are likely to be sadly adrift.
The research highlighted the personal dimension at critical points
in the student’s career for instance, the initial experience of