ABSTRACT
The nineteenth and early twentieth century archetype of the skilled man was the craftsman; a whole apparatus of industrial training has been erected around his image, and it has also powerfully influenced the way in which the task of teachers in the lower, less prestigious schools has been conceived. Such developments are part of a more general process in terms of which the tasks of the schools and the teachers have perforce to be accomplished. The analysis of teachers’ behaviour then shifts from a consideration of his roles to the statement, analysis and classification of the type of decision that he is called upon to make, and the character and source of the premises on which these decisions are based. The way in which we educate and train teachers in this country is more a product of historical accident than any rational calculation of ends and means.
