A History of Postgraduate Initial Teacher Education in England and Wales, 1880-1980

Abstract

The establishment of the cross commission in 1886 to consider the working of the 1870 education act provided an opportunity for consideration of the provision of the supply of teachers. As the work of the commission proceeded and the need for change became more evident, the idea of involving the universities in teacher education gained ground. The involvement, however, of the universities in teacher education, served to weaken secondary school teachers’ hostility to teacher education in the period up to 1914. Also, the success of the arrangements made in the late 19th century for the secondary training of women gave further support to the arguments for a wider form of teacher training for secondary teachers. Indeed, the liberalising idea of mixing potential schoolteachers with the normal undergraduate population had been one of the main arguments for involving the universities in teacher education.