Introduction and background

This is the first chapter in Part I ‘Learning to teach: theory, methods and contexts’. The chapter includes a narrative of the context that gave rise to the book including a brief examination of the role of global policy, the emergence of accountability regimes and frequent curriculum change within teacher education in England and the United States. A literature review over the past 10 years provides international context for the significance of this learning to teach study. A preview of the analytical framework and the methods used to collect the data is also included in this chapter.