Teacher education and primary English: 23 years of progress?

Abstract

Teacher education in the United Kingdom, especially in England, has changed considerably over the past 20 years or so. The main purpose of this article is to analyse the direction and nature of these changes, using primary English work as a focus. The article uses snapshots of the provision in three institutions, each at a different time point, as the basis for the development of a number of themes describing the nature of the changes. It goes on to tackle the major question of whether or not such changes can be described as progress.