ABSTRACT
We have yet to hear anyone in an English interview make any comments about capability in their subject. Mentors and tutors in both schools and HEIs may, of course, share students' implicit sense of their subject; but again they might not. This chapter looks at both student teachers' subject experience prior to PGCE and subject cultures in school, and considers possible mismatch between student and mentor subject perception. From this research, it argues that without examination of implicit subject philosophies, many opportunities for intellectual and professional development are missed. And that, where a student and a mentor appear to have different beliefs, it may well threaten their professional relationship, often to the detriment of the student. It is not surprising that the wider debate about English is reflected in the range of perspectives that school teachers of English hold.
