The teacher educator: a neglected factor in the ...jtj/PLA June/Snoek-Swennen-vdKlink...

The quality of teacher educators in the European policy debateActions and measures to improve professionalism of teacher educatorsMarco Snoek, Hogeschool van Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Anja Swennen, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Marcel van der Klink, Celstec, Open University of the Netherlands, The Netherlands

Abstract

Recent studies identified the teacher as the most important factor influencing the quality of

education. It is then likely to assume that the teacher educator is the most important factor

influencing the quality of teacher education. This paper examines how the contemporary European

policy debate addresses the quality and status of teacher educators. Using a classification

framework based on literature on professions and professionalism, seven European policy

documents are analysed and national policy actions and measures in 16 European countries are

compared.

The findings show that the policy documents have limited attention for teacher educators

and their professionalism. On the level of individual member states the professionalism of teacher

educators receives more policy attention. These policies mostly are part of general policies for

higher education teachers while the initiative lies with governments and teacher education

institutes. The role of the professionals themselves in developing their profession seems very

limited.

Keywords: Teacher educator, teacher policy, European policy, professionalism

Introduction

Teachers are considered the most important in-school impact factor on the quality of student

achievement. In the McKinsey report How the world’s best-performing schoolsystems come out

on top this is stated clearly: ‘The available evidence suggests that the main driver of the variation

in student learning at school is the quality of the teachers’ (Barber and Mourshed 2007, 12).

Based on large scale research Hattie (2009) suggests that the quality of teachers has a larger

impact on the learning of pupils than the quality of the curriculum, the teaching methods, the

school building or the role of parents. As a result of the widely acknowledged importance of

teachers much attention is given to policies with respect to teacher quality, both on a national and

the European level. The European Council and the European Commission have published policy

documents and recommendations for quality improvement of teachers and teacher education and

stimulate national governments to invest in the improvement of teacher quality (Commission

2005, 2007; European Council 2007, 2009). These governing bodies also stimulate processes of

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Marco Snoek, Anja Swennen & Marcel van der Klink: The quality of teacher educators in the European policy debate.

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peer learning and the exchange of policies and practices across Europe (see for example Snoek,

Uzerli and Schratz 2008).

When the general consensus is that teachers are the most important in-school factor

influencing the quality of their pupils’ learning, it seems appropriate to assume that teacher

educators are an important factor influencing the quality of the learning of student teachers. The

issue of the quality of the teacher educator then becomes an issue of paramount importance. So,

given the European attention for the quality of teachers and teacher education, one would expect

attention for the quality and professionalism of the teacher educators within the European policy

debate.

In this paper we discuss to what extent European policy documents and national policies

indeed identify the quality of teacher educators as a topic of policy concern. To be such a topic of

concern, it is essential that teacher educators are recognized as a specialized professional group

within education. The emergence of the teacher educator profession as such a specialized

professional group is reflected in the establishment of national and international associations, like

the American Association of Teacher Education (ATE), the Association of Teacher Education in

Europe (ATEE) and the Dutch Association of Teacher Educators (VELON). These professional

associations, each with their own journals, can be regarded as an indication that teacher

educators see themselves as a specialized professional group with a specialized professional

knowledge base. In this paper therefore we address the quality of teacher educators in the policy

debate from the perspective of the concept of ‘professionalism of teacher educators’, leading to

the following research question: ‘To what extend is the professionalism of teacher educators a

topic of concern within education policies in Europe?’

In the next section we elaborate on the notion of professionalism and measures and actions

to enhance professionalism. We than describe the used methodology of this explorative study

and outline the development of the instruments. The findings will be presented, followed by the

conclusions and recommendations for further research and a discussion of the methodology and

the findings.

Professionalism of teachers and teacher educators

Although the English word ‘profession’ may refer to occupations in general the word was

originally used for high status occupations, like medicine, law or architecture. The members of

these prestigious professions and their patients and clients as well, attach certain, positive,

characteristics to these professions. In the classical view on professions five main features can

be identified:

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Monopoly of the members of the profession and control over their own work. (see e.g.

Freidson 2001);

A prominent role of the profession regarding the entry requirements, further professional

development of the individual members and judgment and exclusion of the members who do

not keep to the professional standards and ethical code;

An ethical code to serve as a guideline for good conduct of the members of the profession

and to win the trust of the public and public bodies (often governments) (Evetts 2006);

Academic knowledge (Abbott 1988), formal knowledge or technical knowledge (Goodson and

Hargreaves 1996);

The freedom of establishment, so members do not have a job contract but are independent

and self employed.

It goes without saying that teaching and teacher education have never been regarded as true,

classical professions. Teaching, like nursing, social work and librarianship, was called a semi-

profession (Etzioni 1969) or sub-profession (Marcus 1975). Members of semi-professions are

less autonomous than those of the true professions and they work within organisations and

institutes, like schools, hospitals and libraries that are characterised by bureaucracy and

hierarchy. The autonomy of teachers and schools is furthermore limited by the influence of

governments that are involved in decisions on the content of the curriculum and the pedagogy of

the teachers (see Snoek and Žogla 2009; Whitty, 2008). Also the academic levels of the teaching

and teacher education professions are limited. Within Europe the there are different requirements

for teacher educators (see Snoek and Žogla 2009; Murray, Swennen, and Shagrir 2009), but it is

still relatively rare for teacher educators, in particular those working with pre-school and primary

school teacher education, to be research trained and/or to have carried out post-graduate studies

(Erixon, Frånberg, and Kallós 2001).

Over the last decades the term ‘new professionalism’ has been broadly used to refer to the

work of members of various occupations that can not be regarded as classical professions, such

as teachers, social workers and civil servants (Eraut 1994; Evans 2008; Goodson and

Hargreaves 1996). Although the meaning of the concept ‘new professionalism’ is somewhat

blurred and varies from author to author and context to context, there are some general

characteristics. Several authors mention the strong emphasis on output requirements initiated by

the government and not by the professionals themselves. This is certainly the case for teaching

and teacher education in which national governments enforce change and innovations by laws

and accreditation procedures of schools and higher education institutions (Eraut 1994; Evans

2008). In connection to the notion of accountability assessments of professional performance has

entered many occupations to gain detailed insights into the contribution of professional activities

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to achieve the intended outcomes There is now more pressure on teachers to focus on

established goals and aims, test children and monitor learning more closely (Hattie 2009).

Authors on new professionalism also stress the importance of a professional knowledge

base, which needs not only be formal and academic like in the classical professions but can also

be the result of experience and reflection. This implies the implementation of standards

describing competences and qualifications of beginners and expert members of professions

(Eraut 1994). The concept of new professionalism does also emphasize the improvement and

innovation of work and the continuous renewal of concepts, methods and tools (Evans 2008).

Professionalism gives way to new forms of relationships and collaboration with colleagues and

stakeholders moving away from the traditional professional authority and autonomy (Hargreaves

1994; Whitty 2008) and to increased attention (and resources) for professional development and

lifelong learning of professionals throughout their careers.

Methodology

To answer the initial research question ‘To what extend is the professionalism of teacher

educators a topic of concern within education policies in Europe?’ a distinction was made

between national policies and European policies. As nation policies include guidelines and

regulations, the research question can be reformulated in ‘What issues of professionalism of

teacher educators are addressed in policies at the level of individual member states’. On the

European level, policy documents do not have a legislative status but are formulated in terms of

recommendations, so the research question needs to be reformulated in ‘What measures and

actions on professionalism of teacher educators are proposed in policies on the European level?’.

This has lead to a two stage approach, where on the one hand representatives from national

governments were asked about existing national policies that focus on the professionalism of

teacher educators, while on the other hand relevant European policy documents were analyzed

to identify which issues of professionalism of teacher educators were addressed.

Actions and measures to increase the professionalism of teacher educatorsFor both approaches, a framework is needed to analyse national and European policies. Based

on our analysis of the characteristics of classical and new professionalism we identified possible

actions and measures that can support policies to strengthen the professionalism of teacher

educators (see Figure 1). The first five issues are indicators of the extend in which the

professionalism of teacher educators is put on the policy agenda. The other issues refer to the

characteristics of classical professions and new professionalism as mentioned in the previous

paragraph.

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Figure 1: Overview of actions and measures to support professionalism of teacher educators

>>>>INSERT FIGURE 1 HERE <<<<

Analysis of policy documentsThe analysis of European policy documents has been conducted to search for elements referring

to the profession of teacher educators and for actions and measures to improve teacher

educators’ professionalism. The study was restricted to seven European policy documents that

were considered as influential in the contemporary debate on teaching and teacher education:

Teachers Matters (OECD 2005). This OECD publication addresses issues that are essential

in attracting, developing and retaining effective teachers.

Common European Principles for Teacher Competences and Qualifications (European

Commission 2005)

Improving the Quality of Teacher Education (European Commission 2007).

The Council Conclusions (European Council 2007) which summarises the main findings of

some previous documents and formulates directions and conclusions for the further

development of teacher education in Europe.

The Quality of Teachers (ATEE 2006). In this policy paper the Association of Teacher

Education in Europe contributes to the debate on teacher standards through seven

recommendations on the identification of indicators for teacher quality.

Teacher Education in Europe (ETUCE 2008). Policy paper on teacher education from the

European Trade Union Committee for Education.

Council Conclusion on the Professional Development of Teachers and School Leaders

(European Council 2009).

The procedure for the analysis consisted of a search within the document using teacher

educator(s) as search terms. Fragments that contained these search terms were examined and

re-examined by the authors. For this purpose Figure 1 was translated to a classification scheme

to assist the researchers in sorting the text fragments. The outcomes of this analysis have also

been reported in the proceedings of the TEPE 2009 conference (Snoek, Swennen, and van der

Klink 2010).

Questionnaire among national representativesTo gain more insights in measures and actions on the level of individual member states within the

European Union, a questionnaire has been administered among representatives of different

member states. Respondents were members of the Cluster Teachers and Trainers of the

European Commission. This Cluster is established within the context of the EU Education &

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Training 2010 programme (and its follow-up Education & Training 2020) to exchange policy

developments on national levels in the area of teacher policy and teacher education. Member

states that participate in the cluster have one representative from their ministry of education in the

Cluster. The members of this Cluster have insight in the various developments concerning

teachers and teacher educators within their own member state and are experts in educational

policy matters. The respondents of two countries were not Cluster members. The English

respondent was a policy and liaison officer of the Universities’ Council for the Education of

Teachers (UCET). In Sweden, the respondent was a senior policy adviser from the University of

Uppsala (and secretary of a former parliamentary committee on teacher education).

The questionnaire was divided into the four sections of the classification scheme of Figure

1. The items in these four sections corresponded closely with the 16 actions and measures of the

classification scheme. Some items had ‘yes’ and ‘no’ as answering categories (for example the

item: “In my country the quality of teacher educators is a topic of research”), while other items

invited respondents to tick the stakeholders that were involved in that particular action/measure.

For example the item “In my country concern is expressed about the quality of teacher educators

by…” asked respondents to select one or more of the following stakeholders: government, (heads

of) teacher education institutions, individual teacher educators, teacher unions, teacher agencies,

higher education agencies, teacher (educator) associations. After ticking the appropriate

stakeholders, respondents were invited to clarify their answers by providing additional information

on that particular action or measure. Respondents received the questionnaire by e-mail prior to a

regular cluster meeting and during the meeting they were informed about backgrounds and

motives. All respondents received a reminder six weeks after the questionnaire was administered.

Twenty three questionnaires were send out. The responses covered 16 different members states:

Austria (Au), Cyprus (Cy), England (En), Estonia (Es), Finland (Fi), Flanders (Fl), Germany (Ge),

Hungary (Hu), Iceland (Ic), Ireland (Ir), Italy (It), The Netherlands (Nl), Norway (No), Romania

(Ro), Sweden (Sw) and Turkey (Tu).

Findings of the analysis of European policy documents With exception of the ‘Common European Principles for Teacher Competences and

Qualifications’, each of documents refer to the quality of teacher educators. However, the main

focus of these documents is on the quality of teachers while the quality of teacher educators is

marginally mentioned. Only the ETUCE document shows considerable attention to teacher

educators by dedicating a separate chapter to teacher educators. Several documents (ETUCE,

OECD and European Council 2009) clearly express concerns regarding teacher educators’

professionalism. Especially the arguments in the ETUCE policy paper demonstrate that European

Trade Unions experience a strong need to improve the quality of teacher educators across

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Europe. The ETUCE policy paper and the recent conclusions of the European Council are the

only documents that clearly suggest actions related to the entry into the teacher educator

profession:

Teacher educators should be able to provide student-centred education in close cooperation

with other colleagues. As outlined in the previous chapter, the ETUCE emphasises that all

teachers should be educated to Master’s level in higher education and, of course, teacher

educators must have the qualifications required to be able to teach at that level (ETUCE 2008,

34).

Though not clearly expressed, the ETUCE policy paper suggests that if teachers need a Master

degree then teacher educators need to possess a doctoral degree in order to be equipped for

teaching at master’s level. The Council (2009) emphasizes that teacher educators should

themselves have attained a high academic standard as well as possess solid practical teaching

experience. Furthermore, the Council invites the European Commission to prepare a study on the

existing arrangements in Member States for selecting, recruiting and training teacher educators

(European Commission 2009, 12).

The ETUCE policy paper is the only document that clearly addresses the theme of the further

professional development of teacher educators:

In order to meet the demands placed on the profession, all teacher educators - including

mentors at schools - should be given the opportunity to undertake proper lifelong learning of

their own. Ongoing professional development is a must. Both time and financing should be

made available. Agreements should be reached to allow sabbatical years for professional

development. This must include provision for qualified replacement staff (ETUCE 2008, 36).

Actions for career and mobility are expressed in three documents: the ETUCE policy paper and

both documents of the European Council published in 2007 and 2009. Each of these three

documents focuses on mobility and emphasise the need to broaden mobility from national level to

a European scale. The European Council invites the European Commission explicitly to:

Promote and support greater participation by teachers, school leaders and teacher educators

in transnational mobility schemes, partnerships and projects established under Community

programmes, in particular the Lifelong Learning Programme.

(Council Conclusions 2009, 12).

Participating in professional networks is regarded as a strong impetus to improve teacher

educators’ professionalism. Text fragments on the need for networking were discovered in three

documents that all point at the same advantages of networking (European Commission, 2007;

ATEE and ETUCE). This is illustrated by a fragment from the report of the Commission

‘Improving the quality of teacher education’:

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Links between teacher educators, practicing teachers, the world of work and other agencies

need to be strengthened. Higher Education institutions have an important role to play in

developing effective partnerships with schools and other stakeholders to ensure that their

Teacher Education courses are based upon solid evidence and good classroom practice

(European Commission 2007, 15).

The same three documents also suggested actions on the level of implementing standards for

teacher educators and their suggestions were very comparable:

If we want teacher educators to be role models for their student teachers, then teacher

educators should be explicit about their own professional quality, the indicators of this quality

and the way they use them to develop professionally in a systematic and self-regulated way. In

this respect, teacher educators carry a heavy responsibility, as the quality of teacher educators

affects not only the quality of teacher education and the learning of the student teachers, but

also the attractiveness and the quality of the teaching profession and therefore the quality of

the education that is provided to pupils.

The ATEE, as a professional community of teacher educators in Europe, will continue to

stimulate communities of teacher educators to develop indicators of teacher educator quality

within local or national contexts and to exchange such between their communities (ATEE

2006).

All three documents imply that the development of standards is not a responsibility for the

national states but that teacher educators themselves must take up the endeavour of formulating

standards for their own profession.

Finally, only one document makes reference to teacher quality as a possible criterion for the

accreditation of teacher education programmes. The OECD report includes in its ‘framework for

informing teacher policy’ (OECD 2005, 237) the issue of accreditation and evaluation of initial

teacher education programmes, where one of aspects focuses on the credentials and

backgrounds of teacher educators.

Findings on the level of individual member statesThe questionnaires that were returned give an overview of member state policies concerning

teacher educators. In this section, we will elaborate the findings on the four main themes of the

classification scheme that was presented in Figure 1.

Concerns and general measures to improve the quality of teacher educatorsAll respondents except the representative from Flanders indicate that in their countries concerns

are expressed about the quality of teacher educators. In those countries concrete proposals have

been formulated with respect to the quality of teacher educators. The Flemish respondent

indicates that policies (and concerns) for teacher educators do not differ from policies for teachers _____________________________________________________________________________________________


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in higher education in general. The concerns about teacher educators are the result from quality

evaluations by national agencies (e.g. England, Hungary, Netherlands, Sweden) or analyses by

national committees (Netherlands, Norway, Turkey). Most of the concerns seem to be embedded

in general reports about the quality of teacher education or in proposals about increasing the

research orientation of teacher education. In five countries (Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Norway and

Turkey) committees or advisory boards have been established that have the explicit task

(amongst others) to give advice about the quality of teacher educators.

Most mentioned as concern is the lack of a (sufficient) academic level of teacher

educators. Proposals focus on increasing the research capabilities of teacher educators by

allocating resources for PhD studies (England, Netherlands and Norway) and by upgrading the

entrance requirements for newly hired teacher educators. Sweden has proposed to raise the

required academic degree for entry-level positions of teacher educators to the PhD level.

The Irish respondent refers to the Teaching Council, established in 2001, which has a role in

defining teacher standards and in safeguarding the quality of the pre-service and in-service

teacher education. According to the respondent, this national Teaching Council can extend its

influence to the quality of teacher educators, but this is not the case yet.

Formal measures on the quality of teacher educatorsSeparate legislation about teacher educators exists in seven countries (Estonia, Finland,

Germany, Hungary, Norway, Romania, Turkey). Other countries indicate that legislation on

teacher educators is part of the general legislation for teachers in higher education. Most

respondents (except Finland, Ireland, Italy and Turkey) mention that the quality of teacher

educators is taken into account in the procedures and criteria for accreditation of teacher

education programmes.

The criteria that teacher educators need to meet generally refer to the necessity to have a

specific academic degree (Hungary, Norway, Sweden). In some countries also requirements are

formulated with respect to schoolteacher experience, especially for those teacher educators who

teach methodology or didactics courses (e.g. Germany, Hungary).

Respondents from several countries (England, Flanders, Germany and Ireland) indicate

that professional standards for teacher educators exist in their countries and are developed by

the heads of the teacher education institutes. The findings give no clarity whether such standards

are explicitly formulated on a national basis or whether they are the initiative and responsibility of

heads of local teacher education institutes. In some cases the answers do not focus on standards

for teacher educators, but on standards for teachers. As an example, Austria refers to the EPIK

project which develops standards for teachers (Schratz et al. 2008). An explicit and formally

acknowledged national standard for teacher educators only seems to exist in The Netherlands,

where this standard is developed by the professional association for teacher educators.

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Few respondents indicate that accountability systems for professional quality of teacher

educators exist (Austria, England, Germany, Netherlands, Romania). The responses provide little

details whether these systems focus on individual accountability, except for the responses of the

Dutch and German respondents. In The Netherlands a (voluntary) assessment procedure for

teacher educators exists, which leads to formal registration in the national register of teacher

educators while the Germany representative makes reference to formal accountability systems

for gaining a PhD or habilitation level. Both the Norwegian and English respondents indicate that

accountability systems are part of general accreditation or inspection procedures of institutions or

programmes. The Flemish respondent mentioned that accounting the professional quality of

teacher educators lies in the hands of teacher education institutions.

Respondents from Finland, Germany, Ireland and Romania indicate that in their countries

professional codes for teacher educators exist. However, it remains unclear whether these ethical

codes are explicitly focussed on teacher educators and differ from other ethical codes like the

ones for teachers in primary, secondary or higher education. The respondent from Estonia refers

to an existing ethical code for teacher educators, but comments that this code is not widely used.

Initial and further education for teacher educatorsFour respondents mention that in their countries selection criteria for entrance to the teacher

education profession are lacking (Hungary, Norway, Sweden, Turkey). However, the Swedish

respondent indicates that all teacher educators (in the near future) need to posses a PhD. Entry

criteria are in most countries connected to entrance criteria for higher education teachers in

general. In most cases these criteria refer to specific academic levels or teaching degrees while

in some cases also practical teaching experience is required (Hungary, Germany, Sweden). In

most countries those criteria are partly set by the individual teacher education institutions.

Respondents from Estonia, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Romania, Sweden and Turkey express that

their governments or national (higher) education agencies require teacher educators to have

completed specific courses or master programmes. In most other countries those kinds of

requirements are set by the teacher education institutions and usually encompass compulsory

attendance of particular courses or workshops.

Induction programmes for beginning teacher educators are still rare and depending on

local initiatives employed by universities or teacher education institutes (Austria, England,

Estonia, Flanders, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway).

Specific opportunities for continuous professional development of teacher educators are

mentioned by respondents from nine countries. Examples are participation in research projects

and enrolment in PhD studies (Hungary, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden). Continuous

professional development is supported by the establishment of national expertise centres (in

England, Hungary, The Netherlands and Norway).

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Most respondents express that in their countries measures exist that stimulate mobility and

participation in networks. However, almost all respondents refer in their responses only to

international opportunities like participation in international Erasmus or Comenius projects,

international research projects, international conferences or international professional networks.

The Norwegian respondent indicated that the alignment of teaching and research also has

the aim to create possibilities for a career change towards research. Respondents from Austria,

Italy, The Netherlands, Sweden and Turkey mention that there are no measures to support

(career) mobility. The Dutch respondent points at the possibilities to participate in local school-TEI

networks and in (subject oriented) national teacher (educator) associations.

Again, the main stakeholders in these processes are the local institutions, where in some

cases the government or national agencies provides financial support.

Research and knowledge developmentIn seven member states (England, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway and

Romania) there are initiatives to (further) develop a practical knowledge base for teacher

educators. Stakeholders who are actually involved in this development vary per member state. In

Italy the development of the practical knowledge base is solely in the hands of higher education

agencies. In other member states more than one stakeholder is involved. In England, Hungary

and The Netherlands the notion of a practical knowledge base refers to making available

information through a database (England), and through books and journals published by the

Hungarian or the Dutch association for teacher educators.

At first sight the quality of teacher educators seems to be on the research agenda of seven

member states. However, respondents’ amplifications imply that the quality of teacher educators

is usually perceived as just one topic in research devoted to other issues, such as the evaluation

of teacher education programmes. Research that exclusively focuses on quality aspects of

teacher educators is only mentioned by few respondents. The Hungarian respondent mentioned

research on the characteristics of formal training of teacher educators, in The Netherlands

research is conducted on teacher educator identity and on the impact of professional standards

and registration of teacher educators. In Norway some research is carried out regarding teacher

education culture.

Conclusions

In this study we investigated what measures and actions are addressed in European and national

policies to improve the quality of teacher educators. From the literature on classical professions

and new professionalism, we developed a possible set of actions and measurements to analyse

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seven main European policy documents about teaching and teacher education and to structure a

questionnaire for representatives of 16 European countries.

Our analysis of the European policy documents shows that there is limited attention for

teacher educators and their professionalism in these documents. If teacher educators are

mentioned at all, it is to express concerns about their quality. The few references to teacher

educators that are made in the policy documents are phrased in terms of the needs for teacher

educators to enlarge their professionalism. With the exception of the ETUCE document and the

most recent conclusions from the Council (2009), no concrete suggestions have been made

concerning measures and actions to improve the quality of teacher educators or to encourage the

professional development of teacher educators. This concurs with the findings of previous studies

that also point at the lack of attention for teacher educators in general (see for instance Smith

2003; Swennen and Van der Klink 2009) and stress the need for further research into the learning

and development of teacher educators (Loughran 2006; Cochran-Smith 2003). However, the

explicit invitation from the Council to the European Commission to prepare a study of the existing

arrangements in Member States for selecting, recruiting and training teacher educators, indicates

that in the near future, the professionalism of teacher educators will be on the policy agenda more

prominently.

On the national level, the findings of the questionnaire show that in many European

countries the quality and professionalism of teacher educators is addressed in several ways. In

almost all countries concern is expressed about the quality of teacher educators and concrete

proposals for improvement exist. Several countries have some kind of national legislation on the

criteria for entering the profession of teacher educators. In most cases these criteria and

proposals refer to the academic degree that is required for teacher educators. Findings indicate

these criteria are not only applied to teacher educators but are aimed at all teachers in higher

education. More specific criteria are the local responsibility of teacher education institutes. These

criteria play a role in accreditation procedures for institutions or programmes. In only a few

countries national professional standards or an ethical code for teacher educators exist.

With respect to initial and further education, the findings do not allow univocal conclusions.

In most countries this seems to be a responsibility of the individual teacher education institutes,

while the government plays a role in facilitating initial and further education by funding specific

projects or expertise centres. The development of an explicit knowledge base can give direction

to professional development of teacher educators. Initiatives in this direction are indicated by half

of the respondents. The findings indicate that this knowledge base is only partly research-based

which is not surprising since the research on teacher educators is still very limited. As far as

research is conducted that involves teacher educators it is most often research that is focussed

on the evaluation of programmes and not on the profession of teacher educators as such.

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As the answers to the questionnaire show, the main stakeholders with respect to measures

to improve the quality of teacher educators are the government and the heads of teacher

education departments or universities. Sometimes national (higher) education agencies play a

role (like the Teaching Council in Ireland, the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers

UCET in the UK, the National Council for Teacher Education in Norway), but there seems hardly

any role for teacher unions or teacher (educator) associations. The professionals themselves

seem to be hardly involved in the promotion of their professional quality. Exceptions are countries

where teacher educators are organized in professional associations, like The Netherlands and

Hungary.

DiscussionThis study can be considered as a first inventory of policies on teacher educators in Europe. No

such study exists and as such it has its limitations. Single respondents per country were used and

this may lead to one-sided perspectives on national developments. The diversity of countries

secured the coverage of different countries and cultures of Europe, however large countries like

France and Spain were not involved, while for Germany only one state was represented.

Countries like Finland, Czech Republic and Portugal who have their teacher education

programmes at master’s level were not involved. Therefore the outcomes do not present a full

picture of teacher education policies in Europe. Further research can lead to a more complete

overview of teacher educator policies and can show more details in existing policy measures.

To identify policies on the quality of teacher educators a framework was used that was

derived from theories on classical professions and new professionalism. This approach might

also have led to a limited perception of the quality of teacher educators. However, the analysis of

the European documents and of the elaborated written answers of the respondents to the

questionnaire did not add new and important aspects of European and national policies that did

not fit into our analysing framework.

As the questionnaire findings show, some respondents refer to the fact that policy

measures for teacher educators are no different from measures for teachers in higher education

in general or for teachers in general This indicates a multi-faceted identity of teacher educators

(Klecka 2008) or the existence of several sub-identities (Swennen, Jones, and Volman 2010).

Teacher educators are regarded as teachers in higher education as they are working in the

context of higher education and need to meet the standards that are connected to that context. At

the same time, teacher educators are often regarded as teachers in a very general sense. In the

policy documents and the answers to the questionnaire little reference was made to teacher

educators as a specialized educational professional and the need for teacher educators to

develop thorough knowledge of the teaching of teachers (Loughran 2007). Respondents’ answers

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showed an increasing tendency to give more emphasis to the teacher educator as a member of

the academic community and therefore on the research qualities and academic level of teacher

educators. This research identity of teacher educators is reflected in the literature on teacher

educators (Murray 2010; Swennen, Jones, and Volman 2010). However, this tendency holds the

risk that other qualities of teacher educators fade into the background and become neglected. An

excellent teacher educator is more than an excellent researcher.

A subject of concern is the limited attention for the induction of novice teacher educators

and lifelong learning of teacher educators.

Our study shows that the most dominant stakeholders in developing actions and measures

on the professional quality of teacher educators are the national governments and the heads of

local teacher education institutions. Sometimes national (higher) education agencies play a role

(like the Teaching Council in Ireland, the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers

UCET in the UK, the National Council for Teacher Education in Norway). Teacher educators

themselves, however, are much less indicated as explicit stakeholders in policies on the quality of

teacher educators. When teacher educators wish to consider themselves as professionals and

see educating teachers as a specialized profession, their active involvement in actions and

measures that promote the professionalism of their profession needs to increase. To involve

teacher educators in their own professional development, strong organisational structures are

needed. Only in a few countries such organizational structures exist: Hungary and The

Netherlands both have strong professional associations of teacher educators that (can) play a

role in developing their shared knowledge base through publications and research. In The

Netherlands the teacher educators themselves have taken responsibility in safeguarding the

quality of their profession by developing a professional standard and a professional register for

teacher educators (Koster and Dengerink 2001). This active self-responsibility of the profession of

teacher educators has been strongly supported by the government.

The results of the study show that the quality of teacher educators is not yet an area where active

international policy exchange exists. In some countries interesting policy practices exist, but these

are not shared between countries. In international exchange between teacher education

institutions and individual teacher educators, the focus is often on the content of teacher

education curricula and hardly on the professionalism of teacher educators themselves. However,

with the recent invitation from the Council to the European Commission the exchange of policy

practices and mutual peer learning of policy makers on issues regarding the professionalism of

teacher educators will be stimulated.

Notes on contributors

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14

Marco Snoek is a professor at the Amsterdam Institute of Education of the University of Applied

Sciences Hogeschool van Amsterdam, The Netherlands. His research focuses on professional

quality and professional development of teachers in the context of school innovation.

Anja Swennen is a researcher at the Centre for Educational Training, Assessment and

Researcher, VU University Amsterdam. Her research interests focus on the development of the

professional identity of teacher educators.

Marcel van der Klink is an associate professor at the Centre of Learning Sciences and

Technology of the Open University of The Netherlands. His research focuses on lifelong learning

of professionals, human resource development, workplace learning and assessment.

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Corresponding author: Marco Snoek. E-mail: [email protected]

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Figure 1: Overview of actions and measures to support professionalism of teacher educators

1. Concerns and general measures to improve the quality of teacher educators

1.1 Concerns about the professionalism of teacher educators

1.2 Proposals to improve the quality of teacher educators

1.3 Committees and advisory boards that give advice about the quality of teacher educators

2. Formal measures

2.1 National legislation on teacher educators

2.2 Inclusion of the quality of teacher educators in accreditation programs

2.3 Standards for teacher educators

2.4 Inclusion of the quality of teacher educators in accountability systems

2.5 An ethical code for teacher educators

3. Initial and further education for teacher educators

3.1 Selection criteria for entry into the profession

3.2 Formal education (courses or entire master program) for new teacher educators

3.3 Induction programs for teacher educators

3.4 Resources and requirements for continuous professional development

3.5 Measures to enhance careers and mobility of teacher educators

3.6 Participation in (international) networks

4. Research and knowledge development

4.1 Development of a practical knowledge base for teacher educators

4.2 Research on the quality of teacher educators

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