This text provides an account of the relationship between successive British governments and the profession of initial teacher training since the 1960s. In the 1970s, the Robbins Report led to the introduction of a curriculum which both structurally and substantively represented the ideology of the day: social democracy. More recent government initiatives have re-created training in market image.; Currently, this relationship is seen as one-sided, the government apparently dominating the curriculum through a series of legislative measures. The author, however, suggests that a long-term view of this relationship may reveal a different picture - that the relationship is interactive and beneficial to both sides, and can therefore be regarded as a dialogue.