Distant Voices: English teachers’ views on change in initial teacher education

Abstract

This paper looks at the reactions of British secondary school teachers to the changes in the education system inaugurated by the 1989 Education Reform Act and, in particular, at the ways in which the teachers see these changes as having implications for initial teacher training. The study is based on 20 semi‐structured interviews conducted with Heads and teachers in 10 Yorkshire schools between January and July 1991, before the Government's proposals for the reform of teacher training were published. The interview data are analysed to show the extent to which schools are prepared to shoulder the new responsibilities they will be called upon to exercise and in what respects these will remain problematic.