An interactive exhibition which traces the history of teacher training in Cambridge has been created online by the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of Education.

The timeline follows the story of how Cambridge set the standard for training teachers in Britain and, from humble beginnings, came to house one of the largest groups of educational researchers and teaching trainers in the country.

To celebrate this illustrious history, former staff and students are also being asked to get in touch to add their memories to an oral history archive.

The timeline, which can be viewed by the link top right of this page, covers 21 key moments in the development of education teaching in Cambridge. A large permanent display of the timeline also hangs in the Faculty Library.

It begins in the 1870s with the formation of a Cambridge syndicate, which published the first teacher training exam in 1878. Further chapters outline the work of gifted teacher Oscar Browning, whose vision and energy ensured success for the developing Day Training College, which trained working class men to become teachers, while allowing them to pursue a Cambridge degree.

Browning also had what the timeline refers to as a “unique personality”. Among other things, this involved speaking 40 languages, upsetting passers-by when swimming in the River Cam in the depths of winter, and pedalling across the Alps on a tricycle with solid tyres!

Later chapters follow the introduction of two patterns of teacher training; the four year consecutive course and the one year post-graduate course both of which proved influential not just in Cambridge but nationally. Indeed the key moments highlighted by the timeline chart the turbulent and ever changing nature of teacher training throughout the whole of the 20th century.

The final chapter outlines the development of the Faculty of Education in the 21st century. Until 1997 there were three entirely independent institutions in the University dedicated to education – the Institute of Education, the Department of Education and Homerton College. In 1997, the Institute and the Department merged into the short-lived School of Education. Four years later, Homerton joined them to form a Faculty, in the Donald McIntyre Building.

The time line and oral history project are being organised by Dr Phil Gardner and Dr Joan Whitehead as part of the 800th anniversary celebrations for the University of Cambridge in 2009.

To view the Faculty of Education Timeline and to contribute to the archive as a previous student or member of staff please use the link top right of this page.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. If you use this content on your site please link back to this page.