ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on The Structure and Process of Initial Teacher Education (SPITE) data and reports on a series of student perceptions on teaching practice, probation and induction. A reading of the literature suggests that many probationary programmes remain in their infancy. The chapter provides up-to-date evidence obtained from a comparison of some of the SPITE postgraduate student teacher data with data on the probationary year, focusing specifically on aspects of the relationship between teaching practice and the first year of teaching. The probationary teachers were also asked whether their schools made any special arrangements for the induction of new teachers. The SPITE probationers were asked to indicate which, from a list of ten items, had caused them some or major problems during their first year of teaching. Teachers working in different types of schools faced, to some extent, different problems.
