The experiences of five inner-city interns

This qualitative study, based on a blending of symbolic interactionism and narrative inquiry examined the experiences and perceptions of five women interns as they completed a fifth-year Master's internship in two inner-city schools. The interns gave accounts, both oral and written, of their experiences over the course of a year. The raw data consisted of four personal interviews with each intern (spaced evenly apart over a nine months), twelve written ‘reflections’ by the interns about events they had experienced during the previous week (for a period of three months), and weekly discussion-groups provided by the interns based on their written reflections. All oral reports were transcribed. The data were then analyzed and a ‘narrative vignette’ was produced to describe each intern's ‘story’ of working in an inner-city school. The results indicated that interns’ concerns typically centered on themes of conflict. Although the interns differed among themselves about which issues became salient and wide individual differences were noted in both the duration and intensity of the feelings of conflict, it was possible to organize their concerns into three major categories. These were: (a) conflicts with the environment - e g., pupils' home lives, inner-city culture, the university, (b) conflicts with others - e g., mentoring- teachers, supervisors, pupils; and (c) conflicts with self - eg., abilities, values, beliefs. A model was formulated of how interns processed their conflicts, many of which arose from the clash of cultures (i.e., the interns’ expectations based on their backgrounds versus the realities of working in inner-city schools). Specifically, the model describes the process that student-teachers’ typically went through as they resolved their conflicts. Stage 1 was the interns’ initial experience of conflict after exposure to a discomfiting element. Stage 2 was the interns’ disequilibrium as they become unsure of what to do or what their beliefs were. Stage 3 was a period of growth as interns’ struggled to resolve their conflicts. Stage 4, not reached by all interns on all issues, was a feeling of empowerment characterized by feelings of maturity, confidence, insight, and a willingness to take risks.