ABSTRACT
This chapter is based on an analysis of the experience of thirty-two first-year primary B.Ed. students during a brief serial practice in their summer term. The students were required to work in groups of four and collaboratively to plan, teach and evaluate a sequence of lessons for the duration of a morning (9-12 a.m.) in each of four weekly visits. The planned sessions were for mixedability classes of approximately thirty pupils of either an infant class (6-7 year olds) or junior class (8-9 year olds). The students mostly worked with the same group of approximately four to five children, although each one took turns in addressing the whole class, for example in giving the initial introduction, handling a period of exploratory class discussion or final report back, reading a story or leading some singing. The sessions were crosscurricula in nature and were presented as part of an integrated ‘topic’ loosely focused on the concepts of health and safety. The students’ group planning sessions were recorded but the main source of data was from the files which students were required to keep. These included the session plan (aims, objectives, methods, resources and rationale for each) and an evaluation of each session (what the students’ learnt, what the children learnt, and what they planned next and why). The students were encouraged to evaluate their own group work skills in planning, as well as their own skills in group teaching and how the children worked in groups.
