The Dockland Campus, formerly known as the Urban Learning Foundation
(ULF), was established thirty years ago with the aim of enhancing
the quality of initial teacher training. The roots of the Dockland
Campus lie in a joint initiative of the College of St. Mark & St.
John in Plymouth and the Clouste Gulbenkian Foundation which was
originally launched in 1973. An early priority was to harness the
energy, idealism and talent of teachers whose own educational
experiences were often far removed from what goes on in inner city
schools. Students keen to gain urban experience came from all over
the country and many opted to stay in the area, providing for the
first time a regular supply of committed suitably qualified and
experienced teachers for schools in east London.
In 1977, the government proposed that some part of the reorganised
teacher training system ‘might make their special contribution in
areas of concern to teachers generally, such as the problems of
inner city schools or children suffering deprivation, or education
for life in a multicultural society’. The 1980 report ‘Teachers for
the Inner City’ confirmed the success of the principles and
practices tested and recommended that other colleges be invited to
join. Following the Brixton and Liverpool riots in 1983, the
Archbishop of Canterbury established a commission whose report
‘Faith in the City’ included a recommendation that the Church itself
should seek to sponsor centres for training which had an urban
focus.
As a result, Christ Church College in Canterbury, King Alfred’s
College in Winchester and St Martin’s College in Lancaster joined.
The Dockland Campus was incorporated and became a registered charity
in 1984. At this time, there were a number of unprecedented
challenges facing those involved in teacher training, in particular
a severe shortage of teachers in east London caused by a growth in
school population.
In 1990, the Dockland campus raised funds to appoint a Development
Officer and launched an appeal for a first phase development. Over
£2 million was raised and the Foundation’s current headquarters,
Bede House, was opened in 1992. A fifth college, Cheltenham and
Gloucester College of Higher Education (now the University of
Gloucestershire) joined the consortium.
Since then, the Dockland Campus has developed its work with the
colleges and offered Primary PGCE course and is the base of the
Graduate Teacher Programme (Primary) for North East London.
In September 2003, the Dockland Campus became part of the University
of Gloucestershire as London Campus. The values underpinning the
vision are essentially Christian, but not exclusively so. They
include excellence, inclusion, localisation, collaboration, service
and accountability.
The Dockland Campus enjoyed very good relations with a large number
of local partnership schools and its trainees have an excellent
employment record, both in gaining their first appointment and in
making good career progress.
