The Importance of Relationships in Teacher Education

The developing picture of the concerns and achievements of a cohort of newly qualified teachers is described and some of the themes that emerged are pursued in more detail. In particular we suggest that a knowledge and understanding of what teachers do well in their first year of teaching, gained through their views of a training course, could profitably be used to complement the 'deficit' approach and help establish in-service teacher education and training on the basis of what teachers can do, in addition to what they cannot yet do. We also attempt to formulate a more general concept of the basis of teachers' achievements and concerns, which may be of use in the design of teacher training and induction support programmes.