Student teachers' conceptions and evaluations of ‘theory’ in initial teacher training (ITT)

Abstract

This article reports findings from a small-scale study of secondary student teachers' evaluations of one-year, postgraduate initial teacher training (ITT) programmes in England [1]. Data were collected via in-depth interviews with 16 student teachers and self-complete questionnaires completed by 224 student teachers from four training courses in central and northern England. The findings suggest that, in line with studies conducted prior to the shift towards school-based training in the early 1990s, some student teachers today remain unconvinced about the utility of ‘theoretical’ components of their training courses. The author examines what some student teachers mean and understand by ‘theory’, suggests a three-fold typology of student teachers, relating to their approaches to learning to teach, and considers some implications for the tutoring process in ITT.