Initial Teacher Education in Wales – a Rationale for Reform

Abstract

In March 2015, I published a report, Teaching Tomorrow's Teachers (Furlong, 2015), outlining proposals for the reform of initial teacher education in Wales. The first part of the report examined evidence of the quality of current provision as well as the challenges for the future raised by the recent Donaldson Review of curriculum and assessment (Donaldson, 2015). The second part of the report then outlined a series of 'options for change' concluding with a set of nine specific recommendations. These recommendations included proposals for the revision of the legal 'Standards' that underpin initial teacher education, new procedures for accrediting teacher education courses, changes to the undergraduate primary route into teaching and strategies for development of pedagogical research capacity. This article revisits the key arguments of the report and examines both the rationale and the evidence underlying its key arguments and recommendations.