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Review and Analysis of the EUTeacher-related

Policies and Activities


Csilla Stger
Introduction
According to Ppin, it took the Union 30 years (19762006) to design a coherent
framework of cooperation for the elds of education and training (Ppin, 2007).
This shaped educational policy, and, within that, teacher policy in Europe. More-
over, in the past decade, the EU has become a key player in teacher policy related
issues: it sets priorities, raises awareness and has expectations of its own in a policy
area that has always been known as national. The EU, from being the community
of its Member States, has become the creator of common ground, of shared
knowledge and values, as well as an inuential guiding force providing develop-
mental aims.
In the last decade it has become clear that schools need to be more effective to
meet the labour market needs of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, and that
the quality of teachers has a fundamental inuence on the quality of learning in
schools. Many European countries still face the challenges of teacher shortages,
low prestige or not improving work conditions of the teaching professions, result-
ing in low attractiveness and retention of the best professionals. Hence, teacher
policies became a high priority in Europe.
This article gives an overview of teacher policy related European activities and
analyses the context of teacher policy, its major European concepts and the
methodology used for its development. The description of European institutions
and decision making mechanisms is not the aim of this article, knowledge about
these is presumed (http://europa.eu/about-eu/institutions-bodies/index_en.htm).
Taking Stock of European Activities in Teacher Policies
Setting the Goals and the Framework for European Cooperation
In March 2000, the prime ministers of European Member States decided on the
Lisbon Strategy: to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based
economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and
better jobs and greater social cohesion. Based on this, the Council of the EU set
three major goals for the education and training systems in order to contribute to
the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy. These are: (1) improving the quality of
education and training systems, with special emphasis on improving the quality of
training for teachers and trainers, (2) making access to learning easier, (3) opening
education and training to the world, in other words strengthening links to the
world of work, enhancing mobility of students, teachers and trainers and encour-
aging people to study foreign languages (Council of the European Union, 2001).
Concerning teacher policy, key areas of development were identied to con-
tribute to the improvement of the quality of education and training systems
(Council of the European Union, 2002a). They included: identifying the skills
(competences) teachers should acquire, the notion of lifelong learning for teachers,
attracting sufcient teachers, especially for maths and sciences, and promoting
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European Journal of Education, Vol. , No. , 2014
DOI: 10.1111/ejed.12089
2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
innovative teaching, including the use of efcient methods. To succeed in reaching
these goals, a common action was needed in the EU. Since education and a
number of strategy-related other issues fall under national level competence, a
common framework for coordinating national actions and sharing best practices
was needed. Hence, the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) was launched
(Eurofound, 2010).
Recognising the strengths and weaknesses of the Lisbon Strategy, the EU2020
Strategy was developed in 2010, aiming at jobs and smart, sustainable and
inclusive growth (European Council, 2010).The educational and training strategy
for the decade (ET2020) declared four strategic objectives (1) realising lifelong
learning and mobility, (2) improving the quality and efciency of education, (3)
promoting equity, social cohesion and active citizenship and (4) enhancing crea-
tivity and innovation at all levels of education (Council of the European Union,
2009a).
Presidencies Supporting Actions on Teacher Policies
The presidency priorities provide opportunities for raising awareness of national
high level decision makers of particular challenges and also of good, efcient
existing policy practices. As shown inTable I, seven countries chose teacher policy
related priorities during their presidencies in the last decade.
In most cases, presidencies targeted the improvement in quality of teacher educa-
tion. The Irish Presidency was an exception, raising awareness on the need for
supporting teacher educators and the current Greek presidency (the rst half of
2014) gives priority to the issue of quality in teacher education during the whole
continuum in order to have a Council Conclusion on the theme accepted during
the presidency period.
TABLE I. Presidencies and their teacher policy related objectives (20052014)
Member State of Presidency Teacher policy related objectives of presidencies
Luxembourg no related objectives
United Kingdom no related objectives
Austria no related objectives
Finland improvement of teacher education
Germany the qualication (Trio programme) and cross-border mobility
of teachers
Portugal improvement of teacher education (Trio programme)
Slovenia improvement of teacher education (Trio programme)
France quality of science education
Czech Republic no related objectives
Sweden no related objectives
Spain website not working
Belgium no related objectives
Hungary no related objectives
Poland no related objectives
Denmark no related objectives
Cyprus no related objectives
Ireland the support of teacher educators
Lithuania no related objectives
Greece improvement of teacher education throughout the continuum
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Council Conclusions
As early as 2002, the Council Resolution on lifelong learning invited Member
States to improve the education and training of teachers in order to equip them
with the skills for the knowledge society (Council of the European Union, 2002b).
Later, three major, specically teacher policy related Council Conclusions were
adopted, which became guideline documents in this policy area: (1) the Council
Conclusions on Improving the Quality of Teacher Education, in 2007, (2) the Council
Conclusions on preparing young people for the 21
st
century: an agenda for European
cooperation on schools, in 2008 and (3) the Council conclusions on the professional
development of teachers and school leaders, in 2009.
The rst Council Conclusion highlights the need to take measures to improve
teacher education at national level. It requested Member States to take steps in
raising the level of qualications and the degree of practical experience required
for employment as a teacher (Council of the European Union, 2007; C 300/8),
and in providing an adequately resourced, coordinated, coherent and quality
assured continuum of professional development for teachers during their whole
career.
The second Council Conclusion invited Member States, with the support of
the Commission, to focus their cooperation on enhancing the attractiveness of the
teaching profession, on enabling novice teachers to receive structured support, on
reviewing the supply, quality and take-up of continuous professional development,
on reviewing teacher recruitment, placement, retention and mobility policies and
on improving the recruitment and training of school leaders (Council of the
European Union, 2008).
In the third, the Council of the European Union drew attention to the fact
that knowledge, skills and commitment of teachers, as well as the quality of
school leadership, are the most important factors in achieving high quality edu-
cational outcomes (Council of the European Union, 2009b, p. 5) and therefore
invited Member States to take steps to attract and retain the best candidates, to
make appropriate provision for early career support (induction), to provide
regular reviews of teachers continuous professional development needs, and to
review the responsibilities of school leaders in order to reduce the administrative
burden.
Producing Milestone Documents
Some documents of the European Commission also communicate the essence of
ndings from member state level information, from peer learning and from exten-
sive networking of experts, and draw conclusions, decide on future directions of
activities, and on priorities. Documents with a milestone character include: (1)
European Common Principles of Teacher Competences and Qualications of 2005 and
(2) Commission Communication on Rethinking Education of 2012.
Based on the 2004 interim report on the Education and Training 2010 pro-
gramme (Council of the European Union, 2004), common European references
and principles were developed by the Commission on competences and qualica-
tions of teachers and trainers (European Commission, 2005). The European
Common Principles of Teacher Competences and Qualications provided a common
point of reference for peer learning within the OMC and thus laid the foundation
of European cooperation on teacher policies.
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Rethinking Education (European Commission, 2012a) draws attention to
present challenges in education and identies policy level approaches that con-
tribute to overcoming these. It is a summary of main ideas which are described
more in detail in the many background documents, one of which is targeted at
teacher policy issues.
The Staff Working Document Supporting theTeaching Professions for Better Learn-
ing Outcomes is a comprehensive analysis of the current situation of teachers, school
leaders and teacher educators, the so-called teaching professions in Europe The
Commission calls for the establishment of highly efcient and effective mecha-
nisms to attract, recruit, educate, retain and support throughout their careers
teachers, school leaders and teacher educators and highlights numerous priorities
for action at the national level (European Commission, 2012b).
OMC Targeting Teacher Policies Working Groups
In 2005, the European Commission created a working group for peer learning in
accordance with the OMC principles. Interested Member States could delegate
national experts to the working group to create a platform for the exchange of
policy ideas and of national practices on an equal basis.
The rst such group was called Teachers and Trainers Cluster. In 2010, it was
transformed into the Thematic Working Group on the Professional Development
of Teachers, keeping most of its members and its working methods. The main
reason for creating the Thematic Working Group was to set more specic thematic
goals in peer learning and to create a three-year time frame to increase the output
orientation and efciency of the work. From February 2014, the work continued
in the Technical Working Group on Schools.
The results of peer learning are published on the European Commission
websites (http://ec.europa.eu/education/policy/strategic-framework/expert-groups
_en.htm and www.ksll.net/MutualLearning2020/clusterDeatails.cfm?id=19) in the
form of reports and also, depending on the subject, of guidelines for policy makers.
These guidelines are:
on induction (systemic support for beginning teachers) (European
Commission, 2010b),
on the support for teacher competence development (European Commission,
2013a) and
on supporting teacher educators (European Commission, 2013b).
Other working groups also dealt with connected issues, but did not focus on
teachers. They work in the elds of early school leaving, early childhood education
and care, ICT and maths, science and technology. Some of their reports also
contain elements connected to teacher policies.
European Networks
Policy networks created and nancially supported by EU projects and spin off
networks, already running independent of the EU, are also considered as impor-
tant social partners in European teacher policy dialogue.These networks of experts
are highly valued for knowledge sharing and gathering in Europe and also for
inuencing national policy making.
For example, the European Network on Teacher Education Policies (ENTEP)
(http://entep.unibuc.eu) is a network of ministerial representatives, with a mixture
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of ministerial civil servants and higher education experts. TEPE is a network of
academics building on the work and community of previously achieved European
collaborations. While the goals of ENTEP are more complex peer learning in
teacher related policies, TEPE aims at developing research in and on teacher
education, supporting mobility and the European dimension of teacher education
and enhancing quality by changing assessment culture in teacher education (http://
tepe.wordpress.com). The activities of these networks show that there is a
bottom-up need for cooperation and peer learning on teacher related policies.
The European Policy Network on School Leadership (EPNoSL) is another
example. It aims at improving school leadership within Member States by estab-
lishing a community of practice where a wide network of national experts, policy
makers, researchers and institutions share ideas, practices and learning. The
network is funded by an LLP project.
Knowledge Creation
Eurydice has many publications dealing with different aspects of teacher policies in
Europe. The Key Data series includes comparative statistical data and analyses
aiming at giving an overall picture of educational policies in Europe. The publi-
cations Key Data on Education 2009 and 2012 had a chapter on teachers, while the
Key Data onTeachers and School Leaders in Europe 2013 was the rst of the series to
exclusively target teacher policy issues (European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice,
2009, 2012, 2013a). The Facts and Figures Series of Eurydice are online publica-
tions that contain comparative statistical data and analyses on certain aspects of
national educational systems. A good example of the series is the publication
Teachers and School Heads Salaries and Allowances in Europe 2012/13 (European
Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2013b).
Eurydice also produced a series of thematic reports titled The teaching profession
in Europe between 20022004 (European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2002a,
2002b, 2003, 2004). These were the rst reports to offer a detailed comparison of
initial teacher education programmes, of supply and demand, of working condi-
tions and of the most important challenges faced by lower secondary teachers.
These thematic reports and the following reviews provided substantial data for
education policy makers and for researchers worldwide.
There are also many specially commissioned research papers and literature
reviews in teacher policy related issues. One of the most important commissioned
study was on teacher education for inclusion carried out by the European Agency
for Special Needs and Inclusive Education from 20092012 with the cooperation
of experts from 26 countries. Its aim was to draw the prole of the inclusive teacher
(European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, 2012). The two
important literature reviews in the eld of teacher policy must also be mentioned.
The rst is about teachers core competences and the other is about the quality of
teachers professional development. Both were commissioned to be used as input
documents by the relevant peer learning activities (Caena, 2011a & 2011b).
The Lifelong Learning Programme
The Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) provided support for teacher mobility
and for teacher education cooperation in various ways. The Comenius Programme
offered support for taking teacher professional development courses abroad for
about 10,000 teachers a year and supported 1,200 student teachers mobility in
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taking a job as a teacher assistant outside their country. Every year, the Grundtvig
Programme supported the mobility of 1300 adult education teachers and 1400
Learning Partnerships, while the Leonardo Programme offered opportunities
for about 15,000 vocational education teachers and trainers to take part in inter-
national exchanges (Holdsworth, 2010). The eTwinning Platform (www
.etwinning.net) also serves networks and projects of international school coopera-
tion and teacher professional development through collaborative learning. From
2014, all these programmes were integrated into the Erasmus+ Programme, which
offers opportunities for teacher mobility, partnerships and supports policy reforms
(European Commission, 2014).
European Funds in Support
The 7
th
Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development
(FP7) supports research in educational science in the socio-economic sciences and
the humanities. Although there is a clear need, it has not been widely used to
support research or innovation related to teacher policy.
In contrast, the ESF has been widely used to nance teacher policy related
activities. According to a report produced for the European Commission on
interventions of ESF in the area of education and lifelong learning, the following
activities were of highest priority in teacher policies:
between 20002006: the upgrading of teacher education systems by improving
initial teacher education programmes and strengthening continuous profes-
sional development especially in ICT and languages,
between 20072013: competence development of teaching staff and teacher
educators with special emphasis on intercultural and linguistic competences,
the use of ICT and innovative teaching practices (McAnaney et al., 2010).
Examples of teacher policy related ESF use are the Estonian induction system
supported by an e-portfolio (Estonian Research Council, 2005) or the creation of
regional teacher education centres in Hungary in order to provide a collaborative
network of teacher education institutions and schools promoting the half year in
school practice, to enhance research on teacher education, and to provide mentor
training (Etvs Lornd Tudomnyegyetem, 2011).
Analysis of EU Documents and Activities Related to Teacher Policy
The European Context of Teacher Policies
The birth and growth of European teacher policies were the consequences of
strategic economic and employment imperatives. The Lisbon Strategy and the
EU2020 strategy aim at economic growth in Europe through more and better jobs,
sustainable technologies, knowledge-based societies and stronger social cohesion.
These strategic goals reach for a higher level of global competitiveness through a
well educated, adaptive and innovative labour force (European Commission,
2010a).
The education strategies were drawn from the overall strategies in quite similar
ways. To achieve the Lisbon Strategy, the educational priorities included: (1)
improving the quality of the education systems, (2) providing wider access and (3)
strengthening the links to the world of work (Council of the European Union,
2002a). The ET2020 priorities build on these: the rst priority is reinforced in
improving the quality and the efciency of education, the second is reformulated
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as promoting equity, social cohesion and active citizenship, the third is rened by
enhancing creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship at all levels of
education and training and a fourth priority is regular monitoring of achieved
progress (Council of the European Union, 2009a).
The Rethinking Education Communication of the European Commission which
interpreted the ET2020 priorities raised awareness of the importance and urgency
of educational reforms in increasing skills development, especially transversal
skills, such as adaptability, entrepreneurship, innovativeness, and active citizenship,
also for delivering the right skills for employment, promoting work-based learning
and partnerships between public and private institutions in order to achieve higher
levels of pupil attainments (European Commission, 2012a). In other words, edu-
cational goals again were set to combat youth unemployment and ensure a well-
qualied, adaptive and innovative work force.
Amongst education policy issues, teacher policies have gained importance
through research that showed that teachers were the primary factor in the levels of
pupil attainment amongst those that education policies can inuence. Thus, the
importance of the quality and effectiveness of the work of teachers were recog-
nised, while agreeing on quality criteria (competences), installing systemic meas-
ures for their acquisition and support in their development gained priority in
Europe and in Member States.
This hierarchy and the logical relation between overall, educational and teacher
policy priorities are presented in Figure 1 which shows that teacher policies exist
in a pragmatic employment-based context, with the greatest emphasis on pupils,
their efcient learning and reached learning outcomes.
Fundamental European Teacher Policy Concepts
In such a policy context and through the OMC work some fundamental teacher
policy concepts were developed, shared, accepted and sometimes implemented.
FIGURE 1. The structure and priorities of teacher policy context
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These include: (1) the denition and use of teacher competences, (2) the creation
of a continuum of teacher professional development and (3) the support of teacher
educators.
Teacher Competences
Dening teacher competences and creating a competence-based framework to
target and assess individual teacher professional development have become fun-
damental concepts of European teacher policies. They began with the revision of
the role of teachers. Teachers were not only expected to support the learning of
subject matter, but also to develop transversal skills and thus help students to
become valuable, effective and adaptive members of the labour market and active
citizens. This shift became clear in the Common European Principles for Teacher
Competences and Qualications (European Commission, 2005).
In such a changing environment, the expectations and roles of teachers need
to be dened in order to ensure systemic, high quality teaching at all schools.
There must be a general agreement on teacher competences: what they should
know (knowledge), should be able to do (skills) and should share as professional
values (attitudes) in order to be effective in their work. With a lack of consensus
and of adopted teacher competences or standards, the quality of teaching and the
status of the profession can be hindered (European Commission, 2013a). The
following set of core competences for effective teaching in the 21
st
century was
submitted to Member States for reection (European Commission, 2012b)
(Table II).
A framework of competence levels can then be designed to set clear criteria for
certain stages in the teaching career, thus creating a tool for self-reection, a target
for initial teacher education, induction and continuous professional development
programmes and activities, and motivation for teachers personal development
(European Commission, 2012a).
Between 2006 and 2013, many European documents dealt with the issue of
teacher competences, not only describing what they were and why they were
needed, but also sharing policy practice on how competence frameworks can be
used as development tools for an educational system.The constant emphasis in the
European level policy discussions doubtlessly inuenced national debates and
policy making, strengthening the awareness of the need to create a clear set of
competences, while already existing national teacher competence proles or stan-
dards inuenced the European discussions and concept.
The Continuum of Teacher Professional Development
The other fundamental concept of European teacher policies is the continuum, i.e.
a harmonised overarching unity of initial teacher education (ITE), induction and
continuous professional development (CPD). The continuum means that teachers
are expected to develop continuously. At a systemic level, it is created by building
induction on the professional outcomes of ITE in a bridging manner so that it
prepares teachers for a career-long professional learning. It also requires that each
phase gives feedback to the previous phase to develop quality. The relation of the
phases is shown in Figure 2.
The continuum of professional development is achieved by having shared
professional values and expectations of teachers throughout the phases, by regu-
lations of the phases, agreeing on basic principles, and by grounding work in all
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phases on self-reection. Self-reection, being the basis of initial teacher educa-
tion and of induction, results in a professional culture where teachers constantly
question their performance in class and search for better, more effective ways
of individualised support for students throughout their career. Without
TABLE II. Competences required for effective teaching in the 21
st
century
Knowledge and
understanding
Subject matter knowledge
Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), implying deep knowledge about
content and structure of subject matter:
knowledge of tasks, learning contexts and objectives
knowledge of students prior knowledge and recurrent, subject specic
learning difculties
strategic knowledge of instructional methods and curricular materials
Pedagogical knowledge (knowledge of teaching and learning processes)
Curricular knowledge (knowledge of subject curricula e.g. the planned
and guided learning of subject-specic contents)
Educational sciences foundations (intercultural, historical, philosophical,
psychological, sociological knowledge)
Contextual, institutional, organizational aspects of educational policies
Issues of inclusion and diversity
Effective use of technologies in learning
Developmental psychology
Group processes and dynamics, learning theories, motivational issues
Evaluation and assessment processes and methods
Skills Planning, managing and coordinating teaching
Using teaching materials and technologies
Managing students and groups
Monitoring, adapting and assessing teaching/learning objectives and
processes
Collecting, analysing, interpreting evidence and data (school learning
outcomes, external assessments results) for professional decisions and
teaching/learning improvement
Using, developing and creating research knowledge to inform practices
Collaborating with colleagues, parents and social services
Negotiation skills (social and political interactions with multiple
educational stakeholders, actors and contexts)
Reective, metacognitive, interpersonal skills for learning individually and
in professional communities
Adapting to educational contexts characterised by multi-level dynamics
with cross-inuences (from the macro level of government policies to
the meso level of school contexts, and the micro level of classroom and
student dynamics)
Dispositions: beliefs,
attitudes, values,
commitment
Epistemological awareness (issues concerning features and historical
development of subject area and its status, as related to other subject
areas)
Dispositions to change, exibility, ongoing learning and professional
improvement, including study and research
Commitment to promoting the learning of all students
Dispositions to promote students democratic attitudes and practices,
as European citizens (including appreciation of diversity and
multiculturality)
Critical attitudes to ones own teaching (examining, discussing,
questioning practices)
Dispositions to team-working, collaboration and networking
Sense of self-efcacy
Source: European Commission, 2012b, L 25/65.
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self-reection, teachers are the object of development, whereas with self-reection
they are the subject and generator of their development.
Implicitly, the concept of the continuum also implies a strong learning orien-
tation, a distinct shift from the traditional teacher and teaching based approaches.
The centre of attention is the effective and individualised support to student
learning, which is only achieved by constant and efcient teacher learning. Thus,
schools become learning communities not only for students, but also for teachers
whose effectiveness is measured not in hours and other inputs, but in learning
outcomes and in competence levels.
The concept of the continuum has been promoted by the European Commis-
sion in documents and European professional dialogues. The 2009 Council Con-
clusions concentrated on raising awareness on the importance of creating the
continuum and invited Member States to take further steps towards it. This
concept was a result of a two-way process, just like the concept of competences. On
the one hand, the EU raised awareness of this concept by enhancing efciency and
effectiveness at a system level regardless of country characteristics and also set it as
a common goal, while on the other, Member States shared their practices and
policies and thus inuenced European conceptualisation.
Supporting Teacher Educators
According to the denition adopted at the peer learning activity on teacher
educators in 2010 in Reykjavk, teacher educators are all those who actively
facilitate the (formal) learning of student teachers and teachers (European
Commission, 2010c; 3). This broad denition incorporates not only higher edu-
cation academic staff providing ITE, but also all professionals who support teacher
learning during the continuum: school mentors, during the practicum of ITE and
induction, and all those who provide CPD for teachers. This group is thus highly
heterogeneous in terms of qualication, work experience, competence prole,
work setting and institutional constraints.
At the same time, the quality of teacher educators inuences the level of
competences of teachers and their effective professional development. They repro-
duce the teaching body, thus the educational system; they play a key role in
introducing innovation and change into schools and are also important for under-
taking research on teacher education (European Commission, 2013b).
Even though this group has a great inuence on teachers and thus on the
quality of education, a supportive policy is rare. The teacher educator profession
is, in most Member States, still in its early stages of development (European
Commission, 2013b; 7). Teacher educators belong to a variety of institutional
contexts and there is not much research and data on them. However, the Com-
mission working document, Supporting Teacher Educators for Better Learning Out-
comes, gathered the results of peer learning, offered policy advice and country
examples of good practices.
Connuous professional development ITE Inducon
FIGURE 2. Phases of the continuum and their relation
(Source: M. Snoek at Tallinn PLA on induction)
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The European Commission, in raising the issue of support to teacher educa-
tors, went one step ahead of Member States. While with most issues, including the
concept of dening competences and elaborating a continuum of teacher profes-
sional development, there was effective member state policy practice that was
shared and reected, the concept of support for teacher educators arose in the
European context in collaborating experts dialogue.This is a signicant European
contribution to Member State policy, a proof of the value of peer learning and thus
of European cooperation in teacher policies.
The Methodology of Peer Learning
The methodology of peer learning activities (PLAs) that the European Commis-
sion has developed as a tool of the OMC is worth analysing. Teacher policy-related
PLAs are four-day working sessions held in one of the Member States where a
specic area of teacher policies is discussed in detail. The host country is expected
to present its policy practice with self-reection on effective aspects and challenges,
with local stakeholder voices and site visits. The other Member States are repre-
sented by two persons, one at the policy making level and the other from a relevant
stakeholder group at the operational level. Country pairs are also expected to give
a presentation on their country policy and receive feedback from peers as critical
friends. The discussions aim at (1) getting to know and comparing in depth the
existing effective policy practices and challenges of Member States, (2) developing
a common understanding of success factors and (3) identifying key policy level
conclusions (Snoek, Uzerli & Schratz, 2008). Such in-depth learning took place on
a wide variety of themes. Table II shows the themes of the PLAs of the Cluster of
Teachers andTrainers and theWorking Group on the Professional Development of
Teachers. They show the aspects of teacher policies in which Member States were
most interested in the last 8 years and give a good insight into the broadness and
complexity of teacher-related policy issues (Table III).
The themes show that Member States were not primarily interested in the
comparison of the forms of the provision in the three phasese. It seems they were
interested in specic aspects of the phases of the continuum. ITE was considered
from the perspective of the practicum and diversity issues, while induction was
looked at as an example, as a phase in a complex way. Amongst the phases, CPD
attracted the most attention: ve different aspects of school development and
teacher CPD were studied because Member States realised the importance of
short- and medium-term improvement that is achievable through CPD policy
development. These aspects include development of learning communities and
school leadership, partnerships with companies and a balanced provision in terms
of the needs of the system, the school and the individual teacher. The highest
number of PLAs was about aspects of teacher policy related to the whole contin-
uum: recruitment and selection, description and effective competence frameworks,
assessment of competences, good school and higher education relations, and
support of teacher educators.
The benets of these PLAs were not only shared policy examples and country
examples, but also resulted in a common understanding of terms, of complex
concepts, of systemic relations and also of dening a higher level of abstraction and
common European recommendations. The PLA seems to be an ideal method of
sharing and learning, yet the challenge of the dissemination of its results is a
difcult one. Two delegates of a country, even if representing two stakeholder
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groups, often had difculties in nding the right methods to reach all relevant
stakeholders in their home country in order to disseminate results. The challenge
lies not only in nding the right channels and methods of communication to a very
extensive group, but also in sharing a very intensive, personal learning process.
Sometimes the outcomes of the PLAs are beyond understanding to many who do
not have a similar learning process.
Conclusion: The Visible Europeanisation of Teacher Policy
As has been shown, teacher policy issues are high on the European agenda. Based
on the shared understanding of Member States and through its formal legislative
procedures, the EU decides on common action, it adopts recommendations and
provides working documents of best practices and guidelines for policy-making.
With these documents and funding schemes, the EU also provides a framework for
the implementation of national policy developments.
Also, there are many forms of European level data gatherings, commissioned
research, analysis, and formal and informal expert networks that communicate on
issues regarding teacher policies. The existing national level data are now available
at European level, models and schemes of comparisons have arisen. It means that
we know a great deal more about teacher policies at a higher level of abstraction,
creating knowledge of what works and how.
This has made the EU an inuential player in teacher policy debates and
reforms. At the same time, the EU is the community of its Member States. Its
decisions and priorities and their implementation are inuenced by country views
TABLE III. Dates, Locations and Themes of Peer Learning Activities on Teacher
Policies
Year Host country Theme
2005 Ireland Continuous professional development for teachers and trainers
2006 The Netherlands Schools as learning communities for their teachers
2007 Austria Partnership between schools for vocational education and
training and companies
2007 Norway Preparing teachers to teach effectively in cultural diverse
settings
2007 Denmark Relationships between teacher education institutions and
schools
2008 Estonia Inductionsystemic support to beginning teachers
2009 Lithuania Practical classroom training in initial teacher education
2009 Brussels Assessment of Key Competences Joint seminar with other
Clusters
2010 Iceland Teacher educators
2010 Cyprus School leadership for learning
2011 Ireland Policy approaches to dening and describing teachers
competences
2011 Poland Policy approaches supporting the acquisition and continuous
development of teacher competences
2012 Brussels Peer Learning Conference, Education:
2
Policy Support for
Teacher Educators
2012 The Netherlands Policies to select the best for teaching
2013 Austria Teacher CPD policies: balancing needs and provision at the
level of individual teachers, schools and of education systems
Source: Personal notes of the author as a member of the group.
12 European Journal of Education
2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
and actions. In other words, what we see looking at teacher policy activities in
Europe today is the two-way interaction process of Europeanisation that is also
visible in other elds of education policy (Halsz, 2012). Being part of the Euro-
pean Community inuences the teacher policies of each Member State and at the
same time, through complex mechanisms of interaction, those of the Community.
Csilla Stger, Educational Authority, Department for Higher Education, 1055 Budapest,
Szalay u. 1014, Hungary, steger.csilla@oh.gov.hu
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