How do cooperating teachers define the supervision of student teacher? Is this definition coherent with the development of reflective teaching, a widely used term in current discussion about the nature of professional training (Calderhead, 1989, p. 43)? These questions oriented the qualitative research presented here. The notion of and reflective teaching is almost everywhere in teacher education. Bengtsson (1995), in terms very close to those of Calderhead (1989), writes that reflection has grown massively in Anglo-Saxon pedagogy and has become key concept in discussion about teacher education and the teaching profession (p. 23). Teacher education programs are, at the same time, devoting more and more time to practical experiences in schools. In these practical experiences, teachers in schools take on the role of cooperating teacher when they supervise student teachers. Their behaviour in this role greatly influences what the student teacher learns (Taylor, Borys, & Larocque, 1992), and it is oriented by the definition these teachers give to this role. It is therefore quite appropriate to enquire into the definition to find out whether concern with reflective teaching is present. Often teachers say that they learned to teach through trial and error in their classroom and that experience is the only valid way to learn to teach (FeimanNemser, 1983; Lortie, 1975). One might then assume that this personal method of learning to teach by trial and error would predominate in their definition of the cooperating teacher's role. Field (1994) says that supervision of student teachers has been seen in many instances as socialization and enculturation in the school context. Cooperating teachers contribute to student teachers' development of survival skills and tricks of the trade. Field reccommends that cooperating teachers act more as mentors and demonstrate skills such as being able to help student teachers reflect on their teaching. In more theoretical article, Housego and Grimmett (1983) identify two different conceptual frameworks used by supervisors of student teachers: performance-based direct one and more inductive developmental one. The performance-based approach emphasizes the cooperating teacher's provision of