Introduction

This is a undoubtedly a time of considerable change as far as teacher education in the UK is concerned, in fact, others have described this period as ‘a significant watershed in the history of teacher preparation’ (Tomlinson, 1995, p. viii) in which government interventions have ‘transformed initial teacher education in the UK’ (Furlong and Maynard, 1995, p. vii). Although many of these changes are also being felt in other countries it has been the speed of change that has characterized the UK context, as a rapid ‘stream’ of government circulars (DES 1984, 1989a and 1989b; DFE, 1992 and 1993) have transformed a largely higher education-based professional training into a school/ university ‘partnership’ enterprise with two-thirds of the trainees’ time being spent in school and the greater responsibility for training and assessment being vested in the practising teacher in school. What is now a largely school-based training for teaching has meant that the role of teachers acting as ‘mentors’ to trainees has developed in importance.