TEACHER EDUCATION: SUCKING OUT THE JUICE

This article sets out a proposal for raisins quality in teacher education and so for quality in our schools. The current system of teacher education is heavily regulated by CATE - the Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education - which has been established by the DES to ensure quality. Paradoxically, these regulations may actually limit quality rather than enhancing it because they are principally concerned with quantity and balance rather than with process. So the paper argues that a better way must be found in which the processes involved in becoming a teacher, and the structures which shape the system, may assist each other. The components needed for raising quality are already within the system, but need nonetheless a radical re-adjustment if quality is to be raised. The proposals made here concern the potential within CATE to become a national professional council for the teaching service as well as for teacher education; for making it a requirement on teachers to read for the Masters degree as part of their professional qualification; and for the consequent integration of pre-service and in-service teacher education.