Beyond Concerns with Self: The sophisticated thinking of beginning student teachers

The last 10 years have seen a significant transformation of initial teacher education in England. The establishment of school-based partnerships and increasingly tight government regulation have reduced the autonomy of universities in the professional preparation of teachers. In the context of these changes the Developing Expertise of Beginning Teachers project was established to explore the learning of beginning teachers through the course of their initial training and early years in the profession. This paper, based on post-lesson interview data collected during the first half of the training year, focuses on two aspects of student teachers' thinking: the reasons put forward for their teaching decisions; and their evaluation of that teaching. Analysis of lesson aims and the factors taken into account in seeking to achieve them suggests a high level of concern for pupil learning, echoed in their lesson evaluations, and a surprisingly sophisticated grasp of the complexity of teaching.