ABSTRACT

We have seen that the student teacher has come to teaching from a variety of backgrounds. We have sketched some of the major patterns of their careers and have indicated how possessing certain initial characteristics influences their expected career. We have seen that major changes are taking place in the structure of schools and in the role of the teacher and that these are paralleled by changes in many of the training institutions. What is missing from the account is an examination of the process through which induction into teaching comes about. What does this process mean for individuals? How do they perceive it? What does it feel like to go through it? Finally, in line with our concern for the sociology of the possible, what can an individual or group do to obtain some control over certain features of the process?