Early in its period of office the new United Kingdom coalition government produced an Education White Paper containing potentially devastating news for higher education training institutions in England and Wales. Drawing on research papers and policy documents, this article takes an historic approach to map the changing face of teacher training over the past 30 years. A variety of approaches to the training of teachers are examined in terms of the partnership arrangements each model espouses and the training approaches that each locality arrangement represents. A small-scale research project maps early responses from higher education institutions as they consider the implications of new policies. Finally, a future scenario where higher education institutions struggle for survival as meaningful providers of teacher education is postulated. (Contains 1 table.)