The stories of expert and novice student teachers' supervisors: Perspectives on professional development

Abstract The study is aimed at disclosing some of the ways in which student teachers' supervisors perceive their professional development and think about it. Three expert and three novice student teachers' supervisors were interviewed in-depth in relation to this topic. The content-analysis of the interview protocols revealed several topics of thought, regarding their professional development: Knowledge and Change; Reflection and Critisism; Theory and Research; Ideology and Values; Human Relations; and Difficulties. The thoughts of experts and novices were analyzed, compared, and interpreted. A comparison of the developmental trends that were identified in this study with those identified in studied on teacher developmental stages yielded substantial differences. Several implications and questions of theoretical and practical interest are put forward.

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