Mentoring, observation and interviews are three important strategies in developing student teachers. This unit, which gives a flavour of The Open University's flexible PGCE course, introduces student–teacher centred strategies both inside and outside of the classroom involving mentors, pupils, tutors and others to develop student teachers' professional skills and understanding. This study unit is just one of many that can be found on LearningSpace, part of OpenLearn, a collection of open educational resources from The Open University. Published in ePub 2.0.1 format, some feature such as audio, video and linked PDF are not supported by all ePub readers.