2.3 Procedure

The initial plan whereby meetings would be held between the researcher and student teachers to guide the process of diaries was not fully adhered to. The major reason was the packed student lecture schedule. In the first place, they were never available as a whole group, secondly, they only had one free period in a week which they used for library purposes. As a result only two groups (10 plus in each group) as opposed to three participated in a focus group meeting. In the group interviews, students were given the following guidance for their diaries:

1. You have to try to recall as accurately as possible all the necessary details of required information;

2. Try to keep your diary up-to-date so that its strength is maintained;

3. Write down everything that seems interesting and or unusual that goes on in the College classrooms especially in the English, Mathematics, Science and Educational Foundation courses.

The diaries were kept during Semester 2 (September-November 1999)

After the students had been at the College for 18 months, the 'midway' questionnaire was prepared and students were gathered for the purpose of explaining to them how they were expected to fill it. Although almost all students attended this gathering, they were not prepared to fill the questionnaire there and then, and only 14 out of 27 questionnaires were returned.