ELEMENTARY TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAM

This study investigates the effects of awareness.training on.the attitudes and behavior of elementary school student teachers. To determine causes for a decrease in connectedness in the teacher training experience, 10 clinical interviews with 10 ex-student teachers were conducted in 1971-72, the first two academic.periods following teacher training. Open-ended interviews were guided by five questions.. Results", indicated five explanations.for the loss of connectedness: excessive overall workload, the shock effect of shattering illusions about the profession of teaching, unrelated academic work at the University, competition, and relationship of master teacher to student teacher.. Recommendations indicate a need.for periodic attitude-testing before, during, and after teacher training and several years into the teaching experience in order to investigate the shifts in trust which were hypothesized by the ex-student teachers. A 19-item bibliography is included. (MIM) fr./1 li