Narratives of preservice teachers

This inquiry is about learning in the context of becoming a teacher. It presents narratives that show the perceptions and experiences of four preservice teachers before and during their initial mandatory practicum. These narratives written in the context of the first year of a three year long teacher education program, which these four prospective teachers have enrolled at the University of Wollongong. This program, referred to, as the Knowledge Building Community (KBC) program is an alternative model of teacher training, which provides a more contextualised link between the theory and practice of teaching. This inquiry project based in the paradigm of a Naturalistic Inquiry uses the methodological approach of a Narrative Inquiry incorporating participant observations and semi-structured interviews over one semester to gather the stories of four preservice teachers in the 2003 KBC program.