The Masters in Teaching and Learning: A Revolution in Teacher Education or a Bright Light Quickly Extinguished?

Summer 2009 saw the introduction in England of the Masters in Teaching and Learning (MTL). Funded in full by the Training and Development Agency for Schools, the MTL aims to improve the quality of teaching and to raise standards in schools. In this paper we discuss what the MTL might mean both for in-service teacher education and initial teacher training. We explore issues relating to the structure and delivery of MTL including the tension between standardisation and personalisation of its content as well as the lack of focus on research and the costs of this to its reputation and appeal of the qualification. Furthermore, we question the extent to which newly qualified teachers are ready to benefit from undertaking the MTL and consider how availability criteria may give rise to equity issues. With these concerns in mind we discuss the future of the MTL and whether this Labour initiative will have a chance to prove itself under a Conservative-led coalition government at a time of severe austerity.