‘It felt like a secret ballot’: the impact of accreditation on academics working in initial teacher education in England, 2022/2023

In 2022, a mandatory accreditation process was enacted across the pre-service teacher education sector in England, the successful navigation of which would be a requirement for institutions to continue offering initial teacher education (ITE) beyond 2024. We surveyed 143 academics working in ITE in 2022/23, using an online survey to capture opinions and thoughts about their experiences of the academic year. In this paper we focus on experiences of the re-accreditation process. The results show a number of significant concerns within this group, including workload, perceptions of ideologically motivated change and existential concerns for individuals and the sector. Taking a descriptive research approach to the study, we conclude that the accreditation process has had a serious and negative impact on ITE academics in 2022/23. Whilst our focus is on one country, which is an outlier in terms of the policy, regulation and accountability of teacher education, there are national governments that have expressed an interest in carrying out their own provider accreditation processes, and this may be of interest to those working in ITE in those countries, and to anyone who has an interest in the future of pre-service teacher education and teacher educators.