CURRENT REALITIES IN THE STUDENT TEACHING EXPERIENCE - A PRELIMINARY INQUIRY

The experiences of 22 student teachers completing a final 10-week teac hing practice in secondary schools were obtained by ethnographic inter viewing. Their developing sense of ''belonging'' to the teaching commu nity in their schools was the dominant theme. Recognition by teachers as a colleague and confirmation of teacher status by pupils were major dimensions of this feeling. On the basis of the student narratives, t he teaching practice acts most powerfully as an initiation into ''teac herhood'', focused particularly on the classroom and the subject depar tment. The sympathetic and supportive environment of colleagues was es pecially important in meeting the mentoring needs of the student teach ers. It was concluded that initial professional education needs to tak e more account of the dominant emotional needs of students.