Meredith, Margaret ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4541-3821, Parker, Keither ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4517-5544, Day, Richard and Whitfield, Louise ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2268-338X (2026) The (missing) subject in initial teacher education: seizing the remains of the day. Oxford Review of Education. (In Press)

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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 from13 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.

Key words: Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework, subjectification, pre-service teachers, Biesta, Heidegger

Item Type:	Article
Status:	In Press
Subjects:	L Education > L Education (General)
School/Department:	School of Education, Language and Psychology
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/15784

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