Teacher Education Policy and Practice in Europe

Challenges and Opportunities for the Future

Ana Raquel Simões, Mónica Lourenço, Nilza Costa

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351393690
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Bildung
• Subtopic: Vergleichende Erziehungswissenschaft

Teacher Education Policy and Practice in Europe provides a critical overview of the current challenges facing teacher education policy and practice in Europe. Drawing on a wide range of contributions, the book demonstrates that in order for teachers to reassume their role as agents of change, it is crucial to create a vision of a future European teacher and promote active engagement in preparing children to live and act in a multicultural and increasingly changing world.

The book suggests ways in which teachers could be prepared to meet and overcome the struggles they will encounter in the classroom, including recommendations for teacher education, which open up new possibilities for policy, practice and research. Considering their own experiences as teachers, contributors also cover topics such as teacher education for the 21st century, the profile of the European teacher, citizenship and identity, social inclusion, linguistic and cultural diversity, and comparative education.

Teacher Education Policy and Practice in Europe is essential reading for academics, researchers and postgraduate students engaged in the study of teacher education, educational policy and educational theory. It should also be of great interest to research-active teacher educators and practising teachers.

Part 1
Painting the picture of teacher education in Europe

1 Introduction

How to become a European teacher? Exploring the (need for a) concept

Ana Raquel Simões, Mónica Lourenço, and Nilza Costa

Contextualisation and motivations for the book

Teacher education in a global world

The complexity of today’s world, characterised by unprecedented technological (r)evolution, increased mobility and migration, and as rapid and profound societal change, presents new challenges to teaching and teacher education. In the past, teachers were simply mediators of knowledge, the students were taught in similar ways, and the goal was standardisation and conformity (Schleicher, 2012). Today, teachers are being asked to keep pace with rapidly developing knowledge areas and approaches to students’ learning and assessment, to use new technologies, to personalise learning experiences to ensure that every learner has the chance to succeed, to embrace diversity with differentiated pedagogies, and to promote students’ creativity (Darling-Hammond & Lieberman, 2013; Townsend, 2016).

All of these demands imply the need to rethink teacher education programmes to help in-service and prospective teachers develop confidence in their ability, as well as the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to meet and overcome the challenges they will encounter in their classrooms. For this matter, many nations around the world have undertaken wide-ranging reforms of curriculum, instruction, and assessment, describing how and where teachers should be prepared for their work, and identifying (sometimes prescribing) what they should know and be able to do to meet the demands of the 21st century (see Loughran & Hamilton, 2016 for a review).

At European level, the education of teachers has long been considered a priority, given the vital role teachers play in advancing human potential, shaping future generations and influencing society as a whole. The need for a well-qualified profession, within a lifelong learning perspective, and the idea of a mobile profession based upon partnerships, have been understood as key principles that policymakers should follow to impact the quality of education across Europe (European Commission, 2005, 2007, 2013; Hudson & Zgaga, 2008; Madalińska-Michalak, Niemi, & Chong, 2012).

The Bologna Declaration (1999) has been particularly important in setting forth this agenda, mainly through the following measures: the adoption of a system of easily readable and comparable degrees to ensure compatibility between European qualifications and transparency of graduate achievement; the encouragement of student and staff mobility, via the Lifelong Learning Programmes; co-operation in quality assurance; and the promotion of a ‘European dimension’ in higher education, considering that teacher education programmes should not only have national educational perspectives in mind, but also develop teachers’ competences to educate students to live in a European area and to face challenges arising from this setting.

In this respect, the concept of ‘European teacher’ has been gaining attention across Europe in the last decades, not without controversy and doubt (Schratz, 2010, 2014; Valenčič Zuljan & Vogrinc, 2011).

The ‘European teacher’: concept and relevance

The first discussions around the concept of ‘European teacher’ started during a meeting of the European Network on Teacher Education Policies (ENTEP), which was formed at the initiative of the Portuguese Minister of Education in 1999. This group has since then offered a transnational space for intensive debate concerning critical teacher education policy issues that were brought to light by the Bologna Declaration, with a special focus on questions of ‘Europeanness’ and mobility within the profession. In the ENTEP report entitled The first ten years after Bologna, Michael Schratz (2010) defines the ‘European teacher’ as a teacher working within a European context of professionalism, who not only has the same competences as any other ‘good teacher’ (i.e., self-awareness and reflection, professionalism in dealing with diversity and uncertainty, collaboration, and personal mastery), but also possesses specific competences in the European dimension concerning:

1. 1 European identity: regarding himself/herself as someone with roots in a specific country, but simultaneously belonging to a greater European whole – the idea of ‘unity in diversity’, which provides a valuable perspective on questions of heterogeneity and an open mind towards the world at large;
2. 2 European knowledge: being aware of other educational systems, policy matters at European level, European world affairs, and European history (histories), and their influence on contemporary European society;
3. 3 European multiculturalism: being aware of his/her own culture, but still open to other cultures and to intercultural dialogue;
4. 4 European language competence: speaking more than one European language with differing levels of competence;
5. 5 European professionalism: being able to teach in any European country by linking up cross-curricular themes from a European perspective, exchanging curricular content and methodologies with colleagues from other European countries, or paying attention to and learning from different teaching and learning traditions; and
6. 6 European citizenship: showing solidarity with citizens in other European countries and sharing values such as respect for human rights, democracy and freedom; and fostering autonomous, responsible and active citizens for a Europe of tomorrow.

These facets of the European dimension seem to be particularly important for in-service and prospective teachers working in the European context today. Indeed, the recent arrival of migrant children to European countries amid the refugee crisis; the rise of xenophobic groups and right wing extremist parties across Europe; the European Union (EU) referendum in the UK and growth of anti-European sentiments; the financial crisis and huge unemployment rates in the teaching profession; and the intensification of a neoliberal ‘culture of accountability’, with standardised performance measures and global large-scale assessment surveys, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), taking the lead (Beckett, 2013; Meyer & Benavot, 2013), have all contributed to increased fragmentation and tensions in European societies, and to low self-esteem and dissatisfaction in the teaching profession, and have undermined the educational responses teachers should be giving to issues of inclusion and social justice (The Teacher Education Group, 2016; Townsend, 2016).

Therefore, in order for teachers to assume their role as agents of change in the ‘old’ continent, it is crucial to create a vision of a future European teacher and promote teachers’ active engagement in preparing children to live and act in a multicultural and increasingly changing world. This can be carried out through cross-national collaboration and mobility, working together, joining ideas and efforts to help prospective teachers become critical and engaged citizens who understand the difficulties and obstacles of the current era, and taking action to create a more equitable, peaceful and sustainable Europe. By bringing together teacher educators and students from various countries, ERASMUS (EuRopean community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students) Mobility Intensive Programmes (IPs) may embody these efforts.

‘How to become a European teacher’: a mobility intensive programme for prospective teachers

ERASMUS Mobility IPs create an international learning environment favourable for developing rich and far-reaching visions and reflecting about possible solutions to face unknown future challenges. IPs promote participants’ communication, argumentation, and foreign language skills, develop critical thinking, foster openness to and respect for diversity, and support mutual understanding, all crucial competences for the teaching profession.

This edited book is the result of an IP, the first Campus Europae summer school in the field of teacher education, dedicated to discussing and advancing ideas on the European dimension of teacher education. This 10-day summer school, entitled ‘HOWBET – How to become a European teacher: Challenges for the present and the future’, took place in Portugal in 2014, and brought together 36 student teachers and 11 teacher educators from 8 European universities that were part of the Campus Europae network: the University of Vienna (Austria), the University of Eastern Finland (Finland), the University of Hamburg (Germany), the University of Latvia (Latvia), Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania), the University of Łódź (Poland), the University of Novi Sad (Serbia), and the host institution, the University of Aveiro (Portugal).

The main aims of the HOWBET Summer School were to promote an understanding of ‘Europeanness’ in prospective teachers’ profile and to develop competences that enabled them to learn how to teach and behave as a European teacher. More particularly, the student teachers were expected to be able to characterise the main European trends in education and teacher education policies; to identify similarities and differences across education systems in the participating countries; to develop teaching and learning skills under conditions of diversity (cultural, social, and economic); to strengthen Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills in teaching and learning; to enhance foreign language skills (English, but also other languages as a result of mobility); to develop sensitivity towards differences in a multicultural environment; and to work together with students and teachers from the participating countries.

Drawing on the experience of the HOWBET Summer School, the main purposes of this book are not only to share and discuss the results of the IP, but also to construct a critical overview of the current challenges and opportunities facing teacher education policy and practice in Europe, in order to propose sustained guidelines for teacher education with a European dimension.

Themes, structure, and contents of the book

Along with the general topic of the book – the preparation of qualified teachers to face Europe’s challenges and the improvement of teacher education – chapters cover other relevant topics in the field of teacher education, particularly in the current political, social, and economic context. Covered themes are: teacher education for the 21st century, the profile of the European teacher, European citizenship and identity, social inclusion, linguistic and cultural diversity, and comparative education. These themes are addressed in 11 chapters written by a wide range of European contributors who participated in the IP (both teacher educators and student teachers), and by renowned experts in the field, bringing together their real-life experiences and unique viewpoints.

The book is divided into three main parts, which cover distinct but intertwined dimensions of the opportunities and challenges related to the education of European teachers. Part 1, ‘Painting the picture of teacher education in Europe’, which includes two chapters, presents an overview of the most pressing issues challenging teacher education across Europe and impacting the profile of European teachers. Chapter 1, this introduction, which was written by the editors, contextualises the book, provides a clarification of the concept of ‘European teacher’, and justifies its relevance in the current era as a possibility to contribute to the promotion of social cohesion, social justice, and inclusion. The editors make the case for International Mobility IPs as vehicles to infuse ‘Europeanness’ in prospective teachers’ profile and prepare them to deal with the challenges of the globalised world.

Chapter 2, ‘Teacher education and the profile of European teachers’, written by Joanna Madalińska-Michalak, from Poland, remains within the same theme, addressing the changing role of teachers in contemporary societies in Europe and the characteristics of European teachers. Special attention is given to European guidelines for teacher education, namely related to the induction phase of teacher development, and to teacher quality. According to the author, teacher education perceived as a continuum within a lifelong learning perspective and commitment to develop teacher professionalism can make a difference in quality teachers and quality teaching.

Part 2, ‘Tackling challenges and opportunities in teacher education’, focuses on the experience of the HOWBET Summer School, using it as a core to construct a more critical overview of some of the challenges and opportunities drawn by the social, political, and professional changes taking place in the field of teacher education. This section begins with Chapter 3, ‘Developing teachers’ competences to work in a European context: The HOWBET experience’, written by Nilza Costa, the Portuguese coordinator of the IP. The chapter describes and discusses the rationale behind the HOWBET Summer School, the participating students and teachers, the contents and themes of the sessions, the working methodology, and the assessment methods. The effects of the programme on the participants’ personal and professional development are also analysed, drawing on the results from two sets of questionnaires. The chapter ends with a plea, highlighting the benefits of cross-collaboration and the need for shared responsibility in teacher education.

Chapters 4 and 5 address the competences required by teachers to support learning in a world driven by globalisation, urbanisation, digitalisation, and diversity. In Chapter 4, Ilze Ivanova and Ilze Kangro, from Latvia, discuss the ‘Future needs of learners in a European context’, which have become increasingly complex and diverse. The authors examine how teachers and teacher educators can support learning, develop students’ potential, and help them gain a better understanding of the problems of the 21st century. They conclude that new tools and processes, characterised by sociability, collaboration, simplicity, and connections should be used in order to make students’ learning more active and connected to real life.

A similar take is shared by Seija Jeskanen, from Finland, who writes in Chapter 5 about ‘Linguistic diversity: How to deal with it in a classroom’. The chapter draws attention to the increasing linguistic diversity in European societies, in particular as a result of migration, and to the demands this diversity is placing on education systems, schools, teachers, and teacher education programmes. In this regard, it considers the skills and competences required by European teachers working in linguistically and culturally diverse schools, presenting some tools put together by European organisations for this matter.

Chapters 6 to 9 discuss possibilities related to overcoming some of the challenges identified in the two previous chapters. In Chapter 6, Judith ’t Gilde from the Netherlands writes about ‘European teachers and inclusive education’, advocating a broader understanding of inclusion as a human right. According to the author, it is imperative for European teachers not only to know about inclusion (including students with special needs in the general-education classroom) and its current developments, but also—and most importantly—to experience opportunities to discuss and learn about how to deal with it in the classroom. Drawing on research conducted in Austria, Pakistan and Nigeria, the author reviews the current preparedness of teachers for inclusion, looking at the notions of fixed ability and transformability. The chapter ends with a discussion of the main challenges and opportunities for the present and the future of teacher education in relation to inclusive education.

Another possibility to promote inclusion and overcome divisiveness and prejudice in Europe is put forward by Ana Raquel Simões, from Portugal, who writes in Chapter 7 about ‘Teaching and learning for citizenship educ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Foreword
• List of abbreviations
• List of contributors
• Part 1 Painting the picture of teacher education in Europe
• Part 2 Tackling challenges and opportunities in teacher education
• Part 3 Envisioning the future of teacher education
• Index