STUDENT-TEACHERS IN PRIMARY-SCHOOLS - THE VIEWS OF MENTORS AND HEADTEACHERS

Four year initial teacher education courses have recently undergone ra dical reform, in particular in relation to the time that students spen d in schools. Through the introduction of mentorship programmes, teach ers have become very much more involved in training the students whils t they are in school. How do teachers view the changes that have been introduced? Do they agree with the principles and models that guided t he developments Headteachers and class teachers who acted as mentors f or students from the University of Reading have supplied some answers. They are very committed to the model of student learning upon which t he mentorship programme is built, the belief that schools and the univ ersity must work in partnership to implement and further develop the m entorship programme and the view that schools need to adopt a whole sc hool approach to their involvement in initial teacher education. These findings indicate that the teachers agree with the underlying princip les that guided the development of the mentorship programme in which t hey are involved and they are supportive of the resulting.