The Journal of Education for Teaching at 40

In 2015, the Journal of Education for Teaching celebrated 40 years of original contributions on the subject of international teacher education with the publication of an anniversary virtual special issue. Its unique contribution to debates about the preparation and lifelong learning of teachers in a variety of fields, including medical education and language education, have been expressed in a variety of formats and international contexts. These include high quality academic papers using innovative qualitative and quantitative methodologies, symposia in the form of Platonic dialogues, and even critical positions expressed in verse.

This virtual special issue was freely available online throughout 2015 but the strong demand for the papers has prompted their re-publication in this volume, with the addition of several more articles. Taken together, this collection will allow the reader to experience the variety of the dozen or so international contexts represented in the journal and its academic quality.

Included in the volume is the original Editorial from the first issue of the journal. The fact that the points made in this forty-year-old piece still ring true suggests that the threats to high quality teacher education remain much the same as they did four decades or more ago. The Journal of Education for Teaching continues to provide an indispensable platform for colleagues to make their voices heard in what appears to be an increasingly shrill evidence-free environment. Long may it do so.

Peter Gilroy is the Jos Owens Chair of Education at Plymouth University; visiting chair at Hull University; Professor Emeritus at Manchester Metropolitan University; and acts as a consultant for a number of other UK and overseas universities as they develop their research profiles. He is also the executive editor of the international Journal of Education for Teaching. He previously studied on a Primary/Secondary programme for a three-year teacher’s certificate, subsequently working as a secondary school teacher (teaching English, Mathematics and History amongst other subjects), whilst studying part-time for his bachelors, masters and doctorate degrees at London University.