ABSTRACT
This chapter continues the concern of the last with the implicit theories of learning held by new entrants to the teaching profession, but it zooms in on one vital aspect of that concern, and tackles it in a more literature-based and qualitative research framework. Peter John’s question is: where do student teachers’ beliefs about learning come from? And his answer is that they derive, very largely, from students’ own experience of teaching and learning at school. As pupils sit in classrooms, they are not just learning chemistry or French; they are developing intuitive models of what it is to be a teacher, and what, in their judgement, makes a ‘good teacher’ or a ‘bad’ one. These implicit theories channel the way students approach the business of learning to teach, and the kind of teacher they aspire to become. Peter draws on the life histories of PGCE students, and uncovers the effect on their views of teaching and learning that their own school experience has had – especially the teachers who have made a particular impact on them. These implicit views sometimes create barriers to their learning.
