Drawing upon two research projects, this paper analyses changes affecting the in-service training of adult literacy, numeracy and teachers of English for Speakers of Other Languages in England. There are many issues raised in this paper, particularly how in-service teacher education programmes in England can meet the diversity of learner need, how to give trainees support in the workplace in order to experience of a range of levels and learning contexts, and the balance to be found between subject and pedagogical knowledge. The analysis of this paper is that in England the growing regulation through national standards and specifications is leading to a standards-led model of in-service teacher education. It argues that present standards-led model does not and cannot take sufficient account of the diversity of learning contexts, and that simply immersing in-service trainees in existing practice does not prepare trainees for a changing role, to improve quality and to innovate. The paper concludes by discussing teacher knowledge, recommending major questions to be asked of any in-service initial teacher education course, and puts forward a more expanded notion of mentoring and work-based learning as an alternative to the standards-led model.