Journal of Primary Education

Abstract

Government imposition of the new regulations, requiring all courses of initial teacher education in the UK to be school-based, was indebted to the politics of the social market and an obsessive belief that educational theory invariably distorts the training process. Models of school-based training, however, predate the recent ideological intervention of government. It is therefore tempting to distinguish between the political/ideological stance taken by government and the educational stance of the profession in moving towards school-based training. This paper will argue that school-based training can become an ideological trap for the profession, unless it is underpinned by a sound and coherent philosophy of teacher education that relates theory and practice within the context of practice. Only then can it ensure that newly qualified teachers enter their chosen career as confident and competent professionals. The argument of the paper is supported and illustrated by a description of the London Area Based Scheme -- a school-based model that was more radical in its use of practising teachers than the various mentoring schemes that were developed in the UK.

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