IMAGES - A WAY OF UNDERSTANDING THE PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE OF STUDENT-TEACHERS

Recent literature supports the notion that the knowledge which guides the practice of teachers is much more than the accumulation of propositional facts. Yet the nature of teachers' practical knowledge is not well understood. This paper reports a study which explores the practical knowledge of student teachers. Using the overall perspective of personal practical knowledge, the study focusses specifically on the construct of image to identify the ways in which two student teachers think about themselves as teachers and how this relates to their teaching practice. Image is proposed as a means of understanding the knowledge held by these teachers and the findings are used to suggest some implications for teacher educators.