ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Elisabeth Lazarus presents the results of a small-scale piece of action research. As a relatively new entrant to the ranks of teacher trainers, she is concerned to use the framework of the present book to throw light on her own practice: specifically on the barriers to learning that student teachers might experience as a result of any mismatch between their implicit theories of how they learn, and those of their tutors. As a Swede working in England, Elisabeth was also interested to explore this issue in both cultures. Some national differences did emerge in the attitudes and philosophies of tutors, and the experience of students. But it is the disparity between students’ and tutors’ implicit learning theories, regardless of national culture, that emerges most strongly. The question for teacher trainers of ‘do we give them what they want, or what we think they need?’ is clearly a crucial one in designing courses of initial teacher education.
