The authors are interested in exploring views of history student teachers and the Higher Education tutors of the nature and value of educational research. Specifically they are interested in the following questions:

What sorts of reading and research do students make use of in their initial development as teachers?

What value, if any, do they and their tutors ascribe to reading and research?

The research is prompted, in part by the recent debate, provoked by David Hargreaves, regarding teaching as a "research based" profession. They are also interested in the wider context: with an increasing emphasis on the role of the school in teacher education they would like to explore the ways, if any, in which Higher education contributes a distinctive research-based contribution to student teachers learning.

A questionnaire survey was conducted with approx. 25% of all history students (secondary) in training, 1997-98 (approx. 200), and their tutors (approx. 45), drawn from a sample of training institutions in England and Wales.

The paper reports the progress of the research as at 9 July 1998, and explores some of the existing arguments about the role of Higher education and research in initial teacher education.