Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: In this paper, the novel The Remains of the Day is used as a framing device to explore government policy for initial teacher education in England. Referring to the lack of freedom to ‘act in and with the world’, we draw on Biesta’s work on subjectification and Heidegger’s concept of Being to argue that teacher educators’ freedom to use their professional judgement and expertise is being stifled by an overly technicist policy framework, making teacher educators themselves the ‘missing subject’ in teacher education. In the empirical section of this philosophically driven piece, we present comments from 13 teacher educators who were interviewed to investigate the extent to which they believe the current policy framework provides a sufficient basis for teacher education. The paper offers original insights into the cost of policy constraints at an ontological level, which lead to the detriment of pre-service teachers and ultimately the pupils they teach. The paper concludes with a call, as in the novel, to ‘seize the remains of the day’ and seek redemptive possibilities for change.
Source: Oxford Review of Education
Institution: York St John University
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7212407578
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