Working with Your Student Teacher

Initial Teacher Education has undergone substantial changes in recent years, and further changes are likely. These call for a high degree of skill and knowledge in teachers, particularly those with direct responsibility for the training of student teachers. This guide for language teachers has a number of aims: to set the changes in context and highlight those which are likely to have the greatest effect on schools; to help teachers to clarify the complementary roles of the different parties, both within the schools and outside; to suggest ways in which teachers can prepare for and look after student teachers in their departments; to look in detail at lesson observation and feedback; to look at assessment and the challenges of competency models of profiling; and to suggest ways in which teachers/mentors can extend their knowledge and skills through professional development and reading.