Student teachers’ positioning with regard to their key learning experiences in the first practicum

This exploratory study consists of a description of which kind of key learning experiences student teachers' have to face during their first practicum in schools and how they positioned their selves in these situations. Twenty-seven second-year student teachers were interviewed. Five key learning experiences were identified: classroom instruction, socialization, conflicting between pre-existing conceptions and the reality, classroom management, and diversity. Two kinds of positions were adopted by them when they faced these experiences: I as a student and I as a teacher. They positioned as students when they focused their attention on observing educational practices and fully and unreservedly accepting their mentors' strategies and they positioned as teachers when they acted and made decisions with autonomy and applied the theoretical knowledge acquired. The difficulties students face in positioning themselves as teachers were found to relate to all the key learning experiences except for those connected to do with classroom instruction.