Planned Educational Change in Colleges of Further Education: The Strategic Elements

Summary

This article reviews recent progress in the reform of initial teacher education in England and Wales. The first part outlines the development of government policy, with particular emphasis on changes announced in the speech of Kenneth Clarke, Secretary of State for Education, to the North of England Education Conference in January 1992. The second part presents an analysis of the policy, identifying its roots and some conceptual and practical difficulties. Part three surveys ways in which provision of initial teacher education in institutions of higher education has been responding to internal and external pressures for change, with emphasis on developments since 1989. The final part makes proposals about the future direction of policy, arguing that there remain key questions to be addressed about the nature of teacher education, the process of change, and the relationship of teacher education to higher education.