ABSTRACT
There are two tasks to do before we try to identify the skills and competencies needed by a teacher to be a successful mentor under a school-based system of teacher education. There are two underpinning areas of understanding that will inform our judgment and conclusions. The first of these is the analysis of the various attempts to identify the skills and competencies necessary in a beginning teacher, and the second is the gaining of an understanding of the lived experience of student teachers as they practise in a school. This chapter deals with the first of these. Chapter 2 explores the experience of student teachers revealed through their own professional diaries and journals.
