One thing that really frustrated me is you know we have to do learning stories for the
children and the fact that we actually had to see the children’s learning. I am not very
confident in doing things like that...I put something forward to...these experienced fully
qualified teachers, they said to me no it isfine and I thought you know...you are supposed
to be my mentor and explaining to me how am I supposed to see this learning taking place
...how can I do it if you are not telling me, giving me critical feedback...with regards to
my teaching and learning as well as my explaining to the parents what the child is learning.Anxieties about the role of mentors reflect complex professional tensions for
teaching teams. Such anxieties are also indicative of a deep commitment to pro-
fessional development, as well as increasing governance of teacher competence
through systems of professional evaluation. Both possibilities have important
implications for teacher education as it supports beginning teachers in entering into a
mentoring relationship, and understanding the ways in which their own concerns and
expectations impact on the dynamics of the mentoring, and wider team
relationship. Opportunities to experience different mentoring roles during teacher
education may provide graduates with the opportunity to see the ways in which
different knowledge about professional practice might be experienced and shaped.
In the following conversation Fiona talked about a struggle to transfer knowl-
edge from her teacher education into practice:
...we have got all this knowledge but to put it into practice is sometimes quite difficult.
And I have noticed some of the readings I have done the people feel the same way. This
knowledge that you have for three years you can’t really put into practice..., it just
becomes like a daily routine that you don’t actually think like, you are not actually having
all your knowledge that you have learnt, in your actual environment that you are working.Leanne and Judy shared similar experiences:
In a way we were sheltered but also it gave us the knowledge to be able to see what is
actually happening, actual working, though we don’t always put that knowledge into
practice but you can see it...I struggle to verbalise, I am a visual person...all that
knowledge and backup that should bring it out, I struggle so bad to bring that out...
(Leanne).
I understand that a lot of the everyday, you know, aspects of practice, you know, to do with
being just logical and practical and yeah basically that, just that it doesn’t take studies to
sort of, you know, quickly work out what is the best sort of thing to do here with this
number of children and we’ve got this basin and these many people need to wash their
hands and you know the logistics. So that side of it definitely seems to outweigh, yet there’s
not, yeah, enough of the other professional sort of expertise sort of coming into it. Maybe I
guess I’ve come to sort of doubt my own abilities when it comes to the practical side of it.
I feel like maybe I’ve got all this knowledge but because of my limited experience I kind of
have got a lot to learn in that way, or that maybe I’m not suited to the job because
sometimes that side of it sort of, I get sort of, I feel like I am told off quite a lot over sort of
decisions (Judy).Each of these three conversations might indicate a problem withflows of knowl-
edge in the sense of theflow being somewhat one directional. In other words, the
knowledge learned during teacher education is knowledge, whereas daily practice is
in some way not knowledge. This is not to suggest, as Judy recognises, that a
simple knowledge over practice hierarchy exists. Of more concern are the
790 M. Tesar et al.