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Review and Analysis of the EU Teacher‐related Policies and Activities
Abstract
This article aims at raising awareness of the key role the EU already plays in matters of teacher policy. It takes stock of European teacher policy related documents and activities, such as relevant strategies, presidency priorities, Council Conclusions, Commission working documents, the activities of thematic working groups, of networks, of data gathering and research, and the available supports of the Lifelong Learning Programme and of the European Social Fund. Based on this, the article provides a clear picture of the labour market need‐driven, pragmatic context of teacher policies and also the main shared European teacher policy concepts, such as teacher competence profiles, the continuum of professional development and the support of teacher educators. These fundamental concepts were shared, developed and fine tuned in the process of Member States peer learning, a crucial and highly effective method of cooperation, which is also presented in the article. The article concludes by identifying both sides of the two‐way interaction process of Europeanisation taking place between Member States and the EU in teacher policy development.
... Yet, this is a separate point from whether EU teacher governance has involved the creation of a bridging issue field which explicitly bring together the silos of different policy domains. The period from the mid-2000s onwards is particularly interesting, since the issue salience of teachers and teaching in EU governance gathered momentum at this point (Caena, 2014;Stéger, 2014;Symeonidis, 2021). Moreover, an EU schools policy was launched in 2007, and teacher governance has increasingly become subject to cross-sectoral coordination via, for instance, the European Semester (hereafter 'the Semester') (Sorensen et al., 2021;Symeonidis, 2021). ...
... The Strategic Framework for European Cooperation in Education and Training (ET2020) was from 2012 onwards incorporated into Europe 2020 by including education policy issues in the Semester (Eeva, 2021). Finally, we note that the Commission tends to set the agenda in EU teacher governance via its Communications (Sorensen et al., 2021;Stéger, 2014;Symeonidis, 2021), underpinned by its increasing capacities in collecting, producing and diffusing policy knowledge in the form of statistics, indicators and comparative research (Grek, 2016;Lawn and Grek, 2012), and the mobilisation of actors and creation of expert networks and working groups (Normand, 2010;Stéger, 2014). ...
... The Strategic Framework for European Cooperation in Education and Training (ET2020) was from 2012 onwards incorporated into Europe 2020 by including education policy issues in the Semester (Eeva, 2021). Finally, we note that the Commission tends to set the agenda in EU teacher governance via its Communications (Sorensen et al., 2021;Stéger, 2014;Symeonidis, 2021), underpinned by its increasing capacities in collecting, producing and diffusing policy knowledge in the form of statistics, indicators and comparative research (Grek, 2016;Lawn and Grek, 2012), and the mobilisation of actors and creation of expert networks and working groups (Normand, 2010;Stéger, 2014). ...
Concerned with European Union (EU) governance of teachers since the mid-2000s, this paper makes an empirical as well as theoretical contribution to education policy studies in the context of EU governance. Drawing on neo-institutional field theory and an empirical material of policy documents and interviews, the paper analyses the consolidation and evolution of a field at the EU level that is focused on the governance of the teaching profession. We argue that this field constitutes a bridging issue field, spanning several policy domains, including education, employment and economy, and characterised by non-linear and relatively slow change. We demonstrate how the field since the mid-2000s has become elaborated via the strategic framing of teacher skills and careers as policy issues, the mobilisation of actors and networks, and an expanding institutional infrastructure of mechanisms and policy instruments. Theoretically, the paper advances the debate on EU governance by highlighting the epistemic gains of neo-institutional field theory in making sense of soft governance contexts and their trajectories as an outcome of the interplay between issue framings, different types of actors, and institutional infrastructure. (OPEN ACCESS)
... Since the launch of the Lisbon Strategy in the year 2000, an accelerating process of Europeanisation of national policies related to teachers and teacher education has been witnessed (EDiTE, 2014), so that researchers are increasingly talking about a 'European teacher education policy community' (Hudson & Zgaga, 2008), a 'European Teacher Education Area' (Gassner, Kerger, & Schratz, 2010) and the 'European teacher' (Schratz, 2005(Schratz, , 2014. Although teacher education systems in Europe are firmly rooted in national histories and conditions (Kotthoff & Denk, 2007), influenced by political culture (Louis & Velzen, 2012), long-standing traditions, and resistance to theoretical and research-based arguments (Buchberger, Campos, Kallos, & Stephenson, 2000), there are a number of common trends leading to convergence across countries (see Caena, 2014;Stéger, 2014a;Vidović & Domović, 2013). ...
... Following this, the Teachers and Trainers Cluster was formulated in 2005 and was later renamed as the Thematic Working Group on the Professional Development of Teachers in 2010, on School Policy in 2014, and on Schools in 2016. Comprised of Member State experts, the working groups aim at setting specific thematic goals for Peer Learning Activities (PLAs), a central tool of the OMC, and created a three-year time frame to increase the output orientation and efficiency of the work (Stéger, 2014a). Their results are published as guidance for policymakers, literature reviews, PLA reports, or virtual toolkits (European Commission, 2018a). ...
... It is worth noting here the example of the Irish presidency in 2013, for which the Commission was waiting before launching the policy package on supporting teacher educators (Interview, EPE-13), a priority topic for Ireland's education and training agenda ('Ireland's Presidency' 2013). Overall, most presidencies in the decade between 2005-2014 targeted the improvement in the quality of teacher education (Stéger, 2014a). ...
Within the broader landscape of the European Higher Education Area, teacher education receives increasing significance as an academic field that contributes to the quality of the teaching labour force and consequently
impacts student learning. This paper aims to explore the European Teacher Education Area (ETEA) by analysing to what extent and how mechanisms, processes, and key agents of Europeanisation, internal or external to the European Union (EU), influence the transformation of teacher education policies and practices in Europe. Transformation is understood in the context of Europeanisation, and emphasis of the analysis is placed on the process rather than the content of transforming teacher education in Europe. To this end, data have been collected through document review and expert interviews with European policy officials. As a result of qualitative content analysis, the data have been clustered and analysed according to the following categories, which mutually reinforce each other: (1) policy coordination; (2) cross-sectoral instruments; (3) evidence-based management; (4) the Bologna process; (5) educational programmes; and (6) stakeholder pressure. Findings
provide a conceptual framework for mapping the ETEA as a complex policy ecosystem that includes vertical and horizontal procedures of Europeanisation. The EU has developed extensive capacities to influence teacher education in Europe and increasingly involves other sectors, such as employment, in this process.
... Symeonidis's study offers an analysis matrix with indicators and descriptors for further comparative studies (see Table 1). This goes beyond the concept of 'convergence' (Vidović & Domović, 2013) and of 'Europeanness' in teachers' work (Schratz, 2014), but takes up Miller's theoretical reflection on 'resonance' (Miller, 2015) and Stéger's triple level of teacher education description (Stéger, 2014), which defines and utilises teacher competencies, establishing a continuum of teacher professional development and providing support for teacher educators. The matrix assumes a broad concept of the 'continuum of teacher education' -as policy actions including connecting phases and perspectives, teacher learning needs, support structures, career paths, competence levels and connecting teacher development to school improvement (Symeonidis, 2018) -and identifies three analytic categories of the Europeanisation process: a. ...
... This method is useful for exploring the descriptive aspect of a case study and identifying potential causal processes through the so-called 'detailed narrative' , without a reference theory. The 'narrative' followed in the present study refers to three phases, corresponding to the three main reforms of teacher education, first described in essential characteristics, then narrowed down through three analytical categories: continuum, teacher competences and teacher educators (Stéger, 2014;Symeonidis, 2018Symeonidis, , 2021) (see Table 1). Table 2 shows the matrix of the comparative and longitudinal analysis of the latest reforms of initial teacher education in Italy. ...
The Covid-19 emergency compelled teachers to reshape their teaching approach. Teachers were able to better recognise technologies as a means of interaction and digital transformation as a driver for professional growth. The present paper addresses the Europeanisation of teacher education and professionalisation. This process, which recognises the specific histories and political cultures of national training systems while offering common categories of analysis, nowadays welcomes the challenge of the general digital transition. The aim of the paper is to focus on how the process of Europeanisation of teacher education in Italy is taking place. Two paths are proposed. The first is the presentation of a documentary review study of the latest ministerial reforms that interpret the European recommendations. The second is a description of the DidaSco continuous professional development programme at the University of Bari, which implements European recommendations and national directives through appropriate technological innovations, which have been made even more available since the pandemic. What emerges is the representation of a possible ‘Italian way’ to the Europeanisation of teacher training, as is being achieved through the opportunities of digital transformation.
... Previous research mentions some of the main EU documents on the subject and situates the EU as an influential actor in teacher policy debates. For example, Stégel (2014) provides an overview of the main European concepts in this area (such as teacher competences, the continuous professional development process, and support for teacher educators), and convergence towards the Europeanization of the different member states is considered beneficial. Caena (2014) highlights the role of competence frameworks as a cohesive instrument for teacher policy, which makes the EU a catalyst for change by providing European education systems with the opportunity to carry out national reforms in the teaching profession through these frameworks and their various recommendations. ...
... Since the ET 2010 programme was established, the EU has wanted to ensure that education systems have well-trained and appropriately skilled teachers. This research has indicated that interest in teaching has increased in recent years and the EU continues to establish itself as a key player in the public agenda, as previous studies have shown (Caena, 2014;Stégel, 2014). ...
The teaching profession is constantly changing, and teachers require new competences to carry out their work in a dynamic and complex context. Moreover, the role of the European Union is becoming increasingly decisive in influencing education policies in each member state. For this reason, the aim of this research is to identify and analyze the most relevant regulations for teachers, in order to examine the teacher competence profile from a supranational perspective. To achieve this objective, we have carried out a qualitative content analysis of the documentation generated (communications, recommendations, exchanges of good practice, and working reports) from 2000 to 2021. The study has been organized around the three strategic programmes of the EU: Education and Training (ET) 2010, 2020, and 2030. The results highlight the growing interest in the topic of teaching in the European context and the progressive incorporation 1 This work has been carried out in the framework of the research projects "Desarrollo profesional e iniciación docente en la universidad: Políticas, competencias docentes y retos para un mundo digital" of tools and guides for designing teaching careers. The main conclusions point to the importance of competence frameworks as a crosscutting instrument for articulating teacher policies. These findings may have practical implications, since educational policymakers can use them for guidance and reflection.
... Previous research mentions some of the main EU documents on the subject and situates the EU as an influential actor in teacher policy debates. For example, Stégel (2014) provides an overview of the main European concepts in this area (such as teacher competences, the continuous professional development process, and support for teacher educators), and convergence towards the Europeanization of the different member states is considered beneficial. Caena (2014) highlights the role of competence frameworks as a cohesive instrument for teacher policy, which makes the EU a catalyst for change by providing European education systems with the opportunity to carry out national reforms in the teaching profession through these frameworks and their various recommendations. ...
... Since the ET 2010 programme was established, the EU has wanted to ensure that education systems have well-trained and appropriately skilled teachers. This research has indicated that interest in teaching has increased in recent years and the EU continues to establish itself as a key player in the public agenda, as previous studies have shown (Caena, 2014;Stégel, 2014). ...
La profesión docente está en constante cambio y el profesorado requiere de nuevas competencias para desempeñar su trabajo en un contexto dinámico y complejo. Por otra parte, el papel que desempeña la Unión Europea (UE) está siendo cada vez más decisivo a la hora de influir en las políticas educativas de cada país. Por ello, esta investigación tiene como finalidad identificar la normativa más relevante sobre profesorado y analizarla para profundizar en el perfil competencial docente desde una perspectiva supranacional. Para alcanzar este objetivo se ha empleado un análisis de contenido cualitativo de la documentación generada por este organismo (comunicaciones, recomendaciones, intercambios de buenas prácticas e informes de trabajo) desde los años 2000 hasta el 2021. El estudio se ha organizado en torno a los tres programas estratégicos de Educación y Formación de la UE: ET2010, ET2020 y ET2030. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto el creciente interés sobre el perfil competencial docente en el contexto europeo y la progresiva incorporación de herramientas y guías para el diseño de la carrera profesional. Las principales conclusiones señalan la importancia que adquieren los marcos de competencias como instrumento transversal para articular las políticas de profesorado. Estos hallazgos pueden tener implicaciones en la práctica, pues pueden servir a los responsables en materia de política educativa como medio para la orientación y reflexión en torno a la carrera docente.
... Among various influential European trends related to improving the quality of teacher education, this paper focuses on the continuum of teacher professional development, which is a fundamental concept in European teacher policies (EDiTE, 2014;Stéger, 2014a). The continuum refers to a harmonised overarching unity of initial teacher education (ITE), induction, and continuous professional development (CPD), meaning that teachers are expected to develop continuously from a lifelong-learning perspective (Stéger, 2014a, p. 339). ...
... The development and dissemination of the continuum concept was the result of a two-way interaction process between the European Commission and member states. Stéger (2014a) argued that the EU raised awareness of the specific concept by setting it as a common goal of Council Conclusions irrespective of country characteristics, while member states shared their policies and practices and thus influenced European thinking. At a policy level, there is widespread agreement among member states on two priorities, namely the necessity to link the different phases of teacher education and the great significance of CPD for all teachers (Gassner, 2010, p. 36). ...
This paper aims to examine to what extent and how teacher education in Hungary reflects contemporary European policy and research developments with regard to the continuum of teacher education, meaning the overarching unity of initial teacher education, induction, and continuing professional development. First, the paper examines European policy documents to identify patterns and themes related to the continuum concept. Based on the specific analysis, a framework was developed to explore the continuum of teacher education and this was employed in the case of Hungary. Drawing from a content analysis of official documents and in-depth interviews with national policy experts and teacher educators as well as focus groups with teachers, the paper continues by analysing the development of teacher education in Hungary from the introduction of the Bologna reforms in 2005 to the restoration of undivided initial teacher education in 2012 and the implementation of a new system for the teacher career path in 2013. The findings indicate that while Hungary has adopted several structural elements related to the continuum which reflect European thinking, a lack of interconnections among the different phases of teacher education is apparent.
... Tekintettel kell lennünk egy specif0 ikus vonásra. Alapvetésként fogadjuk el a szakmai fejlődés kontinuitását, és a szakmai fejlődést itt most tágabban értelmezzük, vagyis beleértjük magát az alapkép-zést, a gyakornoki szakaszt és a pedagógus önálló szakmai fejlődésének a szakaszát (Falus, 2004;Stéger, 2014). Mindebből pedig az következik, hogy vizsgálati szempontjaink között helyet kap, hogy az adott intézmény bekapcsolódik-e, és milyen mértékben a pedagógushallgatók, a kezdő pedagógusok (gyakornokok) szakmai támogatásába és a pedagógus-továbbképzésekbe. ...
Az oktatás globális trendjei meghatározzák a pedagógusképzés fejlődési lehetőségeit. A minőség mint alapvető elvárás ernyőfogalomként azonosítható. Annak egyik fontos szempontja az elmélet és a gyakorlat összekapcsolása, a pedagógusjelöltek, a gyakornokok és a pedagógusok szakmai fejlődésének, tanulásának folyamatos biztosítása. A szakmai fejlesztő iskolák már léteznek a világban előtérbe helyezve a kutatásalapú pedagógusképzés és - továbbképzés szemléletét. Számos nemzetközi tapasztalat áll rendelkezésünkre. A kérdés, hogy van-e akarat állami és akadémiai szinten a koncepció támogatására. Tanulmányunkban a megvalósítás egy lehetséges módjára teszünk javaslatot az alulról jövő helyi kezdeményezéseket alapul véve.
... Buena parte de los principales cambios que comienzan a animar el debate del estudio de la europeización de la formación del profesorado se sitúan precisamente más allá de la dimensión estrictamente académica para abordar el análisis desde un continuo que permita abordar el desarrollo profesional del profesorado (Stéger, 2014;Roberts-Hull et al., 2015;Darling-Hammond et al., 2017), especialmente en línea con los planteamientos promovidos por la Unión Europea y los programas de Educación y Formación 2010-2030 vinculados con la agenda del aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida (European Commission 2015; Monarca & Manso, 2015;Manso et al., 2019). Asentándose en premisas de corte neo-institucionalistas, la europeización se puede entender como un proceso histórico de interacción e intercambio entre los estados miembros y la Unión Europea y que busca definir el estado de la cuestión actual de la adaptación institucional no en términos de convergencia, armonización o integración de políticas y desarrollos supra-nacionales (Marginson & van der Wende, 2009;Flockhat, 2010) sino desde una aproximación investigadora que se centre también en los efectos (en ocasiones negativos) que tienen dichas macro-políticas sobre las prácticas institucionalizadas de actores domésticos (Weidman et al., 2014), que utilizan en forma desigual los recursos del sistema y con arreglo a un diverso y asimétrico conjunto de creencias y valores (Mikulec & Skubic, 2016). ...
En un contexto mundial y europeo que ha transformado de un modo profundo las agendas educativas bajo una serie de parámetros y marcos de actuación orientados por lógicas basadas en el gerencialismo económico de los sistemas educativos y la búsqueda de su eficiencia en detrimento en muchas ocasiones de la equidad, el artículo tiene por objetivo identificar cuáles son las racionalidades culturales que sustentan los discursos docentes respecto de la formación inicial del profesorado y también en el ámbito de la educación obligatoria. La investigación parte de un estudio de caso realizado sobre un material empírico cuyas fuentes serían: a) una revisión sistemática de la literatura y el análisis documental, b) la consulta a expertos en innovación educativa en Ed. Secundaria a través de la metodología Delphi; c) una entrevista en profundidad a docentes universitarios en formación inicial de profesorado, y d) un cuestionario semi-estructurado con estudiantes egresados de los grados de Infantil y Primaria. El análisis de datos nos ha permitido considerar tres racionalidades subyacentes que sostendrían parte de las políticas actuales respecto de la profesión docente y la formación del profesorado en el contexto europeo, y que hemos denominado como reproductora, emprendedora e inclusiva, respectivamente. La discusión de resultados parece confirmar que las agendas formativas implementadas a nivel europeo son percibidas o implementadas, para el caso español que utilizamos a modo de caso de estudio, no sin ambigüedades o susceptibles de problematización y cuestionamiento. Los resultados apuntan a cuestiones como la educación para una ciudadanía global y postnacional; la profundidad y alcance real de los cambios que introduce el discurso innovador; las tensiones generadas con la emergencia de la sociedad digital; o el compromiso hacia una pedagogía socialmente relevante, inclusiva y ligada a los bienes comunes del conocimiento.
... As Darling-Hammond and her colleagues (2017) stated: "Research into educational performance around the globe increasingly points to the role of a strong teaching workforce in achieving a high-performing system" (p.5). Improving the quality of the EU's teacher labour force has long been at the top of the bloc's education policy agenda (Stéger, 2014;Symeonidis, 2017a). Over the past 15 years, the European Commission has been supporting a number of specific activities related to teacher learning and, through this, the emergence of a common European thinking on how teacher learning can be improved. ...
This chapter is about teacher learning and innovation in Hungarian schools. It focuses on two parallel and complementary processes: how teacher learning enhances innovation and how innovation influences teacher learning. It conceives teacher education in a broad sense, encompassing initial training, induction and continuous professional development. It demonstrates how teacher learning, when embedded in innovation processes, changes the meaning of teacher education and transforms its institutional practices. The chapter presents the consecutive educational reforms and development interventions that have spurred innovation processes in the Hungarian school system, and how this transformed the way teachers acquire the competences they need in a context where adaptation to rapid changes has become a daily requirement. The evidence presented in this paper shows a shift from traditional teacher education to practice-based, life-long forms of teacher learning. This chapter has an empirical focus: it provides evidences based on several surveys exploring school level innovation processes, the impact of development programs and forms of teacher learning.KeywordsTeacher learningTeacher educationEducational innovationPractice-based learning
... Ezt az igényt azonban nemcsak a pedagógusok tudásának vagy kompetenciáinak újragondolása, hanem a pedagógusok tanulásáról alkotott képünk változása is igényli. A pedagógusképzésről vagy a pedagógusok szakmai tudásának fejlesztéséről beszélve gyakran használjuk a kontinuum fogalmát, ami magában foglalja a kezdő pedagógusképzést, a munkába állást követő "betanulást" (induction) és a folyamatos szakmai fejlesztés rendszerét (Stéger, 2014). Minél inkább a két utóbbira irányul a figyelmünk, annál kevésbé gondoljuk, hogy a felsőoktatásé lenne a főszerep. ...
... teacher shortages and lack of prestige) and solutions to problems (e.g. improvement of teacher education) (Stéger 2014). Central to such "EU level" discourse on teacher education is arguably the perceived vital role teachers play in advancing human potential, shaping future generations, and influencing society (Simões, Lourenço, and Costa 2018). ...
This dissertation aims to explain through “contrasting-comparison” the teacher education
policymaking processes in the “educative-states” England and France. Through a comprehensive neo-
institutionalist conceptual framework the analysis tracks changes from 1980s to the present. In this
period, teacher education has moved in England from a fractured academia centred system to a
mosaic school-led system, and in France from a highly segmented form of initial teacher education
provision with limited university involvement, towards increasing harmonization and structured
university involvement in all facets of teacher education.
The four main foci of the thesis are the characteristics of the institutionalized environments
and organizational fields of the two cases, the increase in claims to possess “evidence of what works”
by actors in (teacher) education, the socio-historical roots of the two cases current systems of
teacher education and discursive practices (rationalisations), and how we can characterise change in
their policy trajectories.
The result of these cases‘ contrasting trajectories, and the subsequent different compositions
of their organizational fields, is a much higher degree of academia based teacher educator access to
influencing teacher education policymaking in France than in England. However, at present, in both
cases, the central state is the dominant actor in teacher education, and all other actors must relate to
its norms and structuring coercive force. Additionally, major change has happened in the teacher
education fields in both cases, as the structures of provision has been altered. However, old tensions
centred on the role of research and theory versus the role of practical experience remain central in
both cases.
The current practices, I argue, are in England rooted in a gradual imposition of the politico-
administrative field and institutionalized environment of the state on the teacher education field and
environment due to cognitive blueprints centred on accountability through standards and
measurement in (teacher) education that began in structural terms in 1984, and in discursive form in
the 1960s. As a result of this, “evidence”, predominantly in the form of quantifiable data, has
become the central tool of policymaking, while the dominant normative voice in teacher education
has shifted from academia to high performing school leaders. The main theoretical insights granted
by analysing these changes in England are that the transformative power of overlapping fields rest in
the imposition of new norms, coercive tools, and cognitive-blueprints that may occur from one field
to the other and the osmosis of ideas and ideations as the joining of fields bring different
institutionalized environments into direct contact with each other.
In France, the central characteristics of teacher education policymaking are the strong
normative position of the state granted through path dependence from the values of the French revolution, the rationalised myth of state meritocracy and Jacobinism, and a close integration of
state and education since the 19th century. The outcome of the French trajectory is an apparently
static system, with some incremental changes that is mainly characterised by a singular event of
drastic transformation, namely the creation of the IUFM in 1989. All subsequent policies have been
predominantly aimed at implementing the vision of the IUFM. The changes brought new
complications to the relation between teacher education and the university, however, the teacher
education field is also lacking in a dominant voice as multiple actors all enjoy a right to be heard.
Meanwhile, the state approach to policymaking remains centred on “experts-as-evidence” where
professionals with a recognised authority to speak on education remain the primary sources of “what
works”. A central theoretical insight here is how long-held beliefs can ossify and become structuring
myths that are taken for granted by all major actors, rendering an environment static in its scope of
possible ideations, but sufficient contestation centred on perceived shortfalls and clear solutions may
create conditions for change that has transformative implications for multiple organizational fields.
... European Commission, 2010, 2013a. Presidencies allow Member States to bring to the attention of EU policymakers challenges and good policy examples, with most of the TE related objectives aiming at improving the quality of TE (Stéger, 2014). Since the launch of the OMC, evidencebased policymaking in education has been a flagship of the Commission (cf. ...
After years of integration and efforts to converge European education, the EU has visibly gained influence on various aspects of national education systems, including teacher education. This paper explores whether, and to what extent, European expectations and policy initiatives, focusing particularly on the Bologna process, have an influence on national teacher education systems. Taking the German teacher education system as an example, the paper argues that despite the harmonising influence of the Bologna process, systems of teacher education within Europe retain a strong national and even regional character, being far from uniform. Findings reveal that the diversity of teacher education within Germany has grown and that teacher education institutions within Germany are still primarily regulated by national or even regional bodies, which effectively resist increasing pressures to converge European teacher education systems.
... Benefits of CPD Quality of education is strongly dependent on the quality of teachers, a function of their knowledge and mastery of subject content, appropriate teaching methods and professional values. All of which have been shown to be improved by continuous professional development (Barrera-Pedemonte, 2016;Desimone, 2009;Murchan, Loxley, & Johnston, 2009;Stéger, 2014). Investments in the quality of teachers therefore produce the highest increases in learning outcomes compared to other investments aimed at improving learning. ...
In a world of continuous change in technology and modes of work organization, the quality and relevance of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is heavily reliant on the up to datedness of the competencies of TVET teachers. This requires TVET teachers to engage in Continuous Professional Development (CPD). Effective continuing professional development is however an outcome of a policy framework that stimulates and sustains CPD. In the absence of such policy framework, CPD provision is erratic and as a consequence, the quality of TVET declines. Kenya's TVET is characterized by erratic provision and low uptake of TVET teacher CPD. From a review of key education policy documents in Kenya, policy intent to address the low uptake of CPD is identified, however, it is noted that the policies do not provide clear guidelines for the provision of CPD, financing and benefits for CPD. Using Kingdon's Multiple Streams framework, it is hypothesised that these policy gaps are indicative of the lack of clear and viable policy options to stimulate and sustain CPD. Research on current CPD practices, international and regional policies and acceptability of CPD policies by teachers is suggested to resolve the policy gaps.
... 15, 16). As stressed by several authors (Caena, 2014;Stéger, 2014;Symeonidis, 2018), the definition of teacher competences has become a key element of EU teacher-related policies and it was given a particularly strong impetus by the adoption and implementation of EQF. It is important to stress, however, that the European teacher competence framework as presented in the 2013 Commission's report never gained the same level of political recognition as student competences in the 2006 recommendation of the Council and the Parliament. 2 It must also be stressed that there are parallel, competing teacher competence frameworks that are related to specific areas, such as foreign language teaching or professional education and this increases complexity in this area. ...
Competence frameworks are important tools to regulate professions and professional activities in modern societies. They can be used to ensure and improve the quality of professional work, to communicate the needs of society and clients to professionals, to orientate professional development and to support ethical professional behaviour. This powerful tool is often used by teacher policies aimed at improving the quality of teacher work. The use of competence frameworks as a quality improvement tool has been strongly encouraged by qualification frameworks based on competence descriptions. This article is a concise and revised version of one of the chapters of a study published by the European Commission proposing the use of competence frameworks as an integrative policy tool to “boost teacher quality”. It suggests that competence frameworks can be used as the core component of an integrated policy mix supporting the improvement of teacher quality in education systems. It is suggested that this “transversal” policy tool is used to ensure the coherence of various policy measures.
... 15, 16). As stressed by several authors (Caena, 2014;Stéger, 2014;Symeonidis, 2018), the definition of teacher competences has become a key element of EU teacher-related policies and it was given a particularly strong impetus by the adoption and implementation of EQF. It is important to stress, however, that the European teacher competence framework as presented in the 2013 Commission's report never gained the same level of political recognition as student competences in the 2006 recommendation of the Council and the Parliament. 2 It must also be stressed that there are parallel, competing teacher competence frameworks that are related to specific areas, such as foreign language teaching or professional education and this increases complexity in this area. ...
... Quality of education is strongly dependent on the quality of teachers, a function of their knowledge and mastery of subject content, appropriate teaching methods and professional values. All of which have been shown to be improved by continuous professional development(Barrera-Pedemonte, 2016; Desimone, 2009;Murchan, Loxley, & Johnston, 2009;Stéger, 2014). Investments in the quality of teachers therefore produce the highest increases in learning outcomes compared to other investments aimed at improving learning. ...
The quality of education, and in particular Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), is strongly dependent on the competencies of teachers. The competencies of teachers are however dependent on how well they continue to learn and update their knowledge and skills. However, literature suggests that a significant number of TVET teachers in Kenya do not engage in effective continuing professional development. This is in turn attributed to the lack of adequate policies to guide and sustain the continuing professional development of TVET teachers; indeed a review of the current policies on the continuing professional development of TVET Teachers in Kenya shows that the policies are underdeveloped and presented in policy documents focused on broader issues in education. To remedy the situation, a review of existing policies is recommended while presenting various policy proposals.
... Given the rapid societal changes that directly affect schooling and the long careers of many teachers, teachers' development must be viewed in terms of on-going learning (Schleicher, 2018[61]). Throughout teachers' careers, the competences acquired during initial teacher training need to be enhanced, complemented and expanded, and the experience gained through teaching in classrooms need to be regularly reflected, processed, sorted out and improved to respond to the changing requisites of schoolingthis can happen through professional development (European Commission, 2015 [89]; Steen and Scheerens, 2010 [130]). Professional development can take different forms, such as dissemination conferences, workshops (e.g. on new subject-matter content), school-based activities (e.g. ...
... Burton et al. (2013) emphasized the importance of educational innovation for an organization in the rapidly changing society; especially, when knowledge largely participated in affecting organizational activity, i.e. the knowledge-based economy era, an organization could overcome challenges by rapid self-adaptation. Nesje (2015) explained that effective environmental education could foster the environmental knowledge management and rapid innovation in an organization and enhance the organizational members' constant learning and environmental professional development (Stéger, 2014). Gurung & Landrum (2012) mentioned that the environmental education in an organization, in the knowledge-based economy era, could achieve effective environmental knowledge management to further enhance the intangible assets of the organization. ...
Advanced technology enhances the rapid development of civilization. When the living standard is promoted, people start to pursue higher-quality material needs and mind contentment. The prevalence of leisure and entertainment has travel become an essential part of life. Along with the increasing tourist population, rural ecological environments and historical & cultural monuments are utilized for many tourist spots to cope with above needs as well as attract people who live in urban jungles leaving cities for scenery appreciation and local culture experiencing in countryside. Aiming at Yongchun Niumulin Ecological Tourism Zone, the supervisors and employees, with random sampling, are distributed 320 copies of questionnaire. Total 243 valid copies are retrieved, with the retrieval rate 76%. The research results reveal significant correlations between 1.knowledge management and environmental education, 2.environmental education and professional performance, as well as 3.knowledge management and professional performance. According to the research results, suggestions are eventually proposed in this study, expecting to assist domestic eco-tourism in stable and continuous growth.
... The findings and discussion complement existing education policy research on the EC (see e.g. Caena, 2014;Stéger, 2014), the OECD, and the World Bank. Yet, by unpacking the practical argumentation of the three organizations, the paper has provided a distinctive critique which identifies the premises and conclusions put forward. ...
The objective of this paper is to provide an explanatory critique of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Bank, and the European Commission with regard to their policy recommendations concerning teacher appraisal and feedback. The paper combines the distinctive research agendas of historical institutionalism and critical cultural political economy of education. Together, these are harnessed to identify, explain and discuss the practical reasoning of the political discourses adopted in the OECD, the European Commission and the World Bank with regard to teacher appraisal and feedback. The analysis of the three organizations' political discourses is conducted on the basis of key policy documents issued by the three organizations in the period 2005-2015. Emphasizing the argumentative dimensions of political discourse, the methodological framework enables the formulation of diachronic accounts of OECD, World Bank and European Commission teacher policy discourses during the ten-year period as well as synchronic, 'snapshot' direct comparison between the three organizations. The paper highlights the varying practical reasoning concerning teacher appraisal and feedback adopted by the three organizations, including their references to value-added modelling and performance-based incentives. The major conclusion is that while all three organizations strongly advocate the establishment of formal appraisal and feedback systems for teachers, each of them has distinctive objectives and strategies in the area. The paper puts the analysis into perspective by discussing the various claims for action, goals and underlying values advocated by the OECD, the World Bank, and the European Commission in relation to three issues: i) how do the governance and decision-making structure of the three organizations influence policy recommendations with regard to teacher appraisal and feedback systems?; ii) do the three organizations refer to the same research evidence on teacher appraisal and feedback?; and iii) how do the different emphases in the practical argumentation concerning teacher policy reflect power relations between funding donors and recipients, between the Global North and the Global South? The paper complements existing critical academic literature on the implications associated with the thickening of global educational governance over the last 20 years that has been accompanied by unprecedented policy debate on teachers and how the profession might contribute to student learning and economic growth. The OECD, European Commission and the World Bank have launched numerous initiatives on teacher policy over the past decade. By providing focused diachronic and synchronic accounts of the political discourses of these three major policy actors in the global educational policy field, this paper adds significantly to our understanding of the mechanisms driving global educational governance.
... The RESL.eu study observed that students who are most at risk are sometimes hard to reach through regular student-teacher-meetings, and therefore to reach these students, targeted support by additional staff is highly relevant . Many schools with high numbers of marginalised students also have high levels of fluctuation among their teaching and support staff (Stéger, 2014;European Commission, 2015a;OECD, 2016), which hinders the development of longterm relationships of support, and the establishment of a sustainable supportive relational culture. The long-term development of a culture of supportive relationships also repeatedly fails due to a lack of stable financial support (European Commission, 2012;Nouwen et al., 2015;De Witte et al., 2015). ...
International evidence indicates that school systems need to change in order to tackle early school leaving and improve social inclusion in education and society. Policy-makers and school actors require practical tools to assist them in this process, made all the more urgent by the EU2020 headline target to reduce early school leaving. This report develops such practical tools; it is designed to inform strategic policy and practice by offering an innovative framework of structural indicators for early school leaving prevention and inclusion in school. It draws upon key European Council and Commission policy documents on early school leaving prevention, and also on the Paris Declaration 2015 on promoting common values of freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination through education, which includes a focus on social marginalization.
Denne fjerde NAFOL-boken er nok et viktig bidrag til kunnskapsfeltet om og for lærerutdanningen. Som tidligere NAFOL-bøker inneholder den en samling av forskningsartikler om verdi og validitet i lærerutdanningsforskning som krysser nasjonale grenser, fagdisipliner og ikke minst utdanningsnivå, fra barnehage til videregående og forskeropplæringen. Med artikler fra England, Østerrike, Italia, Island og Norge gir boken et innblikk i dagens internasjonale lærerutdanningsforskning, særlig med tanke på at data er hentet inn fra Hviterussland og hele Europa. Også i denne boken har vi valgt å beholde originalspråket artiklene er skrevet på, og det er med glede vi ser at flere norske forskere melder seg inn i det internasjonale forskningsmiljøet ved å skrive på engelsk. Samtidig er det viktig å ivareta det norske språket i forskningsformidlingen, og denne boken søker etter å finne en balanse mellom internasjonal og nasjonal formidling. Det er et stort mangfold både i forskningstematikken og forskningsmetoder, noe som preger forskningsfeltet. NAFOL står sentralt i denne positive utviklingen med sine vel 200 tidligere og nåværende stipendiater. NAFOL-bøkene, og ikke minst denne boken, gir et godt bilde av dagens lærerutdanningsforskning. NAFOLs arbeid og bidrag til lærerutdanningsforskning er kjent langt utover Norge, og denne boken symboliserer den internasjonale dialogen om lærerutdanningsforskning som NAFOL aktivt deltar i. Boken er en unik kilde for forskere som ønsker å holde seg oppdatert om norsk og internasjonal lærerutdanningsforskning.
Academisation appears to be the adopted approach to meet 21 st Century's educational expectations in the United Kingdom. By its inception in the year 2000 and the enactment of the Academies Act (2010), the government is enforcing that all existing maintained schools, as well as new schools, acquire the academies or free school status. The import of this policy is to hand over the administration of schools into the hands of private investors, subjecting the education system to competitiveness and market forces in order to improve upon its quality. Funds from the government are made available to schools directly instead of going through the Local Education Authorities (LEAs). The academies programme has been criticized as undermining the teaching profession. Market forces and competition have increased the choice levels of parents and learners, subjecting the teaching profession to strict adherence to an academic-oriented delivery and evaluation which are argued to narrow the scope of the profession. The policy's noteworthy stance is to make more funds available to schools. However, the voice of the professionals who are involved in its daily implementation seems not to be heard through the policy. This study sought to determine if school practitioners were satisfied with the policy. Quantitative data were collected by modifying and utilizing Spector's (1997) Job Satisfaction Survey to assess the overall satisfaction as well as the four main facets of academies most critiqued: pay, promotion, nature of the work and working conditions. Five null hypotheses were tested by relating the overall satisfaction alongside job title, gender, age, years of service in current school and years of service in teaching. It was found and concluded that, even though school and classroom leaders are slightly dissatisfied with the policy, school leaders (headteachers and their assistants) were more satisfied than classroom leaders. iii
During the past twenty years, an accelerating process of Europeanization of national policies related to teachers and teacher education has been witnessed, so that various policy initiatives have emerged at the level of the EU. The aim of this article is to examine how teacher education is defi ned and consolidated in EU teacher-related policies over time and what changes this implies for teacher education policy and practice in Europe. The analysis draws on document review of offi cial EU policy documents, focusing on those developed after the Lisbon Strategy in 2000, when the EU formally adopted an education policy. Process tracing helped to analyze the data on chronological order, clustering the fi ndings on distinct historical periods. The fi ndings suggest that teacher education has received increasing value in EU policy discourse over time. The focus of EU policy cooperation in teacher education gradually shifted from cultural towards economic and employment priorities, in line with the developments of the EU's education and training agenda. Professional mobility remained a key priority for policy cooperation, but new trends emerged over time, with most prominent the continuum of teacher education, the development of teacher competence frameworks and the support to teacher educators.
Quality of educational services is highly dependent on competent teachers. Thus, the competency-based framework for teacher education has become an important issue across Europe. This approach in Europe has greatly reflected in the field of adult learning and education. There are five research projects dedicated to identifying competences of adult learning facilitators, involving regional countries or all the Member States of the European Union. Based on the results of the five research projects, this paper has a twofold aim: 1) to describe those research projects and their identified competences for adult learning and 2) to analyse the common competences identified by all the five research projects. The distinct scopes of teacher's competences and teaching competences are offering the framework for analysis. We found ten common competences that are particularly relevant to teaching roles of adult learning facilitators in Europe. Moreover, the analyses revealed that adult learning facilitators need to possess teacher competences that are relevant to institutional administration. Our conclusion is that there are common competences for adult learning facilitators which are relevant to both teaching and teacher competences.
This book explores the phenomenon and process of Europeanisation in the field of teacher education. Drawing on comparative case studies in Austria, Greece and Hungary, it examines empirical data and analyses key themes around the continuum of teacher education, the development of teacher competence frameworks, and the support to teacher educators.
The book is the first of its kind to systematically research the landscape of European teacher education, exploring the interactions between national and European influences in the trajectory of teacher education policy and practice. Chapters offer an original and in-depth understanding of European influences that draw on evidence from policy documents and interviews with relevant stakeholders. It argues that teacher education systems are being Europeanised, although at different speeds and directions for each country. Factors such as the socio-political and economic contexts, historical traits and policy actors’ preferences at both national and institutional levels determine the translation process.
This book will be of great interest for academics, educational researchers, practitioners and policymakers in Europe and beyond, informing wider discussions about the emerging European context in teacher education, education policy and what it means to be a European teacher.
Während der letzten zehn Jahre hat sich Österreich durch die Reform der PädagogInnenbildung Neu schrittweise von einem Land mit einem zweigliedrigen Bildungssystem, welches nach Schultypen unterscheidet, zu einem System entwickelt, das auf einer gemeinsamen Ausbildung für Lehrerinnen und Lehrer der Sekundarstufe basiert. Lebenslanges Lernen und Kompetenzorientierung wurden zu essentiellen Bestandteilen, das Bologna-System wurde für die universitäre und die hochschulische Ausbildung eingeführt. Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es, am Beispiel des Entwicklungsverbunds West in Österreich zu verdeutlichen, wie und in welchem Ausmaß die Ausbildung von Lehrerinnen und Lehrern in Österreich von europäischen Entwicklungen beeinflusst wurde. Die Daten wurden mithilfe von Interviews und durch Sichtung bereits vorhandener Dokumente zum Thema erstellt und mit der Methode des qualitativen Process-Tracing ausgewertet. Die Schlussfolgerungen zeigen, dass die Entwicklung der PädagogInnenbildung Neu stark von den europäischen Empfehlungen geprägt wurde, speziell, wenn man sich das Kontinuum der Lehrerinnen-und Lehrerbildung und seine verschiedenen Phasen anschaut; dasselbe gilt für die Kom-petenzorientierung in der Grundbildung und die Anwendung von Lernergebnissen.
The article analyses the interaction between the European Commission and a sample of educational authorities in Spain with regard to the policy against early school leaving. Although this member state scores the highest proportion of early school leavers, apparently it is not adopting some key recommendations issued by the Commission. In fact, while educational policy studies regret this ‘resistance’, studies on EU policies suggest that the EU and the states normally negotiate the ambition and the evaluation of policies in complex ways. In this vein, the article draws on a method of discourse analysis to observe to what extent these educational authorities ‘frame’ the policy in the same terms and share a similar rationale or ‘theory of change’. In brief, the findings point out that the EU, the Government of Spain and two significant regional governments retrieve a similar ‘frame’ but do not agree regarding the ‘theory of change’.
Teaching and teachers have recently become the centre of attention of policy makers and researchers. The general idea here is that teaching matters. Yet the question that is either not asked or is only answered implicitly is why teaching matters. In this article I engage with this question in the context of a wider discussion about the role, status and significance of the question of purpose in education. I suggest that this is the most fundamental question in all educational endeavours. It is a normative question which poses itself as a multi-dimensional question, since education always functions in relation to three domains of purpose: qualification, socialisation and subjectification. Against this background I analyse the specific nature of teacher judgement in education and show how the space for teacher judgement is being threatened by recent developments in educational policy and practice that concern the status of the student, the impact of accountability and the role of evidence. I indicate how, where and why these are problematic and what this implies for regaining a space for teachers’ professional judgement.
In 2007, the EU is celebrating both the 50th Anniversary of the Treaty of Rome and the 20 years of existence of its flagship programme, Erasmus, thus recalling that the EU is more than its economic, agricultural or monetary policies and that it develops also as a community of peoples. Education has a key role to play in this respect. This article provides an insight into how community cooperation in the field of education developed since its inception at the beginning of the 70s. It analyses more specifically how this cooperation and the one in the field of training evolved over the years, first in parallel and then in a more integrated manner, in particular from the 90s onwards, to form what is now a common platform to support lifelong leaning and the 2010 goals set by the Lisbon Strategy.
Oktatás az Európai Unióban, Tanulás és Együttmuködés
- G. Halász
The European Social Fund: Education and Lifelong Learning
- D. McAnaney
- O M. Delmartin
- J. Nunez
The First Ten Years after Bologna
- P. S. Holdsworth
Teacher Education Policy in Europe: a Voice of Higher Education Institutions
- M. Snoek
- U. Uzerli
- M. Schratz
Teachers Professional Development with Assistance of ePortfolio Solution of Teachers Education
- Estonian Research Council
Council Resolution on lifelong learning
- Council of the European Union
Open Method of Coordination
- Eurofound
Conclusions of the European Council of 17
- European Council