ABSTRACT
The function of any programme of professional education or training is to prepare new entrants for membership of that profession, irrespective of the profession in question; it might be teachers in the further education (FE) sector, and it might equally be architects, accounting technicians, or nurses. This chapter outlines the formation of successive national professional frameworks that have been imposed on the FE sector, highlighting key elements of legislation and government policy. It shows how the nature of professionalism within the FE teacher workforce has changed, and the extent to which this has impacted on the teacher education curriculum. The 1959 Crowther Report to the Central Advisory Council for Education is perhaps best known for proposing the raising of the school-leaving age to 16. During the last two decades, successive government policies have been enacted that have served to define and redefine professionalism within the teaching professions at large.
