| Abstract: | Taking a life‐cycle’ perspective in the study of the teaching career allows us to generate some new insights into how teachers evolve professionally. More specifically, this perspective opens new windows for the study of pre‐service and in‐service education. In this particular life‐cycle’ study, teachers’ ‘mastery’ of the most important aspects of classroom instruction was explored. It turns out that many facets are not mastered, either at the outset or later on in one's career. It also turns out that the ‘classic’ or conventional offers of in‐service training are under‐utilised. A proposal is made to graft the in‐service component onto the ways in which teachers spontaneously go about trying to remedy shortcomings in their instructional repertoires. |
