Student Teachers and the Experience of English

In this chapter I want to discuss some aspects of PGCE English students’ attitudes to English as a subject, and to themselves as teachers of English. ¹ I shall be using three main sources of evidence, all provided by the students: lesson plans that my applicants are routinely required to produce as part of the interview and selection process; students’ self-audits produced during the first two weeks of the course; and students’ responses to a short questionnaire completed during the first half of their second teaching practice placement. In the course of this discussion, I shall be demonstrating something of the current position of English, the challenge inherent in attempting to shift entrenched and ‘naturalised’ approaches and expectations, and the possibilities for future change. My analysis of this material is to some extent informed by adherence to the alternative practices posited in Chapter 11. In many instances, the implications and positions are very much drawn out of the material itself: the students themselves may not have been explicitly aware of what their words denoted within the kind of context I am exploring here.