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..... there were two major aims in this research
project - that of description and that of assessment.
The first aim of the research team was to describe
the professional socialisation of students into
the
teaching profession as a process occurring over
The second aim of the research project was
.fically to assess the Sussex method of teacher
case
training ,
as far as this was possible (Lacey et
al 1973, Chl Pl).
Whilst its
achievements were considerable it is also the
that there are very real limitations in research of this kind
for professionally concerned practitioners.
First there is the constraint of the time scale which influences
what can be attempted and what therefore can be achieved. The
research makes the point clearly.
Fairly early on in the design stage of the research
we realized, from the point of view of both approaches
that the time span of the training year was insuffi-
cient for either an adequate description or an
adequate assessment to be made of teacher social-
isation or that of Sussex students in particular
(1973 Ch3 P2)
The solution which was adopted moved the focus away from structural
elements and their part in the process of teacher socialisation.
This was a natural consequence of the design which in adopting the
device of a follow-up of the students after a year shifted the focus
from course structures to individual responses.
Such a focus was
also emphasised by the commitment to a substantial
comparative element
in the
research which was seen as central to the evaluation of the
Sussex scheme.
Here the
requirements of the
contributory disciplines
may be seen to be more
influential in the shaping of the research
than the possibly more
mundane requirements of participants whose
voice is absent at this stage. They remain the objects of the
researchers attention.
In discussing professional socialisation
processes they say