Abstract
In this study, we examined student teachers’ learning during their teaching placement period
in Finland and South Africa. The setting of the inquiry in both countries was a ‘teaching’
school, affiliated to a university teacher education programme. The teaching school is also
referred to as an educational innovation that was transferred from the Finnish context to the
South African context. Data were collected through an interview protocol. The findings show
that the students, like many of their counterparts in different parts of the world, focused on
teaching tools and methods as well as classroom management as a gateway to their teaching
career. The extended teaching placement period at both the university teaching schools was
expected to yield some findings about the intersection of teaching practice and its supporting
theories because of the close collaboration of the schools and the universities. Some of the
findings satisfied this expectation while other parts did not, confirming that initial teacher
education may be regarded as a platform for learning to be teachers, but it has its own limits
even in a pedagogical ‘laboratory’. The transfer of the educational innovation was regarded as
successful.