A narrative inquiry into learning to teach: What do student teachers need?

In this paper, we reported insights gained from studying a group of 18 student teachers about their needs and possible ways to accommodate them in the process of learning to teach. We met weekly for two months during the period of teaching practice and built a learning community where student teachers were safe to reflect and learn. We demonstrated telling personal stories we lived and student teachers took turns to tell their stories as teachers in relation to children of their classrooms. Preliminary analysis showed that (1) these student teachers learnt competently in a trustworthy platform, and (2) the diminishing moral and emotional support in formal teacher education programmes was what they needed on becoming teachers. This project contributed to teacher education in bridging the gap that has grown between the practice of teaching and the practice of studying teaching (McEwan, 1995) by adopting a narrative approach. As teacher educators, we do not rule out the importance of theoretical knowledge, we argue for a need to help student teachers construct their own teacher knowledge.