Towards European References for Teacher Education:
Challenges to Teacher Educators
Bártolo Campos1
I. The European dimension of teacher education
The interim report related to the progress of Education and Training 2010 Process2, jointly submitted,
in Spring 2004, by the European Commission and the Council to the European Council and
endorsed by the latter, establishes that “European common references and principles should be
developed regarding the competences and qualifications needed by teachers and trainers in order
to fulfil their changing roles”3.
The first purpose of this presentation4 is to identify some possible common European references
for teacher education policies in the work undertaken up until now by the Expert Group
“Improving the Education of Teachers and Trainers”, set up by the European Commission as
part of the follow-up of Common Objectives of European education and training systems Process5.
As this process refers primarily to education policies, such references are, above all, aimed at
national policy-makers’ practices related to teacher education, rather than at institutional or
teacher educators’ practices. However, the policy measures are relevant for the development of
practices by teacher education institutions and by their teacher educators; and these should both
be involved, and involve themselves proactively, in their development. Therefore, the other
purpose of the presentation is to highlight challenges which emerge from such policy references
to teacher education institutions and teacher educators’ agendas.
Professor at the University of Porto; academic consultant of the European Commission on teacher
education, between 2002 and 2004.
2 Developed in the context of the Lisbon Strategy defined, in Spring 2000, by the Lisbon European
Council; it integrates several processes: Common Objectives, Lifelong Learning, Mobility, Bologna and
Copenhagen.
All the documents related to this process can be found in
www.eu.int/comm/policies/2010/et_2010_en.htlm
3 “Education and Training 2010” ― The Success of the Lisbon Strategy Hinges on Urgent Reforms, adopted jointly by
the Council and the Commission on 26 February 2004, hereinafter referred to as JIR (Joint Interim
Report).
4 A first version of this text was presented in the seminar Teacher Education: Ireland and Europe, organized in
Dublin, on 5th of November 2004, by the Irish Department of Education. The author thanks the
European Commission, who authorized the use of the work undertaken as its academic consultant.
5 Besides the Conclusions of the 2000 Lisbon European Council and the 2004 JIR, the official documents
guiding the work of the Expert Group are two reports from the Education Council to the European
Council in 2001 and 2002: "The concrete future objectives of education and training systems" and “Detailed work
programme on the follow-up of the objectives of education and training systems in Europe”. As teacher education is a
transversal issue, there are also references to it in the work of other Expert Groups of this process.
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1. Quality of teacher education matters more than mobility
The work of the Expert Group on teacher education mostly regards the changing dimensions of
the role of teachers6 and the policies aimed at enabling them to deal with such changes7. The idea
is that the quality of education and training, seen from a lifelong learning perspective, nowadays
demands some changes in the role of teachers and, consequently, in teacher education, as well as
in the role of teacher educators. During the last two years, by means of national reports, studyvisits and debates, this thematic group has exchanged policy practices related to teacher
education; it has also drawn up two annual reports8. The main outcomes of the work of the
group are the identification of some changing dimensions of the role of teachers and of some
policy trends aimed at creating appropriate support conditions to enable teachers to respond to
their changing role, as well as the proposal of some policy recommendations.
Contribution of school education to the main goal of the Lisbon Strategy
The main reason for putting teacher education policy issues on the agenda of Education and
Training 2010 is the concern with the contribution of school education to the main goal of the
Lisbon European Council agenda: the European Union should become “the most competitive
and dynamic knowledge economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with
more and better jobs and greater social cohesion” (European Council, Lisbon, March 2000); it
should be mentioned that further European Council statements added a special emphasis to
issues, other than economic growth and employment, related to social cohesion and to the
promotion of active citizenship and personal fulfilment. Furthermore, the European Council also
stated that the attainment of the main goal of the Lisbon strategy would require a challenging
programme for modernising education systems. And in 2002, the Heads of States and
Government stated that by 2010 Europe should be the world leader in terms of the quality of its
education and training systems.
Quality of teacher education for the quality of school education
This means that the main concern in the Education and Training 2010 Process is more the
quality of teacher education for the quality of school education, than the promotion of teacher
mobility in the European employment market9. As the Joint Interim Report (JIR) highlights, the
This presentation does not address the issue of higher education teachers, except teacher educators.
Regarding the teachers either of general or vocational education and training, it is centred on the aspects
common to both; therefore reference is only made to teachers in this presentation and not to trainers.
7 Because these are the first topics of the national teacher education policy agenda defined by the Council
of European Union “Detailed work programme on the follow-up of the objectives of education and training systems in
Europe”, which the Barcelona 2002 European Council endorsed.
8Working Group “Improving the Education of Teachers and Trainers”, Progress Report, November 2003and
Progress Report, September 2004.
9 It should be remembered that quality of school education does not depend only on quality of teacher
performance; it also depends, at least, (i) on the quality of performance of the teams of teachers, (ii) on the
quality of the work of the students and on the factors affecting this, other than teacher performance, and
(iii) on the quality of the learning environment. And the quality of teacher performance does not depend
only on teacher education/preparation; it also depends on their motivation and both depend on working
conditions and career structure and development. Nevertheless, even if the quality of teachers’
competences and qualifications is not sufficient, there is a large consensus among education researchers
that the quality of initial teacher education/continuous professional development matters, as it contributes
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modernization of education systems depends on the motivation and the quality of teachers; for
the former, changes in working conditions and career structure, as well as improved
opportunities for professional development are needed; for the latter, the consolidation of their
education from a lifelong perspective aimed at preparing them for their changing roles. The
concern is with the quality of new teachers – and Europe will require the recruitment and
education of over a million primary and secondary school teachers by 2015 – as well as of those
already in service. The underlying reason for this concern of the European Council with the
quality of education and of teacher education is that the quality of the education in each Member
State is relevant for the social and economic development of each and every Member State, and
this is true even without any kind of mobility.
Mobility also matters
Undoubtedly, the mobility issue also matters in this Process; but, even here, what matters most is
the contribution of mobility to the quality of teacher education, more than the promotion of
conditions for the free movement of the teaching work force in the European employment
market. The contribution of mobility to teacher education quality is twofold. Firstly, the mobility
of student teachers, teachers and teacher educators aimed at their professional development is a
means of promoting teacher education quality, namely in order to ensure the role of schools in
the education for European citizenship; secondly, the mobility of teachers to work in other
Member States is aimed at minimising teacher shortage, avoiding the recourse to unqualified
staff.
2. Common policy references for the European dimension of teacher education
Indeed, the European dimension of education and training is the main underlying reason for the
European dimension of teacher education.
European dimension of education and training
Above all, this means that education and training curricula, from a lifelong learning perspective,
promote education for European citizenship and no longer only education for national
citizenship10. Secondly, it means that there is a European Education and Training Area open to all
European citizens, and no longer only national areas; indeed mobility refers to the fact that
people undertake periods of study or obtain diplomas and academic or professional qualifications
in a Member State other than their own, and, apart from being a European citizen’s right, it is
judged an excellent way of being educated to live as a European citizen and an incentive to use
their right to live and work in any Member State; schools also play a key role in promoting
initiatives of European mobility for young people, as well as an attitude of openness to mobility,
as a way of studying, working and living. There is a more recent third meaning of the European
dimension of education and training defined in the framework of the Lisbon strategy: the
education systems of all Member States have Common European Objectives to be implemented
following the open method of coordination.
European dimension of teacher education
to a higher quality of teachers, to better classroom and school practices and to higher achievement of
students.
10 As the JIR establishes “all education systems should ensure that by the end of secondary education,
pupils are informed about and understand what European integration is about, and have acquired the
knowledge and competences they need to prepare them for their role as (…) citizens of Europe”
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The European dimension of teacher education means, primarily, that, throughout all phases of
their teaching career, teachers acquire competences and qualifications enabling them to develop
the European dimension of education, in the three meanings mentioned above. Secondly, it
refers to the fact that everyone may acquire teaching competences and qualifications anywhere in
the European Area of Teacher Education.
Incentives and guidelines for the national policies related to the European dimension of teacher education
During recent decades, several European Union documents have dealt with one or more aspects
of the European dimension of education and mentioned its implications for teacher education.
As mentioned above, by endorsing the JIR, the European Council, defined the development of
common European references and principles regarding the competences and qualifications
needed by teachers, as a matter of priority for the next steps of the Education and Training 2010
Process11. In the words of the JIR, such references and principles are aimed at encouraging and
supporting national reform policies, as well as providing an opportunity for systems convergence,
where appropriate. They are, therefore, incentives and guidelines for the national governments’
policy measures (normative, financial, support, quality assurance and evaluation measures) in
order to ensure that teachers have the necessary competences and qualifications to fulfil their
evolving role as agents of change in education and training systems; that is, policies to ensure the
quality of teacher education. They could also be a reference for the European Union initiatives to
promote the cooperation among policy makers, teacher educators and other stakeholders of
different Member States, regarding teacher education policy development. That is, they could be
an updated European Framework for policies aimed at developing the European Dimension of
Teacher Education.
II. Changing dimensions of the role of teachers
In this section reference is made to the changing dimensions of the role of teachers, identified by
the Expert Group on teacher education12; the following section highlights some teacher
education policies aimed at ensuring that they become competent to deal with such changing
dimensions13 and outlines some possible common European references for such policies. In both
sections, several challenges to teacher educators will be focused.
A reorganisation of the role of teachers is more or less explicitly required and expected in the
recent reforms of school curricula and of school organisation. Four groups of factors were
identified to justify the need for such reorganisation: (i) the impact of social changes; (ii) the
diversity of student intake; (iii) the new possibilities for the organisation of the teaching
environment; (iv) the increasing levels of professionalism demanded by teaching. Among the
subsequent changing dimensions of the role of teachers, some are related to the learning
The systematic work to draw up this European Framework has already started and is the main task of
the thematic group, for the coming months, with the consultancy of academic experts.
12 A more detailed presentation can be found in the annex II (“Changes in teacher and trainer
competences”) of November 2003 Progress Report of the Expert Group.
13 All the ideas are well-known, particularly by teacher educators. The point is that these ideas are
becoming entrenched in the European Union policy forum. It is also true that a number of these changes
are already a reality, both at policy and institutional level, rather than a mere discourse; however, they are
still not a reality everywhere.
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outcomes to be promoted and others to the learning environments to be organised and teaching
processes to have recourse to.
1. Promoting new learning outcomes
Several political, social, cultural, technological and economic changes in contemporary society call
for modifications in the school learning outcomes; to promote these learning outcomes is one of
the changing dimensions of the role of teachers. Contributing to citizenship education,
promoting the development of competences for the knowledge and lifelong learning society, as
well as linking the development of new curriculum competences with the curriculum centred on
school subject knowledge are the main aspects which characterize this changing dimension of the
role of teachers.
Citizenship education
Nowadays, teachers are expected to contribute to enable pupils to deal with some new citizenship
issues, supporting the development of several life competences, such as for instance: (i) living in a
multicultural, inclusive and tolerant society; (ii) living according to sustainable lifestyles regarding
environmental issues; (iii) dealing with gender equity issues in family, work and social life; (iv)
managing his/her own career development; (v) living as a European citizen.
Knowledge and lifelong learning society competences
Another group of learning outcomes to be developed are the competences necessary for full
participation in the knowledge and lifelong learning society, especially in the world of work 14,
such as: (i) motivation to learn beyond compulsory education; (ii) learning how to learn or
learning in an independent way; (iii) information processing; (iv) digital literacy; (v) creativity and
innovation; (vi) problem-solving; (vii) entrepreneurship;(viii) communication; (ix) visual culture.
Integration of competence-centred curriculum with school subject-centred curriculum
These changing dimensions of the role of teachers imply the integration of the development of
these new competences in school curriculum with the development of the learning outcomes of
traditional school subjects, which is not an easy task.
2. Developing new learning environments and teaching processes
The reorganisation of the role of teachers is necessary not only regarding school learning
outcomes but also the school learning environment and teaching processes. The latter are mostly
demanded by the diversity of student intake, by the new possibilities for the organisation of the
teaching environment and by the subsequent increasing levels of professionalism required in
teaching. Among the changing dimensions, some are more related to the work in the classroom
and others to the work in the entire school and its insertion in outside community.
While the life competences are also linked to contents, these competences are more focused on
processes of human action.
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Dealing with pupils’ diversity; organizing learning environments and learning processes; team-teaching
Classroom work has to be done in different ways. Teachers have to deal with social, cultural and
ethnic classroom heterogeneity in the framework of the inclusive education and success for allapproach. They also have to organize effective and safe learning environments and to facilitate
learning processes, rather than being merely transmitters of knowledge; transmission of
knowledge is no longer sufficient; however teachers must be competent in school subjects and
pupils must learn them. Finally, it is expected that they should work in teams with teachers and
other professionals involved in the learning process of the same students – team-teaching;
indeed, teaching a group of pupils successfully is less and less an individual task or the
juxtaposition of individual contributions.
Developing and evaluating school curriculum and organisation and collaborating with social partners
Moreover, the role of teachers is no longer limited to the classroom but goes “beyond the
classroom”: mainly because schools are becoming autonomous, the teachers are required to
assume collective responsibility for development and evaluation of school curriculum and
organisation. Furthermore, as the school is becoming an open learning environment, they are also
expected to collaborate with parents and other social partners
Developing and evaluating context-related practices and promoting professional development throughout their career
This reorganisation of the role of teachers demands increasing levels of professionalism in
teaching. In fact, it is also expected that teachers should act in a research-oriented or problemsolving way and assume greater responsibility for their own professional development from a
lifelong learning perspective. They need to use problem-solving approaches to develop contextrelated practices capable of achieving appropriate results; standard approaches, unrelated to
context, are no longer sufficient. That is, teaching should be seen less and less as a bureaucratic and
technical and increasingly as a professional activity. Teaching is becoming an activity that requires a
careful analysis of each learning situation, choice of objectives, development and monitoring of
suitable learning opportunities, evaluation of their impact on students’ achievement, followed, in
some cases, by necessary adjustments, and a personal or collective reflection on the whole
process, in order to develop a corpus of professional knowledge. Furthermore, continuing
professional development throughout their career is crucial to ensure that teachers develop and
maintain the capacity for innovative contextualised practice.
Integrating ICT in learning situations and in all professional practice
Apart from being a new learning outcome to be promoted by teachers, the recourse to ICT
opens up a number of possibilities for enriching the learning environment and the teaching
processes. Teachers have to be able to make the integration of ICT, not only in the classroom
teaching process, in the development and evaluation of school curriculum and organisation, and
in collaboration with parents and other social partners, but also in their continuing professional
development.
3. Challenges for teacher education institutions and for the role of teacher educators
The changes needed in school curriculum goals and methods and in school organisation
identified until now by the other thematic groups of Objectives Process also demand changes in
the role of teachers, which confirms the analysis of the thematic group working on teacher
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education. The JIR endorsed this vision of school curriculum and organisation, from a lifelong
perspective, and highlighted the need to enable teachers to develop it15.
This reorganisation of the role of teachers16 challenges teacher education institutions and the role
of teacher educators. Indeed, to develop teacher education programmes enabling teachers – not
only prospective teachers, but also those already in-service – to respond to this reorganisation, is
more or less an open agenda in all Members States, and, indeed, challenges teacher education
institutions and, in particular, teacher educators. It is true that a number of institutions and
teacher educators are already working on this agenda, but there is still work ahead.
III. Possible common policy references for the European dimension of teacher education
Public policies could consider it sufficient to define the main parameters of school curriculum
and organisation and expect from teacher education institutions and from teacher educators the
development of appropriate teacher education programmes. This is not what is happening.
Indeed in the vast majority of European Union Member States there are also public policies
related to teacher education and not only to school education. And, of course, these policies
challenge the agenda of teacher education institutions and of teacher educators.
During the last decade, teacher education policies have been the object of substantial reforms in a
number of Member States, some of them still ongoing, in order that teacher education becomes
responsive to reforms in school curriculum and organisation. The work accomplished until now
by the working group on teacher education could be a contribution to drawing up some of the
possible common European references regarding teacher education policies which are promoting
teacher education responsive to the changing dimensions of the role of teachers.
In drawing up some possible common references, this presentation takes into account
observations, reflections and recommendations made by the thematic working group, as well as
statements found in official documents of European Union institutions17. The policy references
chosen, deal with seven teacher education issues: (i) the role of stakeholders; (ii) the teaching
competences and qualifications profile; (iii) the lifelong/life wide learning perspective; (iv) the
relevance of research; (v) the role of schools; (vi) mobility in the European area of teacher
education and (vii) external quality assurance. The first issue is more related to policy-making
process; the others regard the content of normative, support, financial or quality assurance
teacher education policies. Regarding each issue, in first place a possible policy reference is stated;
afterwards, some of the observations and reflections underlying it are presented.
The recent final report (November 2004) of the extensive OECD study on teachers (Teachers Matter:
Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers) gives a very similar picture of this broadening of teacher
responsibilities or roles.
16 It should also be underlined that reference was made to the changing dimensions and not to all the
dimensions of the role of teachers. Moreover, one can notice that these changing dimensions are often
more a restructuring of the traditional dimensions of the role of teachers than simple adding on to them.
15
A detailed presentation of the work of this thematic group can be found in their 2003 and 2004 annual
reports. Nevertheless, it should be stressed that the responsibility of shaping all this material as hypotheses
for policy references lies with the author alone.
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1. Participation of stakeholders
Policy reference
An active participation of the main stakeholders is promoted in all the stages of teacher education policy-making,
at national and European Union level, and is a standard required of every teacher education provision.
Ensuring more social demand-driven teacher education
The relevance of the participation of stakeholders at all stages of formulation, adoption,
implementation and evaluation of teacher education policies is recognized in some national
policies; in this context, the main stakeholders are teacher educators, the teaching profession,
schools, employers, students and parents. Although such participation requires more time for
policy formulation and implementation, it ensures ownership of the policy measures, increases
their quality and sustainability and improves the probability of their responsiveness to school
education demands. Indeed, more social demand-driven teacher education is necessary, rather
than mainly supply-driven, as the Group realised in the visits made to some national policies.
Teacher education driven by reforms of school curriculum and organisation
How can we account for the emergence of some new national policy practices aimed at ensuring
that teachers are equipped to respond to their changing roles? On one hand, of course, because
there is the recognition that the reform of school curricula and organization requires changes in
teachers’ qualifications; on other hand, however, because there is the realisation that autonomous
teacher education institutions sometimes have difficulty in responding effectively to the changing
needs of schools.
Dissatisfaction with the insufficient preparation of new teachers
The unhappiness at local level with the unsatisfactory preparation of new teachers for the
demands of the classroom was sometimes a driving force for the launching of teacher education
reforms. There were claims of dissatisfaction coming from the schools or their owners, such as
the local authorities, and sometimes from parent associations and teacher unions; such claims are
perhaps a consequence of the movement towards greater school autonomy and corresponding
greater local responsibility for pupils’ results. In some countries, this kind of social initiative
promoted a broad and explicit social consensus on the need for change, which created the
context for the adoption and implementation of new policy measures.
Challenges to teacher education institutions
This policy reference challenges teacher education institutions and teacher educators to increase
their participation, not only reactively, but also proactively; in the policy development process
regarding school and teacher education. Besides, they are challenged to promote the systematic
participation of the main stakeholders – teaching profession/schools, employers, prospective
teachers… – in the development and evaluation of their own teacher education provision.
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2. Teaching competences and qualifications profile
Policy reference
Teaching competences and qualifications profiles, based on the socially expected role of teachers and on the
European dimension of education, are defined as criteria for the development and external quality assurance of
teacher education provision.
The role of teachers as outcome-based criteria of teacher education
In recent policy measures related to teacher education there has been a trend in some Member
States to define teaching competences and qualifications profiles, based on the socially expected
role of teachers, as criteria: (i) for curriculum development of teacher education programmes by
autonomous teacher education institutions; (ii) for student teacher assessment; (iii) for individual
certification of qualified teacher status; (iv) for the external quality assurance of programmes; and
(v) for external assessment of teaching practices of teachers already in service.
A profession-oriented approach for teacher education
Underlying this trend is the idea that a political impetus is needed to move higher education
institutions towards a greater responsiveness of teacher education to the specific needs of the
schools and also that a profession-oriented approach – and not only a scientifically based one – is
necessary for teacher education.
A teaching competences and qualification profile is not a national teacher education curriculum
At policy level, a teaching competences and qualifications profile does not mean a national
teacher education curriculum, indicating the subjects, scientific content, and the methodology to
be employed, that is, defining input or process curriculum criteria, regarding what and how to
teach the prospective teachers. This profile should mostly be referred to outcome-based criteria,
indicating what the teachers must be able to do; the European dimension of education, including
the changing dimensions of the role of teachers, should be a relevant source for defining such a
profile. The curriculum design would be left to the autonomous higher education institutions and
can be submitted to ex-post external quality assurance.
Links with the Bologna Process
As initial teacher education mainly takes place in higher education, the implementation of the
Bologna Process also has implications for its development. Nowadays, the drawing up of
teaching competences and qualifications profile is the appropriate opportunity for dealing with
some aspects of the Bologna Process. At policy level, it is the opportunity for (i) emphasizing the
professional character of teaching qualifications which award both a professional and a researchbased higher education degree, and for (ii) defining the degree level of the initial teacher
education qualification. At institutional level, it is the opportunity for developing the descriptors
of the learning outcomes of teacher education programmes, and corresponding ECTS, both to
be further transcribed in the Diploma Supplement.
Challenges to teacher education institutions
This topic challenges teacher education institutions and teacher educators to participate proactively in the policy definition of teaching competences and qualifications profiles, paying
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attention to the social demand, and to develop and implement a coherent and appropriately
coordinated teacher education curriculum focused on the role of teachers and learning outcomes
rather than on a collection of individual academic subjects (even if they are on education and
didactics) which are not consistently related to the goal of enabling teachers to deal with their role
demands. They are also challenged to take into account the implications of the Bologna Process
in curriculum development.
3. Lifelong/life-wide learning perspective
Policy reference
Appropriate policy measures are devised aimed at recognising learning, from a lifelong/life- wide perspective, as a
right and a duty of teachers and schools. Through formal, non-formal and informal opportunities, they also aim to
create conditions for the promotion of the professional development of teachers and of the organisational
development of schools, both linked to the improvement of classroom and school practices suitable for the quality of
pupils’ education.
Teachers need to learn throughout their entire professional career
The process of acquisition of competences and qualifications that teachers need in order to cope
with all dimensions of their role can be understood from a lifelong/life-wide learning perspective
in two ways:(i) this process enables them to contribute to the education of young people to be
autonomous lifelong learners; (ii) this process occurs life-widely and throughout their whole
professional life. When the identification of new dimensions of the role of teachers was made,
previously, there was reference to the former meaning. The focus now is on the latter meaning of
the expression: teaching is a lifelong/life-wide learning profession and the professional
development of teachers happens in a continuum of moments: initial, mentored induction and
ongoing phases.
Teachers need to learn through their entire professional career because, during initial education, it
is impossible for them to become fully prepared for all the dimensions of their role; on the other
hand, not all dimensions are demanded in the first years of their teaching career; therefore, it is
necessary to choose what dimensions, and at what level, to give priority to during initial teacher
education. Moreover, the working situation is the only effective opportunity to learn how to
mobilize knowledge, attitudes and skills into the building of contextualised classroom or school
practices, that is, the opportunity to become a competent teacher. It is also true that classroom or
school practices, as well as the organisational development of schools, depend more on the
competence of a team or group of teachers than on the sum of individual performances; these
teams or groups only meet when working in a concrete learning context. Beside all these reasons,
nowadays the role of teachers is an evolving one and requires learning to be responsive to its
changing dimensions; this is what already happens with a great number of in-service teachers.
Furthermore, at a given moment of a teaching career, both personal and school system interests
may advise a change of a teaching level or subject, as well as the taking of further diplomas or
degrees in education, for instance, to fulfil specialized school tasks or to become school or
teacher education researchers. Finally, both the advantage of having people with other
professional experience as teachers and the shortage of teachers open up alternative paths to
learn to be a teacher.
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A right and a duty: a lifelong learning system
Therefore, during the initial phase of teacher education, it is of prime importance to bear in mind
that teachers do not have to learn everything relevant for their future career, as well as to provide
them with opportunities to become competent as lifelong and life-wide learners. Apart from this,
learning opportunities throughout the entire teaching career, beginning with the mentored
induction, are, above of all, part of the teachers’ working conditions; that is, rather than being
only their duty, they are their right and, as such, must be officially recognized and promoted.
Valuing informal learning
However, the focus on professional development of teachers throughout their entire career does
not imply that it can only be the result of both formal and non-formal provision. Other
opportunities for learning should also be valued and formally recognised a posteriori, as well as
certified, whenever necessary. Independent study, observation, school-based experience, joint
work, team teaching, group discussion about teaching practices, collective decision-making and
the involvement in finding solutions to emerging school challenges are among such
opportunities. Indeed, teachers, like other people, learn by studying, by working, by living,
etc…And even the schools can be learning organisations.
Improvement of classroom and school practices linked to the quality of pupils’ achievement as outcome criteria
Finally, it should be stressed that teacher learning and professional development in a lifelong/lifewide learning perspective, as well as continuous organisational school development – as the
schools also need to learn –, are only meaningful if they are aimed at, and effectively achieve, the
improvement of classroom and school practices linked to the outcome quality of pupils’
education. As is well known, the lack of such links is the greatest criticism of most current
provision of opportunities for continuous professional development of teachers. It is also its
most challenging issue.
Challenges for teacher education institutions
This policy reference challenges teacher education institutions and teacher educators: (i) to
organize initial teacher education taking into account that such education is a lifelong and lifewide learning process; (ii) to give much more importance to their role in the professional
development of teachers already in-service, and to the organisational development of schools, as
well as looking for more suitable strategies than those most common in initial education; (iii) to
take as criteria of usefulness of this involvement the improvement of classroom and school
practices linked to the quality of pupils’ education; (iv) to recognize the existence of other teacher
educators in schools, namely the mentors; (v) to provide these teacher educators and the other
teachers with appropriate support, namely having recourse to individual or organisational
consultation methods, aimed at increasing the learning potential of informal learning
opportunities for their professional development and school development; (vi) to value the
accreditation of prior learning experiences in the admission of teachers to further diplomas or
degrees and develop valid methods for doing it; (vii) to take advantage of previous, or
simultaneous, working experience of teachers when organising the learning opportunities leading
to the award of such diplomas or degrees.
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4. Research-based teacher education
Policy reference
Research-based teacher education is a required standard, as well as an outcome criteria, of lifelong teacher
education provision and is promoted by national and European Union research policies
A scientific and research-based qualification like other professionals
There is a trend in some teacher education policies towards requiring and creating conditions for
the development of research-based teacher education. Indeed, the main reason for transferring
teacher education of all teachers to higher education, was the perception that, given the
increasing complexity of their role, they needed a scientific and research-based qualifications like
other professionals, such as doctors, engineers and lawyers As we have seen, the changing
dimensions of the role of teachers demands increasing levels of professionalism, which reinforces
the need for a research-based teacher education. Therefore, teacher education has to be both
provided by higher education institutions delivering research-based programmes and also
included in the European Research Area and not only in the European Area of Higher Education
(Bologna)
Obstacles to research-based teacher education
However, the political decision of transferring teacher education to higher education institutions
has not, by itself, promoted research-based teacher education everywhere. Several obstacles to
such promotion are recognized: (i) teacher education in non-higher institutions was/is often
transferred to University Colleges without a research tradition; (ii) little value is accorded to
subject related didactics research; (iii) post-graduate studies in education and subject-related
didactics are underdeveloped or not available to teachers, thus making it difficult to have teacher
educators who combine experience of teaching in schools and who have a PhD; and (iv) there
has only recently been a awareness that: teaching is increasingly context-based, and no longer
concerned with the repetition of standard formulae; the teachers, as professionals (and less and
less as bureaucrats or technicians) need to be capable of acting in an investigative or problemsolving way; the schools have been given increased levels of autonomy, with a greater role for
teachers in quality assurance and improvement, requiring that they develop action-research and
evaluative-research projects; and, finally, that in order for education research to be relevant to the
work of teachers it has to be more and more school-based with the active participation of
teachers. It is in order to overcome these obstacles that lifelong research-based teacher education
provision has started to be promoted by some national and European Union research policies
and sometimes required as a standard, as well as an outcome criteria, of such provision by
national teacher education policies.
Teacher educators are also researchers
Research-based teacher education challenges the various categories of teacher educators (experts
in school subjects, in education science or in subject-didactics) and implies that they are also
researchers (i) holding, as a rule, a PhD in the area and (ii) doing research that relates to school
education, especially to teaching and learning processes in schools and to the work of the teacher.
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Research-based teacher education curricula
It implies also that in the lifelong teacher education supplied by teacher educators, the curricula
enable teachers (i) to make critical use of research results (evidence-based practice and
knowledge), (ii) to generate evidence-based professional knowledge, (iii) to act in a research-based
problem-solving way and (iv) to participate in research projects. Finally, it implies the
development of programmes awarding doctorate degrees in the field of teacher education
5. Partnerships between higher education institutions and schools
Policy reference
An appropriate partnership between higher education institutions and schools is promoted and supported, as well
as required as a standard of teacher education provision.
A higher quality work-based component
There is a trend in some teacher education policies to require and to support a new kind of
cooperation between higher education institutions and schools in order that, together, they
ensure the development of teacher education programmes which are more responsive to societal
demands. The issue here is that of a higher quality work-based component.
Pressure to move away from higher education
Underlying this policy trend is a concern regarding the way higher education institutions have
responded to the challenges of teacher education, for which they have assumed responsibility in
recent decades. In some countries there was even pressure from stakeholders to move away from
higher education institutions and once again place all initial teacher education under the
responsibility of the education administration or of schools. However, a strong partnership
between higher education institutions and schools seems to be the alternative.
Departure from traditional practice
In this trend there are substantial points of departure from traditional practice. Prospective
teachers are required to spend more time in schools. The relationship is between institutions and
not among individuals and takes the form of an institutional partnership; in some policies the
partnerships even go beyond the traditional teaching practice and also include school
development, school-based research… This kind of cooperation provides the teacher education
curriculum with a crucial learning opportunity for the acquisition of competences in a practical
context, which goes beyond the more traditional application of ideas presented in higher
education institutions. Furthermore, school work-based teacher education is seen as the most
suitable means of final assessment of prospective teachers, ensuring they have achieved the
curriculum outcome criteria and allowing the award of the professional teaching certificate.
Finally, schools are increasingly seen as teacher education institutions and in some respects their
teachers play a key role as teacher educators.
A very demanding agenda for higher education
All this is a very demanding agenda for higher education institutions, in particular for teacher
educators, and also for schools. This agenda challenges cultural dimensions of both institutions,
including the relationship between them (different value and power dimensions); it requires the
development of mutual-benefit partnerships and presupposes that both institutions commit
themselves to continuous individual and institutional professional development, so that the role
of the school is no longer limited to the socialisation of teachers and that the teacher education
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institution realises the importance of the interaction between theory and school practice; it
requires the organisation of arenas for discussion and integration on student teacher working
experience. Furthermore, it presupposes finding schools available for the partnerships.
6. Mobility for professional development
Policy reference
The promotion of mobility projects, as a strategic measure for lifelong professional development of student teachers,
teachers and teacher educators, is strongly supported and encouraged by European Union and national policies
and, together with the offer of the study of European languages, is progressively required as a standard of initial
and in-service teacher education programmes.
A means for professional development of teachers
European mobility is also seen as an excellent means for professional development of student
teachers, teachers and teacher educators. Several reasons justify that providers of any phase of
teachers’ professional development continuum recognise and include mobility projects as
essential components of their mainstream programmes. First of all, to improve the education of
teachers to live as European citizens working in a specific field, that is, to develop their sense of
belonging to the group of all teachers working as such in the European Union and of having
identical roles and responsibilities; in short, to develop their professional identity as European
Teachers. The possibilities opened up by opportunities of exchanging teaching practices and
mutually enriching their own are also a possible positive outcome, often highlighted. These
opportunities can also be related to the development of schools as learning organisations and not
only to the development of individual teachers. Furthermore, for teachers mobility is a way of
becoming better prepared to promote the education of pupils to live as European citizens and to
encourage them to enjoy study possibilities existing abroad. Finally, mobility is even more
relevant for teachers of European languages.
Inadequate mobility level
In spite of the investments of European Union programmes and of some national policies to
promote mobility opportunities, namely those specifically addressed to student teachers, teacher
educators and teachers, the JIR recognizes that the level of participation in mobility among
teaching staff is inadequate; and, with regard to the students (but not the teacher educators), it is
worse in this field than in other study fields, as the statistics show. This situation is related to the
persistence of a number of barriers, including the recognition of studies undertaken abroad, lack
of language knowledge and financial difficulties. Confronted with this situation and taking into
account the strategic relevance of mobility for enabling teachers to become responsive to some
changing dimensions of their role, the JIR established that particular attention should be paid to
mobility of teachers as part of their career development.
Integration of mobility projects in teacher education/professional development
Apart from the measures taken to overcome mobility obstacles common to all higher education
programmes18, this particular attention demands the increase of funds for European Union
The recognition in any Member State of periods of study or of diplomas obtained in another Member
State is crucial to promote mobility. A lot of effort has been made until now, and is still being made, to
18
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programmes and for public policies at national level, the study of European languages in every
initial teacher education programme and the integration and also the increase in the number of
mobility projects by teacher education institutions and by schools. There are possibilities other
than the participation in pre-service and in-service courses for such projects: for instance, the
analysis of the way different educational issues are dealt with within various contexts or the joint
development of one or several aspects of curricula, having recourse in each case to a diversity of
communication media.
Challenges to teacher education institutions
This policy reference challenges, first of all, teacher education institutions and teacher educators
to deepen their awareness about the European dimension of education and of teacher education.
Furthermore, it challenges them: (i) to integrate in their teacher education programmes varied
mobility projects, specially for participation of student teachers; (ii) to encourage and support
student teachers to participate in these projects; (iii) to create conditions for attracting and
receiving students from other Member States; (iv) to participate themselves in mobility projects
and to attract, as well as receive colleagues from teacher education institutions of other European
Union Member States; (v) to include the study of European languages in every initial teacher
education programme; and (vi) to contribute to the overcoming of mobility barriers concerning
recognition issues.
7. Internal and external quality assurance
The policy reference
An internal quality development system is a standard of lifelong teacher education provision and external quality
assurance of such provision, and/or of teaching qualifications, is promoted, at national or broader level, based on
standards, criteria and methodologies mutually shared at European level.
Standards and teaching profiles and are not enough
In some countries, the public policy definition of standards or requirements and of a teaching
competences and qualifications profile, as outcome criteria for the development of qualitative
change in teacher education programmes, is not seen as sufficient to guarantee results. In fact,
variability in the quality of teacher education programmes is observed and documented by
surveys or by inspections. For this reason, there is a trend to establish external quality assurance
systems in order to assure that teacher education programmes are suitable to enable, or are
actually enabling, teachers for their role and that individual teachers are duly qualified to fulfil it.
There is also a trend to require an internal monitoring system as a standard of teacher education
provision; this system is seen as an instrument to promote the quality development of teacher
education provision and to enable the institution to give public account of teacher education
provision. Both the internal monitoring and external assurance systems refer to initial and
continuous teacher education.
External quality assurance of institutions or programmes
Accreditation19 is one of the instruments of external quality assurance of institutions or
programmes to which some countries have recourse. It can be either identical to that of all other
achieve the comparability of qualifications and mutual trust in their quality. Nowadays, the Bologna and
Copenhagen Processes deal with this issue, at higher education and vocational levels, respectively.
19 It has the following characteristics:
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higher education degrees, or to that of all higher education professional degrees or a specific
external quality assurance system of teacher education. In the methods followed there has been a
recent progressive shift from criteria based on a national input/process curriculum (“what must
be taught” or “how it must be taught”) to an approach based on curriculum outcomes (“what
must they know, understand and be able to do”).
The European dimension of accreditation: Bologna Process
In the Bologna Process, the implementation of an external quality assurance (accreditation)
system based on mutually shared methodologies and criteria is deemed an instrument to achieve
trust and mutual recognition of higher education degrees. Therefore, the issue of external quality
assurance of teacher education degrees should be seen in the context of the Bologna Process.
However, in the field of teacher education degrees, as happens in other professional degrees, the
issue of external quality assurance is not restricted to their correspondence to the level descriptors of
each degree (Bachelor, Master…) but also to the standards and specific learning outcomes criteria for
that kind of professional programme (Bachelor or Master in teacher education). In short, there is a
question of academic and professional accreditation. Moreover, there are learning opportunities
provided for teachers which do not award a degree and nevertheless can justify external quality
assurance. Indeed, in the field of teacher education, the concern with external quality assurance is
primarily addressed to the appropriateness of teaching qualifications to the fulfilment of the
expected role of the teacher; the recognition concern is also important, but not the main one.
External quality assurance of professional teaching certificate
In addition, or as an alternative to external quality assurance/accreditation of a teacher education
programme, the competences/qualifications acquired by each individual teacher can be the object
of public assurance. In this case, this is done through the recourse to external national
examinations, which are required for the awarding of qualified teacher status or for selection as
civil servants/employees, and/or by means of a probationary teaching period.
Challenges for teacher education institutions
Whenever these policy measures are taken, teacher education institutions and teacher educators
are challenged to develop, with the participation of stakeholders, an internal quality development
system aimed both at improving the quality of teacher education programmes and at proving
such quality to the external assurance system. They are also challenged to develop suitable
methods of final assessment of prospective teachers, ensuring they have achieved the curriculum
outcome criteria allowing the award of the professional teaching certificate.
IV. Conclusion
1. The open method of coordination
Regarding national education and teacher education policies, the role of European Union
institutions can not be that of defining measures with legal force ( by a Regulation or a Directive,
for instance) and checking their implementation in each Member State. Only measures

“Accreditation recognises (or not) that a higher education course, programme or institution meets
a certain standard, which may be a minimum standard, or a standard of excellence;
 Accreditation therefore always involves a benchmarking assessment;
 Accreditation findings are based on quality criteria, never on political considerations;
 Accreditation findings include a binary element, always yes or no”.
(In Danish Evaluation Institute (2003). Quality Procedures in European Higher Education: An ENQA Survey
(p.20). Helsinki: ENQA)
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promoting European cooperation are possible. Therefore, what is done in the context of the
Education and Training 2010 Process is the recourse to a specific method of cooperation: the socalled open method of coordination. Following this method:

The European Commission and the Council of Ministers achieve agreements related to
national policies to be implemented; these agreements do not have legal force and are
endorsed by the European Council;

The implementation of national policies related to such agreements belongs to the
initiative of each Member State;

Nevertheless, the Ministers also agree to exchange policy practices related to the way
they are implementing those agreements at national level; this is the mutual learning
dimension of the method;

They also agree to mutually give account of the progress made in each Member State
regarding the agreements achieved; this is the mutual accountability dimension of the
method;

The European Commission supports activities related to these last two dimensions
(mutual learning and accountability) and draws up proposals for future agreements.
As is clear, the agreements so far achieved regarding teacher education are few but they are
challenging for national policies and for European Union activities.
Agreements made concerning teacher education
To finish this presentation let me remind you of the main agreements already made:

Strategic role of teachers for the necessary school reforms. The success of the reforms which are
necessary to achieve the objectives set out for education and training by 2010 depends
directly on the motivation and quality of the teachers.

Measures to improve their motivation. Regarding motivation, measures should be taken to
attract the best talent to the profession, to retain them, including through adequate
attractive working conditions and adequate career structure and development.

Need to improve their quality. Regarding quality, there is a need for high quality teacher
education, also for those already in service, to prepare them for their changing roles in the
knowledge-based society and in transforming the education and training systems. A
number of changes to be made and of quantitative and qualitative targets to be achieved
in these systems, following a lifelong learning perspective, have already been defined.

Definition of common European references for teacher education policies. Common European
references and principles regarding the competences and qualifications needed by
teachers and trainers in order to fulfil their changing roles should be developed as a
matter of priority and implemented at national level.20
There is also a European Qualifications Framework to be developed, covering higher education and
vocational education and training; it should include the description of qualifications in terms of learning
outcomes and competences, as well as a common quality assurance framework to ensure quality assurance
instruments which are compatible and credible, so that they can be mutually validated. The common
references for teacher education need to take into account this more global framework.
20
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
European dimension of education in teacher education. The European dimension of education
should be strengthened in the training of teachers

Promotion of teacher mobility. As the level of participation in mobility among teaching staff is
inadequate, particular attention should be paid to mobility of teachers and trainers as part
of their career development.
Mutual accountability
Regarding mutual accountability, the European Commission has so far defined more than thirty
indicators of progress. By 2005, Member States will provide the European Commission with the
necessary information on actions taken and progress made at national level towards the common
objectives, (including those related to teachers, of course) as a basis for the Joint Report (of the
Council and the Commission) on the implementation of all the Education and Training 2010
Process, to be submitted to the Spring European Council of 2006.
2. A challenging agenda
It is a challenging agenda for teacher education policies of European Union Member States to
provide, through initial and in-service teacher education, from the perspective of lifelong/life
wide learning, the conditions which appropriately support teachers as they respond to the
challenges of the knowledge society, also characterised by greater social cohesion and active
citizenship. This is also a challenging agenda for teacher education institutions and teacher
educators.
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