This paper explores the coverage and effectiveness of child protection training within school-centred teacher training courses in England in the immediate aftermath of the new requirements for all teacher training courses. Three methods are described: a postal questionnaire, structured interviews with all responding course managers, and more open discussions with students on two of these courses. Comparisons with child protection training by higher education providers revealed similar problems in nding time for even the minimum coverage required by recent government circulars. Coverage was patchy with serious quality assurance issues and little use was made of schools' own Designated Teachers for child protection. From this material, examples of good and bad practice are summarised. Finally two groups of trainees who were interviewed revealed hazy understanding of their professional roles, and their personal experiences of child abuse were both very varied and inadequately addressed by their courses. The paper concludes by reiterating the need for a full evaluation of the effectiveness of child protection training within teacher training.

Students enter initial teacher education institutions with a wide variety of experiences of information technology. This report aims to create a national perspective of their abilities and needs based on data collected independently by a number of institutions from England and Wales. For this preliminary survey data were provided by eight institutions. The survey covers 1370 students, of whom 731 were primary and 639 secondary. The data were gathered over a three year period (ending 1990/91) using a variety of questionnaires designed to gather data on the students' previous computer experience, their proficiency in using computers, and their attitude to information technology both personally and its use in education.The data indicate that students entering initial teacher education have a wide variety of needs regarding information technology (IT). The proportion of students lacking any computer experience prior to their course varied from 8% to 60% depending on institution and course. The most common experience was word processing only. The location of this experience also 241 M. BLACKMOREETAL varied, with school use more common for students who had just left school and use at work common for mature students. Differences were indicated with factors such as age, course and gender. A proportion of students (2% -49%) felt anxious or very nervous when computers are mentioned. However, most students feel that it is important to use IT in their teaching, despite these anxieties. The provision of a differentiated IT experience for students is recommended. A more reliable annual survey using a common instrument is now underway. The questionnaire is available from the ITTE Association. [1]

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All courses in initial Primary teacher training are now required, through the Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (CATE), to provide information technology (IT) capability across primary school subjects as well as providing for those elements of IT that are specified within the National Curriculum Documents. As a starting point for this process at one institution, a survey of students on the 36‐week Post Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) primary course showed that their initial capability and awareness was very low. A restructured course programme was monitored by means of pre‐ and post‐course surveys of capability, by students' own records and by the tutor's subjective field notes during teaching and student IT activities. This paper includes a description of the course together with the results of the surveys and suggests that increasingly individualised learning strategies will considerably enhance this aspect of initial teacher training.