ABSTRACT
The two decades since 1984 have been a period of sustained and radical reform to the structure, content and regulation of teacher preparation and training in England. The centralizing tendencies first apparent during the early Conservative governments, and the accountability culture which grew apace during later Conservative governments, were intensified in New Labour’s first period of office; both in terms of the degree of micromanagement of the sector, and the scope and pace of the reform agenda. The Teacher Training Agency (TTA), established two years prior to New Labour taking office, was the key driver of change in England; and it was from this point that policy with respect to Initial Teacher Education (ITE) across the UK began to diverge markedly. It could be argued that towards the end of New Labour’s second term there was a slight plateauing in the rate of systemic change in England and in this chapter I identify a number of contributory factors. I also trace the historical trends that have led to such a positioning of ITE in England and offer a very brief overview of the increasing divergence in policy and practice in the devolved administrations of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Overall, the key characteristic of the first decade of New Labour is an intrusiveness of policy requirements, micromanagement and accountability that has created a compliance culture which has rendered many fundamentally important debates about ITE as peripheral. Further detail on the issues covered can be found in Brown and McNamara (2005) and McNamara et al. (2008).
