New Thoughts on Teacher Education

Abstract

Courses for the pre‐service education of teachers are under severe scrutiny. This derives from the present political climate and, more interestingly, from a continuing general trend away from institution‐based professional study towards a practice‐based apprenticeship which is nearer to the clientele which the profession serves. In teacher education the requirement that trainers should have ‘recent and relevant’ school experience has been followed by a more radical suggestion that students should be trained entirely in schools ‘on the job’. This article argues that neither extreme—theoretical explanation, or school apprenticeship—would be right for present conditions. In their place a model is developed in which the student teacher learns by reflecting on carefully designed school experiences. Roles for teacher mentors and university tutors are shown to be complementary, and ancillary to the basic processes by which the student learns craft skills that are articulated, informed, and open to change.