ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the transfer of control of teacher education from institutions of higher education to central government of whatever colour. Government policies centred around the enabling of a ‘free market’ and ‘competition’ in all areas of public services. Manpower planning was not seen as a necessary aspect of a ‘free-market’ philosophy. The Labour governments in this period were certainly more conciliatory towards the traditional teacher training institutions, who were given access to more funding. Between 1979 and 2010, aspects of the teaching profession, including teacher training, became part of the ideological struggle between the advocates of a market-driven, competition-led approach to public services and those who maintained that such an approach could be too mechanistic and value-free to be of use in schools and in teacher training. The school-based training with one school as the main centre of training limited the trainee’s knowledge of a wide range of teaching environments.
