Secondary students' development as teachers over the course of a PGCE year

Key words: concerns; development; PGCE course Research has suggested that students pass through different concerns or stages in their development as teachers. Although some authors have suggested that concerns or stages are sequential, other research does not support sequential concerns or stages of development. The major purpose of this study was to look at the concerns of students at different times during a one year Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) course, particularly to identify any changes in concerns about school experience as they developed as teachers and whether the development of concerns was sequential. A second purpose was to look at whether the Teacher Concerns Questionnaire (TCQ) is a useful instrument for measuring students ’ concerns. One cohort of students on a secondary PGCE course in England was administered the TCQ on three occasions during the academic year 1996/97. Results showed that these students were moderately concerned about school experience at the three administrations of the questionnaire. Self and impact concerns were the highest causes of concern and task concerns the lowest causes of concern at all three administrations of the questionnaire. Results also showed that there was a significant difference in the amount of total concern between