A national curriculum for the education and training of teachers: an english perspective

Abstract

This article presents a review of the development and potential impact of National Curricula for Initial Teacher Training (ITT) and draws parallels with the implementation of the National Curriculum for schools. It reviews changes in ITT arising from the development of ITT partnerships between schools and higher education and suggests that some of the collaborative initiatives that have been emerging from joint research and development, partly led by previous government requirements, may not be fully evaluated before they are inhibited by central definition of course content. Specific concerns about the ITT National Curricula requirements for subject specialist teaching in primary schools are discussed in terms of the Teacher Training Agency's (TTA) assumption that greater subject knowledge per se will lead to improved standards of teaching and learning, without taking sufficient account of other pedagogy and management factors. the article suggests that if the quality of ITT is to improve, there needs to be a continued dialogue about the nature of teaching and learning, and the curricula for training to meet the national standards, between school and HEI partners locally, regionally and nationally