Pressures on The Curriculum of Teacher Education

Teacher education in the 1990s is in the midst of rapid change.One sign of this in the preservice area of the field is the increased emphasis which is put on student experience in schools.This shows itself in three different pressures on the curricu lum of student teachers.The first pressure comes from government policy which lately has become much more prescriptive about the nature of student teachers' experience in schools.The second comes from student teachers' views of learning in schools.The third comes from a continuing interest amongst researchers in the nature of teachers' knowledge and the contribution it can make to the development of student teachers.It is possible to see these pressures as combining to bring about a decline in the influence which the Higher Education Institutions (HEls) can have on the curricu lum of teacher education.Alternatively, it is possible to see them as an opportunity to rethink the contribution of schools and HEis to the curriculum of teacher education.