‘On the brink’ or ‘designing the future’? Where next for Lifelong Learning Initial Teacher Education?

• Main Author: Crawley, Jim
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Huddersfield Press 2012-01-01
• Series: Teaching in Lifelong Learning: A Journal to Inform and Improve Practice
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.5920/till.2012.412

This article highlights and analyses the challenges immediately facing Lifelong Learning Initial Teacher Education (LL ITE) in the UK which have arisen as a result of the policies and actions of the UK Government. The context of the LL sector for teachers and teacher education is explored, and how this has led to a restrictive culture of teacher professionalism. Using research carried out by the author, the article profiles LL Teacher Educators, their working context and values, and their attempts to model a more expansive professionalism. Evidence of the recent achievements of LL ITE is analysed and the dangers to these achievements presented by recent government changes and proposals are highlighted. The article concludes that LL ITE is ‘on the brink’ in terms of survival, and proposes how LL Teacher Education can move forward into a more optimistic future.