Government teacher training reforms are misguided

After months of speculation, the axe finally fell for teacher training as Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, told officials exactly how many teachers to recruit next year.

Educationalists have attacked proposed reforms to teacher training.Photo: ALAMY

By James Williams3:32PM GMT 03 Feb 2011

Comments

For those who view teacher training as an unnecessary evil, the changes and cuts will be welcome.

There is a mythology that persists around university teacher training that we are only interested in producing indoctrinated leftie teachers, caring little about teaching children the facts of their subjects and more about the process of teaching, trying out trendy ideas.

We are accused of ignoring basics, like behaviour management, in favour of untested theories of no use to real teachers.

The truth is somewhat removed from the rhetoric.

Universities care passionately about producing excellent teachers who can inspire and teach children the knowledge, understanding and skills that are important for life and work.