Teacher Education: the prime suspect

ABSTRACT

Critics alleging a decline in educational standards usually conclude that teacher education, particularly in ‘the sixties’, is the prime suspect. This paper, whilst focusing on the characteristics of teacher education from 1964 to 1976, places these within the entire post‐war period. Whilst it is impossible for ourselves, or the critics, to demonstrate a direct relationship between teacher education practices in the 1964‐‐1975 period and a decline in standards of pupil achievement, it is conceded that these practices may well have failed to prepare students adequately for classroom practice. However, rather than attribute this to‐‐in the term widely used by critics‐‐’trendy’ teacher educators, we argue that the practices of the 1965‐76 period need to be seen in the much wider context of the ambiguities endemic in teacher education which were exacerbated during this period, particularly by the expansion of higher education and the quest for enhanced teacher status. We consider that the reform of teacher education which had begun before the emergence of the reformist movement, has enhanced its quality. Yet the ambiguities remain. We question a solution which would locate teacher preparation wholly in the schools and argue for a continued, if re‐considered, university connection. The paper does not pretend to offer a detailed scholarly analysis but the informed reflections of two teacher educators of different generations.