Ian Stronach

The student teacher in school: Conditions for development

Abstract This paper is based on an analysis of interviews with student teachers, which focused on the nature of the support they received in school in making the transition from student to teacher. The success of this transition in interactional terms, appears to depend on experiencing a number of relational conditions, which are largely determined by others, but which serve as a crucial context for individual development. These conditions are represented idiomatically and non-prescriptively; yet between the identifiable extremes of practice, they may be capable of defining the socio-professional environment of experiential learning on teaching practice.

Current realities in the student teaching experience: A preliminary inquiry

Abstract The experiences of 22 student teachers completing a final 10-week teaching practice in secondary schools were obtained by ethnographic interviewing. Their developing sense of “belonging” to the teaching community 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, the teaching practice acts most powerfully as an initiation into “teacherhood”, focused particularly on the classroom and the subject department. The sympathetic and supportive environment of colleagues was especially important in meeting the mentoring needs of the student teachers. It was concluded that initial professional education needs to take more account of the dominant emotional needs of students.

Polemical notes on educational evaluation in the age of ‘policy hysteria‘

Abstract The authors identify a number of changes in educational policy development in the UK, such as shortening cycles of reform, multiple innovation, frequent policy switches, shifting meanings within reforms and untested success claims. Taken together, these changes constitute the phenomenon of ‘policy hysteria’. It is argued that, within this context, much of what has passed for evaluation has been ‘conformative’ in nature rather than independent and critical.

’No Problem Here’: action research against racism in a mainly white area

The paper outlines the result of a one‐year project of action research into the prevalence and nature of racism in two primary schools and the implementation of multi‐cultural and anti‐racist guidelines in Scotland. Two schools are examined with respect to these factors by teachers. The conclusion is that the action research, although not officially supported by funding, except for a small amount from the University of Stirling, is nevertheless important. It has enabled teachers to examine a marginalised educational area related to social justice, and generate local and personal knowledge that can be translated into the leverage of power. The paper challenges assumptions about racism existing only ‘regionally’ in the UK.

Jack in two boxes: A postmodern perspective on the transformation of persons into portraits

The paper explores issues surrounding portrayal in educational research and interrogates the notion of a “life” as a textual product, via an analysis of two short biographical narratives which happen to “portray” the same person — a British primary school head teacher nearing the end of his career. The discrepancies between these two texts point to the problematic nature of the relationship between person and portrait, and make visible some of the textual devices that writers/researchers use in order to achieve coherence and authenticity in biographical narratives.

Student and probationary teachers’ evaluation of a concurrent teacher education programme

Abstract The focus of this article is on student and probationary teachers’ evaluation of a concurrent teacher education programme. The rarity of such studies made it interesting to discover how far students taking a concurrent programme related theory and practice. The data was gathered by means of group and individual interviews, during the last three months of training and the first three months of teaching. Each interviewee discussed how the different parts of the programme related to their development as teachers and how they were progressing professionally. It was clear that even on a concurrent programme, student and probationary teachers took a very practical view of their training. They were primarily concerned to survive in teaching and to fit into the school environment. The practical as opposed to the more theoretical aspects of the course were greatly valued and it was recommended that even more attention should be given to these features of the programme. There was only limited evidence that...

Scottish education and the vocational gauntlet

Describes how the Scottish Office Education Department funded a “stock‐taking exercise” by researchers based in the Department of Education at the University of Stirling during 1992/93. The project′s main aims were to map and analyse the range and complexity of education‐industry links (EIL) in Scotland. The picture which emerged was a complex one, with many competing and overlapping initiatives vying for space in school curricula – dubbed “policy hysteria”. Examines ways of analysing this complexity and finds that many national schemes and initiatives took on a distinctly “tartan” flavour in their Scottish manifestations. Selects the questions of “domestication” and “progression” within the EIL curriculum for further development.