ABSTRACT
In the context of structural and policy changes, Wilkin envisages a new role for the sociology of education if it can take advantage of the 'space' created by rise in importance of professional aspects of teacher education. The five factors chosen are: the training institutions themselves, the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA), the philosophers of education who have contributed to the 'Academic Debate' on relationship between theory and practice, the National Union of Teachers, and finally, central government. Although it was not official policy, considerable publicity was given by the NUT to report presented to The National Young Teachers Annual Conference in which 'a substantial increase of structural relations between Colleges/ Faculties of Education and Schools' was proposed. But the decline in sociology of education in the content of teacher education cannot be attributed to its perceived irrelevance alone since, as has already been pointed out, the dominance of disciplinary-based educational theory as a whole has been weakened.
