Catalogue description Department of Education and Science: Teachers Branch and successors: Committee Records

Following the report of the James Committee into teacher training, the Advisory Committee on the Supply and Training of Teachers (ACSTT) was set up in 1973 by Mrs Margaret Thatcher, Secretary of State for Education and Science, to advise her on the development and implementation of national policy. It was designed to run for a period of five years but it was not reconstituted after this period ended in 1978, possibly due in part to the change of government in 1979.

Its successor, the Advisory Committee on the Supply and Education of Teachers (ACSET), was set up in 1980 by the new administration, again for a five year period; it was not reconstituted by Keith Joseph, Secretary of State for Education and Science, following its report to him in 1985.

One of the recommendations of ACSET was for the establishment of a single council to advise on the approval of teacher education courses both in universities and the public sector. This was accepted by the Secretaries of State for Education and Science and for Wales, and the Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education was set up under the chairmanship of Dr William Taylor in 1984; it too was disbanded after five years.