ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the central features of the dominant, but not the only, brand of educational theory underlying the offerings of today's tertiary institutions. It does do because in order to understand the roles of schools and teachers in society it can be useful to recognize and comprehend the prevailing theoretic context, along with the historical and ideological position, in which such roles are placed, contextualized and defined. Secondly, outlining this theoretic context serves to highlight its deficiencies as well as the major problems it both confronts and creates when it comes up against harsh reality. The staple diet of idealist theory, which teachers consume in their training period, are confronted within guides to their work and in the advice and policy statements of their mentors, and which they attempt to implement and are accountable to in their practice, becomes more of a burden than a means of sustenance for teachers working through the reality of their classroom experience.
