Student Teachers' Concerns During Teaching Practice

Evaluation & Research in Education

ISSN: 0950-0790 (Print) 1747-7514 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/revr20

Student Teachers' Concerns During Teaching Practice Chris Kyriacou & Paul Stephens To cite this article: Chris Kyriacou & Paul Stephens (1999) Student Teachers' Concerns During Teaching Practice, Evaluation & Research in Education, 13:1, 18-31, DOI: 10.1080/09500799908666943 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09500799908666943

Published online: 29 Mar 2010.

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Date: 09 October 2015, At: 03:36

Student Teachers’ Concerns During Teaching Practice Chris Kyriacou and Paul Stephens

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University of York, Department of Educational Studies, York YO10 5DD This study explored the concerns of a group of student teachers during a period of school placement for teaching practice. Nine main areas of concern were identified. These were: not being regarded as a real teacher; dealing with disruptive behaviour; becoming a disciplinarian; getting the teaching right; getting the planning right; teaching about sensitive issues; coping with a heavy workload; having too little preparatory teaching practice; and being assessed. In addition, three main categories of accomplishments were identified. These were: taking responsibility; developing confidence; and creating an orderly classroom. The paper also considers the implications of these findings for improving the quality of initial teacher education.

There is little doubt that student teachers find the period of block placement for teaching practice (TP) very demanding. It is not unusual during this period for student teachers to experience a number of worries and concerns, sometimes resulting in high levels of stress (Head et al., 1996; Morton et al., 1997). Over the years a number of studies have been reported which have highlighted the problems faced by student teachers during TP. In this research literature, six major areas of concern have been widely cited. One major area of concern is ‘evaluation anxiety’. This refers to the anxiety induced by being observed by one’s university tutor and by teachers at the TP school. A study by Hart (1987), based on a questionnaire survey of student teachers at a college in the northwest of England, reported that one of their major sources of anxiety during TP was how their supervisor might react to seeing one or more unsuccessful lessons. The study also used a sound recording of lessons to obtain a measure of the level of pupil disruption in the classroom. This data indicated that evaluation anxiety was higher for those student teachers giving lessons in which pupil disruption was higher. This suggests that whilst most student teachers will experience some evaluation anxiety, it is likely to be particularly high, not surprisingly, for those student teachers experiencing class control problems. A study by Capel (1997), which included using Hart’s questionnaire with a group of student teachers in the south of England, reported that the main cause of anxiety for the student teachers during teaching practice was being observed, evaluated and assessed. A second major area of concern is maintaining good discipline in the classroom and dealing successfully with pupils who misbehave. A study of student teachers at Exeter University by Preece (1979) reported that discipline problems often led to high levels of anxiety in student teachers. However, he also found evidence that in some cases, a high level of anxiety by students at the start of their TP actually appeared to be a cause of discipline problems. As such, he argued that student teachers might usefully benefit from training aimed to help them resist 0950-0790/99/01 0018-14 $10.00/0 EVALUATION AND RESEARCH IN EDUCATION

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© 1999 C. Kyriacou & P. Stephens Vol. 13, No. 1, 1999


Students Teachers’ Concerns During Teaching Practice

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or alleviate anxiety. An example of this is a study reported by Esteve and Fracchia (1986) at the University of Malaga, Spain, who made use of role play scenarios in which the student teachers had to act out difficult class control situations as a form of ‘inoculation’ against stress. A third major area of concern involves coping with the general workload of being a teacher. Despite the fact that student teachers normally have a much reduced timetable (a half-timetable load is typical), students are faced with having to undertake many tasks and teaching topics for the first time. This means that the time they need to devote to planning and preparation, finding and developing curriculum materials, ensuring that they are knowledgeable about the subject matter, and conducting the necessary assessment of pupils’ progress, including marking any written work, all takes much longer than it would for an experienced teacher. Tomlinson (1995) points to how the sheer intensity of the experience of being a student teacher, based on the physical demands it makes and the high level of uncertainty they face, can lead to high levels of stress. Dershimer and Oliver (1989), in a study of student teachers at Syracuse University, USA, have outlined the immense complexity of the thought processes that student teachers need to develop during TP if they are to succeed. Similarly, a study by Kwo (1994) of student teachers at the University of Hong Kong, illustrated how student teachers were sometimes puzzled by why problems occurred and how they should tackle them, which led to feelings of frustration and helplessness. Stephens (1996) has pointed out how student teachers can sometimes be overwhelmed by a feeling of panic when faced by a feeling that they cannot face a particular task, such as an unruly class. Fourthly, there are a whole host of contextual problems which student teachers face as a result of teaching in a new school for a short period. These include the pressures resulting from having to get to know the teachers and pupils, where to find things, learning school procedures on a range of matters, and for many student teachers, having to take new lodgings, make new travelling arrangements, and often live in isolation from existing friends and relations. A study by Grant (1992) of student teachers at Middlesex Polytechnic used questionnaires, diaries and group interviews to explore sources of stress during TP. As well as school-based concerns, the student teachers also reported problems regarding weekend work, travelling, money, and getting home in the evening exhausted to the point of tearfulness. Fifthly, there is the problem of the numerous self-doubts to which the student teachers are exposed. Have they made the wrong career move? Will they be able to cope with the demands of the job? What will they do if they fail to qualify or decide teaching is not for them? A number of detailed case studies of student teachers has highlighted how frequently student teachers experience periods of disillusionment during their TP (e.g. Hawkey, 1996; Kettle & Sellars, 1996). In that sense, for many student teachers, a major objective of TP is simply to survive and qualify as a teacher. For example, Tann (1993) points out that student teachers’ thinking about their classroom teaching is more dominated by a concern to maintain adequate classroom control than by pupil learning criteria. Indeed, Constable and Norton (1994) have made the very telling point, that the pressure on student teachers to cope with the demands of TP can sometimes act as a barrier


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Evaluation and Research in Education

to their development, because it focuses their attention on the need to cope with immediate demands, rather than how to develop the understanding and skills needed for their professional development. Similarly, Richert (1992) in a study of student teachers in California, noted that such was the overwhelming nature of their fear of failure and sense of vulnerability, that the student teachers were somewhat reluctant to look back at their work with a critical eye because it felt safer and more secure not to do so. Loughran (1996), however, in a study of student teachers at Monash University, Australia, which included extensive use of journal writing and interviews, has also noted how once student teachers have established themselves in the school and have built up confidence, there is a gradual shift away from concerns about themselves and their performance towards a concern for the quality of their pupils’ learning. A sixth area relates to concerns which stem from the way student teachers need to come to terms with having to change their initial ideas of and ideals about what it is like to be a teacher and to teach, and whether this is something they feel comfortable with. Calderhead and Robson (1991), for example, in a study of student teachers in the north of England, has shown how student teachers often have idealised notions of what it is to be a teacher and to teach, and that part of the shock of TP is a growing realisation and acceptance by student teachers of how their initial images of teaching must change to take account of the reality of practice. A study by Kyriacou and Cheng (1993) of student teachers at the University of York, reported that the student teachers felt that when faced with the reality of classroom life, a number of ‘humanistic’ ideals they held about teaching methods and the sort of relationship they wanted to have with pupils, were simply not sustainable in practice. This need to modify one’s initial ideals was also noted in a study by Furlong and Maynard (1995) of student teachers at the University of Swansea. The study was conducted during a period of transition within initial teacher education, following the requirement outlined in circular 9/92 (DfE, 1992) that two-thirds of the PGCE course must be school-based and that a substantial role in teacher training will be delivered by teachers in the placement schools with specific teacher education duties, referred to as mentors (see Reid et al., 1994; Stephens, 1996). This has led to a marked extension of the role of the school in initial training, and a greater responsibility on the school to work with the student teachers to help them develop the competences and standards they are expected to have acquired by the end of the PGCE course (see DfEE, 1997). The present study thus sought to explore the concerns of a group of students teachers undertaking a one year Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) course at the University of York during this period of transition in teacher education, with a view to considering their implications for improving the quality of the initial teacher education which student teachers receive within the new framework governing such courses (DfE, 1992; DfEE, 1997).

Data Collection At the time of this study, the PGCE (secondary schools) course at the University of York was divided into three terms. In the first term (the Autumn Term) and the third term (the Summer Term) all students spent two days each



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week on school placement, mainly observing lessons and dealing with schoolbased educational issues, with some limited opportunity for short periods of teaching. For the middle term (the Spring Term) all students undertook a block teaching practice placement at a different school from that attended in Terms 1 and 3. Both authors were PGCE tutors at the University. The data were collected by the second author who was also a mentor at one of the schools used by the University for the school placements. During the TP placement in Term 2, which was 13 weeks in length, the students received advice and guidance from their mentor and from their university tutor. Sixteen student teachers preparing to teach either English or History were invited to participate in the study. The invitation was outlined as follows: During your main teaching placement, you’ll encounter successes and challenges. I think you might find it helpful to meet with me [the second author] and each other fortnightly for an hour or so, in order to exchange experiences and ideas. My role would be as a sounding board, a guide, and (with your permission) a researcher. Six meetings were scheduled, and a total of 13 student teachers attended on one or more occasions. These student teachers comprised eight English and five History specialists. Attendance at the meetings ranged from five to eleven student teachers. Each meeting started at 5 pm with tea, coffee and biscuits served and casual conversation for about 15 minutes. Thereafter, a focused group interview lasting about 45 minutes was conducted (and recorded on audio-cassette) by the second author. Focused group interviews have been widely used in educational research, and have proved to be an effective method of exploring subjects’ views about areas of common experience (Brown et al., 1990; Hitchcock and Hughes, 1995). During the focused group interviews, the student teachers were asked to comment on how things were going at the TP school, and the interviewer urged them to elaborate on issues that arose during the ensuing conversation. Comments about concerns and positive experiences were particularly probed. The student teachers were generally encouraged to follow their own agendas. However, the interviewer periodically asked specific questions, often to pursue issues the student teachers had independently raised, but sometimes to initiate consideration of a particular matter. In considering these data, one needs to be aware of the self-selecting nature of this sample, and that fact that its membership was not constant throughout the period of the group interviews. In addition, some of the concerns that were identified by the students may to some extent be particular to this institution or to students teaching these two subjects. As such, particular caution needs to be taken in interpreting and generalising from these data. The tape-recorded interviews were transcribed and then summarised in relation to the dominant themes which emerged following a process of coding, indexing, categorising and cross-checking (Hitchcock & Hughes, 1995; Sarantakos, 1994). As both the researchers were involved with the course, particular attention was paid in the analysis to maintaining a critical distance in order to

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ensure that the analysis was as trustworthy as possible (Kyriacou, 1990; Lincoln & Guba, 1985).

The Major Concerns


Nine major categories of concern were identified. These are outlined below.

Not being regarded as a real teacher A common concern amongst the student teachers was the perception of not being regarded as a ‘real’ teacher. This is illustrated by a male student teacher’s comment about being in classrooms where qualified teachers took the lead role: ‘I feel like a spare part at the moment’. Four factors were identified which appeared to precipitate this feeling. Firstly, being a non-participant observer in the classroom when the ‘real’ teacher was ‘demonstrating’ her or his professional skills (such as teaching or taking the register). The sense of being an ‘appendage’ was acute here. One student teacher said she would prefer to get the initial period of classroom observations completed within the first week of the placement, and then get straight into teaching. Secondly, being given an incidental role in a classroom (e.g. helping individual pupils during a lesson) while the ‘real’ teacher took the lead. This generally gave rise to anxieties about being perceived by pupils as the ‘teacher’s little helper’ — to quote a female student teacher. Thirdly, uncertainty about whether to imitate the behaviours of the ‘real’ teachers (e.g. style of teaching, layout of classroom), when their classes were taken over by the student teacher. Fourthly, mentors ‘stealing the show’ when student teachers were taking a lead role. For example, one female student teacher said: The class are not going to listen to me if she [the teacher] keeps on chipping in, because it means that my authority is completely undermined.

Dealing with disruptive behaviour Unsurprisingly, disruptive behaviour on the part of some pupils some of the time, caused quite a lot of concern. Usually this problem was volunteered by the student teachers, but the interviewer occasionally asked them to say how they felt about and how they responded to disruptive behaviour. In most cases, the student teachers referred to fairly minor misdemeanours (e.g. noisy behaviour in class, cheekiness in corridors, talking when the teacher is talking) which tends to ‘wear you down’, rather than to serious incidents. One female student teacher felt that ‘Getting them to shut up seems to be the biggest problem’. Another female student teacher referred to some pupils who submitted poetry work that she considered to be subtly but deliberately offensive. She found this kind of studied insolence harder to handle than overt misbehaviour. Becoming a disciplinarian Some student teachers were worried about the brutalising effects on their personality of becoming strict disciplinarians. Acting on instructions by a form tutor not to be so polite when giving instructions to the class, a female student teacher said:


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¼ but it feels uncomfortable. It feels like I am ordering people around. At the moment, I am battling with the fact that I have got to be more forceful at times, and I do not like that. I mean, I am being told by people that, basically, I have to lose my temper with certain people, and I find it very difficult to lose my temper. Another student teacher said she gave instructions politely, but if the right responses were not elicited, she got tough. Expressing moral doubts about his newly acquired harder edge, a male student teacher remarked, ‘I am not going to be that mean all the time, I don’t think’.

Getting the teaching right Surprisingly, and perhaps worryingly, very few student teachers raised concerns about getting the teaching right in relation to pedagogical skills. When teaching strategies were referred to, this was often to do with keeping school students on-task so that they would not misbehave. The main concern was with behavioural rather than cognitive outcomes. One student teacher, however, did speak of his frustration over feeling that a class had not understood what he had been trying to convey: I have come away from one class thinking I have failed completely. The way it appeared to me that the lesson has gone, was that they had got nothing down on paper that I could see, and they had not understood what I had tried to get across to them. No student teachers referred to any difficulties with assessing and recording the learning progress of their school students. Given that these professional skills are very difficult to accomplish, it is possible that a degree of complacency exists here.

Getting the planning right Getting the planning right proved difficult for some student teachers. This referred principally to the organisation of schemes of work and the preparing of lessons. Things that were put down on paper did not always match up to the realities of the classroom. As one male student teacher put it: ‘everything I planned has been re-planned, virtually’. Timing was a particular problem because, it was noted, one has to be in the school to begin to understand how long it takes pupils to complete particular learning tasks. Interestingly, this concern with planning was in line with an earlier study of PGCE students involving modern languages teaching (Kyriacou & Lin, 1994), in which the student teachers reported that worries about planning lessons became common during the first few weeks of teaching as the student teachers encountered discrepancies between their expectations for the learning activities they had planned and how they worked in practice. Another student teacher found it difficult to obtain sufficient information from teachers to produce her own schemes of work. She was particularly worried that no schemes of work would be available in her file when the teaching placement supervisor came to visit. This may, however, be more a concern about presentational matters (i.e. obtaining a good assessment for a well-presented file) than with actual planning issues,

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although a study by Green et al. (1998) reported that some student teachers in their study felt that the help they received from their mentors in planning lessons was sometimes inadequate.

Teaching about sensitive issues How to handle the teaching of sensitive issues occasioned concern for some student teachers. The problem was one of knowing what to teach and how to present it, as well as being able to cope with the agitated responses of school students who were clearly perturbed about certain issues. This varied from selecting video material that was deemed unsuitable by a head of department, to seeking to get pupils to talk about things they did not want to discuss. Referring to a social education lesson on divorce in a class where many children had divorced parents, a male student teacher said: ¼ they [the children] played clapping games for the second half of the lesson because they just did not want to do the work, and I was not going to be the one to say, ’You are going to learn about divorce and how it affects children’. During a talk she was giving on death, a female student teacher found that some pupils emotionally distanced themselves when they were asked to imagine their own funerals.

Coping with a heavy workload The sheer volume of work to be got through (e.g. preparation, marking, attending after-school functions) was commented on by several student teachers. A sense of tiredness and, in some cases, sheer exhaustion, was apparent. When asked by the interviewer how the school placements were affecting other areas of their lives, there was spontaneous laughter, and a female student teacher asked, ‘What life?’. The half-term break represented a welcome respite. One student teacher imagined, with some apprehension, what it would be like coping with a full-time teaching post on taking up a first appointment. Having too little preparatory teaching practice Missed opportunities for teaching experience during the school placement in Term 1 was a widely felt concern. Some student teachers expressed disapproval of mentors conducting ‘in-school’ lectures during Term 1, ‘because we were doing things that were so theoretical when you could have actually gone into a classroom’ (a male student teacher). Another male student teacher pointedly remarked, ‘I learned more in twenty minutes when a lesson went wrong than I did in an entire term’s lectures’. However, one student teacher thought that theory was important, provided it connected with classroom practice. As he put it: I think there is definitely a place for theory within the university, but then there also needs to be a link between the theory and actually how you apply the theory — which I think is often missing. The research literature on the experiences of student teachers commonly



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makes reference to the problem of what is meant by ‘theory’ and the extent to which students often report that the links between theory and practice need to be made more explicit (Calderhead & Shorrock, 1997; Tomlinson, 1995). The student teachers were clearly keen to get some more ‘hands-on’ teaching experience in Term 1, which they believed would prepare them better for their block TP placement in Term 2. However, when the student teachers were asked by the interviewer, whether they would like their Spring Term placement to be extended by another term, there was general laughter. The interviewer interpreted this to mean that they did not want to go that far. During the last interview, the issue of a second full-time placement was raised again. On this occasion, six out of ten student teachers who were present said they would favour another full-time placement. However, one male student teacher said that a return to some campus time in Term 3 offered an opportunity for relaxation because, ‘You don’t have to shout above people, and you can discuss things rationally’. In general though, it was apparent that student teachers wanted more and earlier school experiences. Once in school, they also wanted to get into classrooms rather than attend ‘conference room’ presentations by mentors. One student teacher suggested that ‘lectures’ by mentors in Term 3 might be usefully replaced with some practical experience in administrative work. Another student teacher proposed conducting school improvement research in Term 3.

Being assessed The assessment of student teachers’ classroom performance by mentors and university tutors is a commonly reported area of concern in the research literature (Capel, 1997) and this also occasioned some concern in this study. The interviewer asked if any of the student teachers had been worried about him coming to watch them teach. One female student teacher said, ‘I felt beforehand, I was nervous. During it, it was fine, and afterwards the feedback was good’. This seemed to be a generally held view. However, one female student teacher who found it difficult to create schemes of work because she was not getting enough guidance from teachers said: I am just worried that when [the university tutor] comes and she looks in my file, she is not going to find schemes of work when I have been doing my best to put them there. A sense of being over-assessed in the classroom by mentors and under-assessed in the same setting by university tutors was apparent. In the context of perceived over-assessment, two student teachers said they wanted to be left to ‘get on with it’ a bit more, and one added that she found lots of supervisory visits disrupted her teaching. That said, it appears the amount of time spent by mentors observing student teachers in the classroom varies from school to school. One student teacher said he thought that mentors’ expectations of a beginning teacher’s performance were sometimes unrealistically high. He intimated that they should not be looking for a finished product. He also suggested that mentors might display certain limitations if he were supervising them: ¼ if I sat in their lessons, I am sure I could come up with things they are

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not doing especially well, and yet ours have to be something out of this world.

The Main Accomplishments


The positive side of having concerns is that they can provide a basis for a sense of accomplishment and a feeling of professional growth during TP (Guillaume & Rudney, 1993; Kyriacou, 1993; Stephens & Crawley, 1994). In this study, three main categories of accomplishments were identified. These are outlined below.

Taking responsibility Taking responsibility boosted morale. There was a clear sense of wanting to ‘get stuck into’ teaching at the earliest opportunity. In particular, student teachers wanted to set their own imprint on the procedures that would prevail in their classrooms. For some of them, the moment when the mentor stepped aside and said, ‘over to you’, proved to be a significant and a positive turning point. Being invited to take a wider role outside the classroom was another welcome affirmation. To quote a male student teacher who had been given a key part to play by his mentor at a Parents’ Evening: ¼ it was nice because I was allowed quite a large role. I was introduced as Mr ¼ who has been teaching them [a particular class] this term, and they [the parents of one of the pupils] just turned to me and said, ‘Right, so you’re the man to ask then.

Developing confidence Linked to the preceding issue, the confidence that comes from experience was acknowledged and celebrated by several student teachers as their work in school gathered pace. This growing confidence was linked to such factors as: realising that bad behaviour was not necessarily personal (it was sometimes precipitated, for example, by problems at home); finding that not all parents become hostile when told that their child plays up or needs to work harder; cueing into the institutional culture of the school; and starting to feel more like a ‘real’ teacher. One female student teacher said, ‘I’m beginning to see what works for me, which is great’. Creating an orderly classroom Creating an orderly classroom was a highly valued accomplishment. Much emphasis was placed on acquiring the competence to manage the behaviour and the learning of pupils in a structured way. Laying down ground rules about acceptable behaviour was deemed important. Explicit, time-framed learning tasks were found to ‘keep children busy’, thereby minimising the risk of having to improvise if learning activities finished before the lesson was over. As indicated earlier, the main goal here seemed to be the effective management of behaviour — busy children do not have time to misbehave — rather than the development of cognitive skills. Knowing that the imposition of a sanction was deemed fair and acceptable to a pupil was considered important. When, for


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example, she told three misbehaving pupils that they would be detained during their dinner break, a female student said:


I expected a lot of ¼ ‘that’s not fair, Miss’, but they accepted it, just like it was a ’fair cop’. The effective deployment of ‘pre-emptive strike’ strategies also prompted a sense of achievement in relation to class management skills. Thus, for example, a male student teacher said: ‘I really, sort of, kept the lid on things, and they responded with a lot more work’.

Implications for Improving the Quality of Initial Teacher Education The above findings have a number of implications for improving the quality of initial teacher education. A number of writers have noted how student teachers on TP typically feel they are neither students nor teachers, and how they can often feel isolated within the school (e.g. Grenfell, 1996). Schools need to help student teachers feel part of the school as soon as possible. Doing this includes involving them as much as possible in the day to day routines of school life, and treating them as far as possible as a full member of staff. Some student teachers become concerned that their on-paper planning often fails to match what they actually do when being observed by their mentor or university tutor. Teacher educators should reassure student teachers when they consult planning documentation that they are not always expected to rigidly follow their written plans. They might also explain to student teachers that the ability to adapt and modify one’s plans during the course of a lesson is an important teaching skill. When student teachers are observing mentors and other experienced teachers in the classroom, it would be helpful to give them clearly defined roles. This would give the student teachers an opportunity to become involved in the lesson in a meaningful way and enhance their self-esteem, and would also mitigate the feelings of confusion and embarrassment that can stem from being a passive observer reported by Lauriala (1997). Teacher educators sometimes need to be sensitive to student teachers’ keenness to start teaching as soon as possible. Sometimes they want to be left more on their own in the classroom. Certain student teachers are confident and able to do some solo teaching quite early, provided they are comfortable with the class they will be teaching and know that support from the mentor, if needed, will be readily available. It is essential that the student teacher and the mentor are as certain as they can be that the first solo teaching encounter will be a successful, confidence-building experience. A study by Blake et al. (1996) reported that some student teachers complained that their mentors did not give them sufficient independence to develop their own approach to classroom teaching. Clearly, there is a tension here for mentors between guiding and constraining student teachers. When student teachers are taking a lead role in the classroom, either going solo or being a ‘principal’ co-teacher, it is disconcerting if mentors make unnecessary intrusions. Knocking on the door, for example, to ask if one can make


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an announcement to the whole class should be avoided whenever possible. This kind of imposition takes away from beginning teachers their sense of having control. When student teachers have taken over the teaching of a class, they should enjoy the professional courtesy of being treated accordingly. There also appeared to be very different mentoring arrangements from school to school, with some student teachers being observed more often than others by their mentors. This sometimes gave rise to concerns when student teachers at different schools compared their school experiences. An agreed minimum number of lesson observations by mentors would be helpful in providing each student teacher with a guaranteed entitlement. It is important, however, that some degree of flexibility should be maintained by mentors regarding the amount of additional support they give beyond this minimum level in order to meet the needs of each student teacher. The concern of student teachers regarding the perceived divide between theory and practice also needs to be addressed. Although the student teachers generally displayed strong antipathy towards most kinds of theorising — whether from mentors or university tutors — teacher education requires much more than the dispensing of ‘how-to-do-it’ instructions. The need for initial teacher education courses to make as explicit as possible the links between theory and practice is important, if student teachers are to be able to make informed decisions concerning their classroom practice. A number of studies have now been reported which have attempted to highlight good practice in courses of initial teacher education, and also to highlight the dangers of too much emphasis on classroom practice without the support of theory (e.g. Gilroy & Smith, 1993; Reid et al., 1994). Student teachers need to make a clear distinction between the way pupils behave and the potential they have for learning. Too much importance is attached by some student teachers to keeping pupils on-task for behavioural rather than cognitive reasons. If student teachers believe that pupils should be occupied principally to keep bad behaviour at bay, future generations of teachers are going to be more preoccupied with the management of ‘order’ than the cultivation of learning. The concern by student teachers that mentors sometimes expect too much of them, points to the need for teacher educators to base their assessment on the notion of reasonable progress made (i.e. to make their assessment with respect to what one can reasonably expect in terms of professional growth for student teachers during a course of initial teacher education) rather than to give student teachers the impression that they are being assessed against an image of the teaching expertise of experienced teachers. Teacher educators, especially mentors, should impress upon their students that it is not inevitable that their initial idealism has to become replaced by the reality of classroom life. It is the task of teacher educators to emphasise that principled classroom practice (maintaining politeness, empathy and mutual respect) is and must be sustainable. The study also points to the usefulness of student teachers coming together for regular meetings during TP, to exchange experiences and to bounce ideas off each other. The sociability of the occasions was commented upon favourably, as


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was the cathartic release of discussing problems openly in a group forum. A male student teacher remarked:


¼ there are some days when you really think that you need to get these things off your chest. The student teachers also benefited from knowing that their peers often encountered the same kinds of difficulty in schools. One student teacher said she found the meetings helpful because they provided a bridge to the university during a period of total school immersion. Students teachers taking a typical one year PGCE course in England and Wales, are now expected to spend about two-thirds of their time in schools and one-third on campus, whereas in the recent past the proportion of school-based time was normally between one-third and a half. In addition, mentors now play an increasingly important role in initial teacher education. These findings point to the need for mentors to become fully aware of the concerns typically held by student teachers, as they now have a much larger part to play in preventing unnecessary problems and dealing with such concerns. The role of mentors in doing this needs to be clarified and strengthened, and this may have implications for how mentors need to view their relationship with both the student teacher and the student teacher’s university supervisor (Veal & Rikard, 1998). This study also has implications for the induction of newly qualified teachers (NQTs), since it is clear from studies of the concerns expressed by NQTs (e.g. Ballantyre et al., 1995; Cains & Brown, 1998), that many of the concerns of student teachers during TP (such as dealing with disruptive behaviour, coping with a heavy workload, evaluative feedback from their mentor) continue into their first year of teaching.

Conclusions The concerns expressed by the student teachers in this study are generally in line with those reported by other researchers, as outlined at the beginning of this paper. There were, however, three areas of concern that appeared to feature more highly in the meetings with this sample of student teachers, than has been generally the case in studies reported earlier. The first area was their concern about the notion of being able to act as a ‘real teacher’, and to be treated as a ‘real teacher’ by the teachers and pupils in the school. The second concern was to be given as much opportunity as possible, and as early as possible, to engage in classroom practice. The third concern was the feeling that some mentors’ comments on their classroom practice were unreasonably harsh. These findings point to the need for mentors to become fully aware of the concerns typically held by student teachers, and to review their role in preventing unnecessary problems occurring and helping student teachers to deal with the concerns that do arise.

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