Systems of Educating Teachers: Case Studies in the Governance of Initial Teacher Education

Abstract

This article analyzes the interplay of government and universities in developing policy about teacher education in England and Canada in the last twenty years. It draws on Gideonse’s (1993) formulation of three distinct modes of governing teacher education: a political mode, in which the state dominates; an institutional mode, in which the university dominates; and a professional mode, where teacher organizations dominate. Using this conceptual framework, I examine three quite different patterns of governance in England, Manitoba (Canada) and British Columbia (Canada). The changes over the last twenty years within these jurisdictions suggest that the ability of universities to exert de facto control over initial teacher preparation with little involvement of the state and little accountability to the profession has changed substantially.