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This study is concerned with the factors in uencing the development of student teachers' con dence to teach the arts in primary schools in England. In previous research (Green et al., 1998), which sought to study students' perceptions of teaching the arts, con dence emerged as being signi cant to their development as teachers. A sample of twelve primary BA (Education) student teachers were followed over a period of three years. This included two ten-week school placements, each in a different school. Each student undertook a series of six semi-structured interviews, and the data were analysed using the procedure of recursive comparative analysis. This paper reports on the case studies of three students in order to look closely at what factors affected their perceptions of their con dence to teach art, dance, drama and music. The ndings are consistent with previous research in student learning and reveal a complex interaction between prior experience, content of the Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme and the quality of school experience. Finally the implications for the development of students' con dence in teaching the arts are discussed.

This article reports selected findings from a study that examines the factors which influence student teachers’ confidence in teaching the arts in primary schools and focuses on their teaching of dance. A sample of 12 second-year teachers gave a semistructured interview before, during and after a 10-week school-based work experience in a primary school. The students were following a four-year BA (Education) course which prepared them to teach the full range of 10 school curriculum subjects. The procedure of recursive comparative analysis was used to reveal a complex interaction between prior experience, content of the initial teacher education programme and the quality of school experience. Within the narratives there were perceived to be consistent factors which contributed to the student teachers’ confidence or lack of it. The implications of the results for student teachers’ initial training are discussed and some suggestions are offered about the design of teacher education courses and the support of students in schools.

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Recent reform of initial teacher education has changed the balance of school-based training of students and has increased teachers' responsibility for training them in schools. This article reports on a preliminary study of primary undergraduate student teachers' perceptions of their experience in schools on their second year and final teaching practices. Through questionnaires and structured interviews we sought students' views of the effectiveness of university-based courses in preparing them to teach the arts and their perceptions of the support given to them by teachers in trainingthem to teach art, dance, drama and music in schools. The findings raised concerns about the quality of experience currently being offered to students by teachers. Indications were that the number of students able to learn from the teachers about the four subjects was significantly low. The students' comments suggested that existing teacher expertise in these subjects was lacking and this raises issues regarding school-based initial teacher education as well as in-service training for teachers.