Communality and Conservatism in Technical Education: on the role of the technical teacher in further education

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Abstract
The role of the technical teacher in training skilled workers within the FE system has perhaps been one of the least examined aspects of the researched education system in Britain. It is not my intention here to explore why this is the case, particularly in view of contemporary debate about the importance of industrial training, but rather to examine the part technical teachers play within the existing arrangements of FE and work practice [1]. The paper analyses how the technical teacher perceives the role of teacher as secondary to his occupational status within his former trade. In addition, the paper examines the implications of this for his practice, his relations with apprentices and perceptions of his subject matter. The main argument questions the assumption that the craft teacher and apprentice, by virtue of their common industrial experience, share a ‘special relationship’ which unites them in their work. The paper is divided into three inter‐related parts. The first explores the basis upon which such a ‘special relationship’ is seen to exist, the second considers how the conditions of FE practice prevent teachers from exploiting that sense of communality with apprentices which they consider important. Finally, the third section analyses how the technical teacher, despite his allegiance to ‘trade practice’, gradually adopts ‘educationist’ and ‘teacher’ strategies to legitimate his training ’function’. In so doing, the paper examines the uneasy coexistence which is seen to characterise the relations between ‘education’ and ‘training’ in Further Education.

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