ABSTRACT
As student teachers progress and become more experienced and skilful, they will naturally take on more responsibility, become more involved in various aspects of school life and increasingly take the initiative in terms of their own learning. In the first phase of their learning, through diagnostic assessment their performance is evaluated in the light of an agreed list of teaching qualities/competences/skills. Once they have shown themselves to be competent, they will be ready to enter a second phase of their learning in which the emphasis is properly on self-evaluation and reflection. Without abandoning the basic standard of competency, in this second phase they have the opportunity to identify what is important to them as teachers and to concentrate on those aspects of their teaching which they are most concerned to develop. The agenda is now theirs rather than yours but you have an important rote in helping them to clarify and develop their thinking.
