The present study examines adult students' views of teaching practice and its supervision and the different interpretative frames that are associated with teaching practice from the perspective of student teachers. The study is a qualitative case study focussing on students who started a special programme in class teacher education at the Chydenius Institute of Jyvaskyla University in 1991. Their progress was monitored from the selection tests to the end of the programme. A broad theoretical starting point for the study is provided by the concept 'reflection'. The conceptualization of the themes emerging from the data has also made use of Erving Goffman's frame analytic approach. In terms of methods, the study emphasizes a constructivist approach and the gradually crystallizing nature of the research design. Data collection methods include observation, semistructured interviews, open-ended questionnaires and reflective journals kept by student teachers. Students' experiences of teachi
ng practice are mostly positive. Several students pointed out that the practice had given them self-confidence for a teacher's work and developed their teacher identity. Students had also some reservations about the supervision of teaching practice. If the students felt that they did not have enough autonomy in the practice situation, they did not experience the practice situation as meaningful. The study lends support to the view according to which the starting point of supervision interaction should be students' own practical theories about the nature of teaching and learning. Based on frame analysis, the study conceptualized four different interpretative frames defining the practice situation, through which students commit themselves to the practice context. Commitment to the practice situation may take place from the frame of teacherhood and teaching, in which children's learning is of central importance. Practice experiences may also be approached from the frame of practice, whereby the aim is to utilize the practice situation to develop one's own views of teaching. From the point of view of development during the practice, these two frames form the experiential core of teaching practice. The study also distinguished the frame of presentation, whereby the student's starting point is to give as well-prepared a teaching presentation as possible. Finally, the nature of practice may also be defined from the frame of theatrical fabrications in which case students strive to satisfy their supervisors' wishes against their own views of teaching. Thus students sometimes interpret the nature of the practice from perspectives that distort the nature of practice experiences and the supervision dialogue connected with practice.
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