ABSTRACT
This chapter reports the findings of research which was undertaken over a two-, year period with teachers from eleven primary schools in the Midlands region of England. The ‘trainers’ had provided an ‘unrealistic’ view of reality. The saving grace had been teaching practice itself. In effect, a view of theory and practice as separate and a view of theory as largely irrelevant had been carried through from college into the school and classroom. The learning biographies also revealed that a number of teachers perceived themselves to be at a crucial stage of their life and/or career development, and that while some learning is clearly a gradual, cumulative process, there are critical periods in teachers’ lives when particularly significant, ‘ Learning moments’ occur, what Kompf in this book calls ‘landmarks’. Mary Lynn Hamilton is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.
