This study is part of a larger Swedish research project: ”Let the right one out! - Teacher training and the induction period as gatekeepers”. In the presentation categories of indicators of failures, in nine cases of student teaching, are described and linked to a current issue in Sweden: The introduction of admission tests before entering the teacher education. Based on interviews with supervisors and the visiting teachers from the university, empirical examples are presented in order to discuss the following issues: Do the examples contain possibilities to detect insufficient teacher quality before the student has entered the program? Can knowledge of such possibilities facilitate the selection of future teacher students? If so, how?The cases can be categorized into two groups: 1) Those who won’t be fit to teach and 2) those who might be fit to teach. Crucial for the sorting was the informant’s experiences of hope for development. The informants expectations on that the students in the first group will be able to develop the necessary qualities and skills are low. On the other hand, those who “might be fit to teach” show a certain degree of talent and the prospect of acquiring the necessary skills/qualities. The main difference between the two groups is the point of time when the deficiencies are detected. In the first group this happens immediately, while for the second group a pedagogical situation is required to spotlight their shortcomings.
The second major difference between the groups concerns the indicators of poor teacher quality. In both groups the students are apprehended as passive. What differs between the two groups is that the “non-suited” seem to combine the passivity with an unassured manner, a kind of unsteadiness and sometimes even fear. Another characteristic for the group of “not suited” is, according to the supervisors, their lack of social timing.