Intransigence, ignorance or innovation: linking education with business in initial teacher education

Recent changes in the educational system of England and Wales have severely curtailed the potential for Education Business Partnership (EBP) activities in Post-Graduate Certificate in Education courses. The implications of these changes are considered briefly in terms of their influence on initial teacher education institutions, teacher educators and students, and on a possible return to the perception that teacher educators and teachers promote an anti-industrial culture. For some years, our Technology student teachers have been involved in an integrated programme of EBP activity which emphasises the workplace as a site for learning in the development of resource materials for use in the classroom. The success of this programme led to an expansion which now involves 13 partnerships and 49 students participating in cross-curricular groups. The paper considers the rationale for workplaces as sites for learning, how this programme has been instrumental in generating resource materials, and concludes by considering a number of factors associated with the organisation, management and educational value of EBP activities and their future.