Auswertung internationaler Erfahrungen für die Hochschulentwicklung in der öterreichischen Lehrerbildung - Endbericht

Auswertung internationaler Erfahrungen für die Hochschulentwicklung in der österreichischen Lehrerbildung - Endbericht Herbert Altrichter, Colin Biott, Bártolo Paiva Campos, Patrick Easen, Jos Letschert, Hannele Niemi, John Spindler Linz, im April 2002 2 Inhaltsverzeichnis Auswertung internationaler Erfahrungen für die Hochschulentwicklung in der österreichischen Lehrerbildung - Endbericht (Herbert Altrichter) England: Tendencies of Teacher Education Policy and Practice in Englan d During the Last Decade (Colin Biott, Patrick Easen, John Spindler) Finnland: Tendencies Of Teacher Education And Practice In Finland (Hannele Niemi) Niederlande: Teacher Education In The Netherlands (Jos Letschert) Portugal: Initial Teacher Education Policy In Portugal (Bártolo Paiva Campos) Anhang 1: Instruktion und Fragenliste für die VerfasserInnen der Länderstudien Anhang 2: Das neue ungarische Fortbildungssystem Anhang 3: Ergänzende Materialien zur portugiesischen Studie 3 37 51 69 75 85 88 90 3 Auswertung internationaler Erfahrungen für die Hochschulentwicklung in der österreichischen Lehrerbildung - Endbericht Herbert Altrichter 1. Projektkontext und Vorgehensweise Ziel des Projekts war es lt. Offert, internationale Erfahrungen mit der Hochschulentwicklung in der Lehrerbildung sowie mit aktuellen Problemen der Organisation und Didaktik der Lehrerbildung für die Zwecke der Planungsund Evaluierungskommission sowie in der Folge für die Bewusstseinsbildung im österreichischen Lehrerbildungssystem aufzubereiten. Dazu sollten keine Originalstudien durchgeführt werden; vielmehr wurden im Bereich der Lehrerbildung eingearbeitete ForscherInnen aus den Ländern England/Wales, Finnland, Niederlande, Portugal und Schweden gebeten, auf der Basis ihrer früheren Forschungsarbeiten Kurzdarstellungen der didaktischen und organisatorischen Probleme der Lehrerbildung in ihrem Land sowie Entwicklungsperspektiven nach vorgegebenen Fragestellungen in kurzen (10 – 15 Seiten), problemund leserorientierten Länderstudien aufzubereiten. Die Vorgehensweise war dabei die folgende: • Der Projektkoordinator erarbeitete den Vorschlag für AutorInneninstruktion und Fragenkatalog für Länderstudien. Dieser wurde in der Planungsund Evaluierungskommission diskutiert, ergänzt und gutgeheißen. • Nach Konsultationen mit o.Univ.Prof. Dr. Peter Posch und Prof. Dr. Friedrich Buchberger erstellt der Projektkoordinator eine Liste von einzuladenden ExpertInnen und schickt ihnen Autoreninstruktion und Fragenkatalog. • Alle eingeladenen ExpertInnen mit Ausnahme eines niederländischen Kollegen sagen sofort zu. Für die niederländische Studie wird ein Ersatzautor gefunden. • Alle AutorInnen mit Ausnahme des schwedischen Kollegen übersenden draft-Versionen ihrer Studie im Wesentlichen zeitgerecht. Diese werden vom Projektkoordinator jeweils umgehend in elektronischer Version an die Mitglieder der PEK weitergeleitet mit der Bitte, etwaige zusätzliche Informationsbedürfnisse zu äußern. Solche können vereinbarungsgemäß an die AutorInnen vor Beendigung der endgültigen Version der jeweiligen Länderstudie herangetragen werden. • Nachdem auch nach einer Nachfrist keine schwedische Studie vorgelegt wird, trägt der Projektkoordinator diese Sachlage der PEK in ihrer Sitzung von April 2001 vor. Dort wird beschlossen, weiter zu versuchen, eine schwedische Studie zu erhalten. Der Projektkoordinator versucht brieflich und über Mittelsleute eine verbindliche Abgabeterminzusage von dem schwedischen Autor zu erhalten. Schließlich wird ein Termin nach den Sommerferien 2001 zugesagt. • Nachdem dieser Abgabetermin verstrich, und auch weitere Versuche erfolglos blieben, beschloss die PEK in ihrer Sitzung vom März 2002, das Projekt ohne die schwedische Studie abzuschließen. In dem hiermit vorgelegten Synthesebericht soll zunächst auf einige Entwicklungen in den deutschsprachigen Ländern, die ein Umfeld der Lehrerbildungsreform in Österreich bilden, eingegangen werden (Für diese wurden keine gesonderten Expertisen beantragt, da einige Mitglieder der PEK aus eigener Anschauung mit diesen Entwicklungen vertraut waren). 4 Sodann erfolgt eine Zusammenfassung der wesentlichsten Aussagen vor dem Hintergrund der österreichischen Situation und der Fragestellungen der Kommission. 2. Internationale Tendenzen der Entwicklung der Lehrerbildung 2.1. Kontexte und Gründe der neu aufgeflammten Diskussion über Lehrerbildung Die Lehrerbildung ist in allen deutschsprachigen Ländern gegenwärtig in Diskussion gekommen und teilweise schon in Veränderung begriffen (vgl. Beck et al. 2001). Die aktuellen Auslöser für diese neue Phase von Dynamik mögen in den verschiedenen Staaten unterschiedlich gewesen sein: Während wir in Deutschland explizite und z.T scharf vorgetragene Kritik an der bisherigen Lehrerbildung hören, fehlte diese lange in Österreich und der Schweiz, wo die Reformimpulse im Wesentlichen von einem Versuch des upgrading von institutionellem Status der 'niederen Lehrerbildung' ausgingen. Dennoch wird im internationalen Kontext bald klar, dass es - selbst angesichts unterschiedlicher lokaler Auslöser der Reformdebatte – einen breiteren Kontext für diese Debatte gibt, der einige gemeinsame Züge in den verschiedenen Ländern trägt. So zeigt Criblez (1998) in seiner Analyse der Entwicklung der Lehrerbildung in England und den USA, die hier wie in vielen anderen Bereichen als Vorreiter und Testfelder neuer, oft extremer gesellschaftspolitischer Entwicklungen gelten können, dass seit den frühen 80iger Jahren eine erneute Diskussion über die erst in den 70iger Jahren reformierten Lehrerbildungsinstitutionen zu beobachten ist. In beiden Ländern ist der Auslöser für diese Diskussionen nicht eine direkte Kritik an der Lehrerbildung selbst, vielmehr führen die Knappheit öffentlicher Finanzen und die Diskussion über die Leistungsfähigkeit des öffentlichen Bildungssystems zu einem Reformdruck auch auf die Lehrerbildung. Dazu gesellt sich in den USA die Sorge um die wirtschaftliche Prosperität als weiteres Reformmotiv, während in England auch neue Steuerungsansprüche und -vorstellungen der konservativen Regierung vorherrschend waren. Immer jedoch sind aktuelle Reformprojekte der Lehrerbildung mit der Hoffnung auf Schulreform verbunden (vgl. Criblez 1998, 53). Die Abhilfen, die in diesem Kontext geboten (gefordert) wurden, bestanden in Ökonomisierung, Praxisorientierung, Professionalisierung und Standardisierung (vgl. a.a.O., 43ff): Die neu aufgebrochene Diskussion über Lehrerbildung in Deutschland enthält in ihrem Kern durchaus altbekannte Elemente: Die didaktisch-organisatorische Frage des Theorie-PraxisVerhältnisses, hinter der die Grundsätzlichere nach dem Verhältnis von Berufsbezogenheit und Wissenschaftsorientierung, nach dem relativen Gewicht und der Art der Relationierung der wissenschaftlichen Disziplinen in ihrer Eigenstruktur und dem Verwendungsinteresse im Berufsfeld steht (vgl. Prondcynsky 1998, 61). Sodann die Frage nach dem besten Ort für die Lehrerbildung, die durch die „10 Thesen zur Hochschulpolitik“ des Wissenschaftsrats (1994) angestoßen wurde, in denen vorgeschlagen wird, z.B. Studiengänge für das Lehramt für die Primarstufe und für die Berufsschule, Sozialpädagogik, Freizeitpädagogik an Fachhochschulen zu verlegen (vgl. Beck et al. 2001, 11ff). Schließlich jüngst die Idee von konsekutiven Lehrerbildungsprogrammen (ein Pädagogik-Zusatzstudium schließt an ein fachliches BA-Studium an), die weniger curricularen denn organisatorischen Überlegungen zu entspringen scheinen. 5 Historisch ist die Lehrerbildung in Deutschland aus zwei Traditionen entstanden: Aus Handwerk und aus humanistischer Bildung, die kanonisiertes Wissen, nicht Forschung pflegte (Oelkers 1996, 46). Die Akademisierung und universitäre Integration der Lehrerbildung in Deutschland ist vollzogen. Während die alte Ausbildung kurz, praxisbezogen, curricular beschränkt, personell einheitlich und einphasig war, hat sich die Neue am Muster der Gymnasiallehrerausbildung orientiert (die in Preußen schon 1890 durch Gymnasialseminare als Kritik an der Universitätsausbildung ergänzt wurde), die lange, gespaltene, limitlose, personell uneinheitliche und übertrieben differente Ausbildung bietet (vgl. Oelkers 1996, 42). So hat die Verwissenschaftlichung der Pädagogik - die Schulpädagogik des 19. Jahrhunderts hatte einen engeren Praxisbezug, der durch die Lehrerprofession selbst vermittelt wurde – "zu einer Distanz geführt, paradoxerweise durch Formen der Verschulung, die die eigene Forschung - intellectual independence im Sinne Deweys - behindern" (a.a.O., 47). Was als die ewige Schwierigkeit des Theorie-Praxis-Problems erörtert wird, kann aber auch als eine Vernachlässigung der Lehrerbildung durch die akademische Erziehungswissenschaft rekonstruiert werden. Eine prominente Stimme, die diese Kritik äußerte, war jene von Dieter Wunder (2000), einem ehemaligen GEW-Vorsitzenden. Er wies darauf hin, dass im Jahr 2000 veröffentlichten Text "Selbstverständnis der DGfE" – und damit offenbar im Bewusstsein der 'akademischen Erziehungswissenschaft' Lehrerausbildung – "fast keine Rolle" spiele. Wie schon in der schriftlichen Stellungnahme der DGfE zur KMK-Kommission (TerhartKommission) zeige sich die akademische Erziehungswissenschaft "strukturkonservativselbstzufrieden" (Wunder 2000, 47). In dem genannten Text (vgl. Sekretariat 1999) würden die Mängel der Lehrerbildung "primär bildungsund finanzpolitisch sowie bürokratisch" begründet: es fehle aber "jeder selbstkritische Ton" (Wunder 2000, 47). Während die bisherige Phaseneinteilung, die Trennung des Studiums nach Lehrämtern und die wissenschaftliche Schwerpunktsetzung positiv eingeschätzt würden (vgl. Sekretariat 1999, 22ff), wird offenbar vor stärkerer Praxisorientierung gewarnt: "die "Orientierung auf ein Praxisfeld" und die "Forderung nach einer Praxisorientierung der Lehrer" dürften nicht als "Simulation und Einübung einer bevorstehenden Berufstätigkeit oder als Vermittlung unmittelbar verwertbarer Berufsfertigkeiten missverstanden werden" (Sekretariat 1999, 28), "eine allzu frühzeitige und engführende Orientierung der Ausbildung an unmittelbaren Berufsproblemen" sei nicht zu rechtfertigen" (vgl. Sekretariat 1999, 67). Wiewohl die Warnungen vor zu enger und übertriebener Anbindung allein an speziellen Praktiken nicht unsinnig sind, wundert es nicht, dass sich Wunder über den besorgten – gerade jeweils in Zusammenhang mit Praxisorientierung der Lehrerausbildung auftauchenden, an vielen anderen Stellen, die die eigenen universitäre Lehrtätigkeit betreffen, aber abgehenden – Ton wundert. So wird auf die KMK-Frage zum Praxisbezug geantwortet: "Die Kritik, dass die in der Lehrerausbildung vermittelte Theorie oft nicht unmittelbar praktisch nutzbar sei, zeigt eine verkürzte Wahrnehmung an ... Schon aufgrund des Umstandes, dass die Einmündung in die staatliche Schule nur wenigen Absolventinnen und Absolventen in Aussicht steht, ist eine Engführung auf Praxiskontakt einzig in diese Institutionsform zweifelhaft ... Ferner teil die DGfE die Ansicht nicht, Praktika in der ersten Phase der Lehrerausbildung seien mit dem Ziel der Einübung berufspraktischer Fertigkeiten durchzuführen" (Sekretariat 1999, 79). Man kann den Text natürlich als Warnung vor einer 'Engführung' der Praktika lesen. Auf der anderen Seite kann man es Lesern nicht verdenken, dass – nachdem das beleibe nicht häufige Wort immer wieder in Zusammenhang von Praktika auftaucht – sie vermuten, die AutorInnen der Stellungnahme könnten Praktika gar nicht anders als 'enggeführt' denken. 6 "Der Vorstand der DGfE betont zum Einen die eigenständige Rolle der Erziehungswissenschaft, ihrer Theorie, ihrer Reflexion außerordentlich stark – sozusagen wie eine neu erworbene Errungenschaft, die auf keinen Fall in Frage gestellt werden darf. Zum anderen wird eine strukturelle Veränderung – gerade wegen des Wissenschaftsbezugs – abgelehnt, jede berufsvorbereitende Positionierung als unwissenschaftlich gebrandmarkt" (Wunder 1999, 49). Damit, meint Wunder (ebda.) verweigert sie sich "der Suche nach einem neu zu findenden Verhältnis von Theorie und Praxis in der Ausbildung". Der Text spiegle eine "starke Tendenz in der Erziehungswissenschaft wider, in der universitären 'Ausbildung' von Lehrkräften allein den Disziplinbezug zu betonen und damit die Praxisanforderungen aus Politik wie 'Praxis' von sich zu weisen" (a.a.O., 50). Es scheint eine Tendenz mancher ErziehungswissenschaftlerInnen zu geben, sich von den Aufgaben der Lehrerbildung zu distanzieren. Diese Tendenz erscheint kurzsichtig und selbstgefährdend, wenn man sich bewusst macht, dass die Erziehungswissenschaft "wegen der Lehrerbildung [ihren] universitären Ausbau erlebte und nur aufgrund dieser Verbindung institutionell gesichert scheint" (Oelkers 1996, 43). Oelkers (1998, 3) scheint beiden Seiten halb recht zu geben, wenn er das Problem der Theorie-Praxis-Vermittlung einesteils ein Managementproblem und andererseits ein solches erhöhter (und durch Ausbildungsversprechungen hochgetriebener) Erwartungen ansieht: • "Das Kardinalproblem ist also nicht der Ort, sondern die Organisation der Ausbildung. ... Die Struktur ist das Problem, nicht die allgemeine Verfassung. Wissenschaft wird angeboten, aber unspezifisch genutzt; sie wird konzentriert auf die erste Phase und hat nachfolgend keine Funktion, die tatsächlich nachgefragt würde; für den Konnex von Wissenschaft und Praxis gibt es kein effektives Management, alle Systemteile arbeiten isoliert und gegeneinander. Was soll da Anderes herauskommen als ein 'low impact enterprise'?" (Oelkers 1998, 3f). • "Offenbar besteht das Transferproblem überall, wenn man irgendeine Idealanpassung von Ausbildung und Fertigkeit vor Augen hat. Diese Passung ist sozusagen die Systemlüge. Professionelle Lernkarrieren beziehen sich auf fortlaufende Herausforderungen ..." (Oelkers 1998, 4). Als "Management-Problem" ist es nicht durch Erörterung 'lösbar', sondern erfordert aktive Beabreitung in trade-off-Situationen, wo Wunder offenbar zuwenig Einsatz sieht. Als 'übersteigerte Erwartung' verweist es nicht nur auf eine Beschneidung der Ansprüche, sondern durchaus auch darauf, seine längerfristige Beabreitung in Berufseinstieg, in der beruflichen Karriere und in weiteren Bildungsphasen in den Blick zu nehmen und auch in geeigneter Weise zu stimulieren und zu unterstützen. Für Oelkers (1998, 3) hat diese Lehrerbildungsdebatte trotz vieler altbekannter Elemente doch einige neue Komponenten: Die Krise der öffentlichen Haushalte, die sich in Ökonomieerwartungen und Effizienzforderungen niederschlägt, sowie damit zusammenhängend, die Tendenz, zunehmend empirische Fragen an die Ausbildung zu stellen und dabei die Ziele der Ausbildung von Effizienzerwartungen her neu und konturierter zu definieren. Darüber hinaus spielen wahrscheinlich auch neue Vorstellungen über staatliches Handeln (new public management) und über die Steuerung öffentlicher Einrichtungen (Autonomisierung der Einzelinstitution bei gleichzeitiger Bindung durch Leistungsverträge und Evaluation) eine Rolle (vgl. Criblez/Wild-Näf 1998). In diesem Kontext fand sodann Ende der 90er Jahre die Arbeit verschiedener Enquetekommissionen zur Reform der Lehrerbildung statt, in denen systematischer und oft auch durch eine profunde Auseinandersetzung mit den verschiedenen Argumentationen im 7 Feld und mit internationalen Erfahrungen versucht wurde, einen neuen Konsens und neue Perspektiven für die Weiterentwicklung der Lehrerbildung zu erarbeiten. Die Ergebnisse der Beratungen der KMK-Kommission (Terhart 2000) und der Hamburger Kommission zur Reform der Lehrerbildung (Keuffer/Oelkers 2001) wurden auch in Österreich rezipiert. Auf europäischer Ebene bietet das "Green Paper on Teacher Education in Europe" des Thematic Network on Teacher Education in Europe (Buchberger et al. 1999) eine beachtenswerte Analyse des Ist-Zustandes der Lehrerbildung in den EU-Ländern und der Herausforderungen, die sich durch die gegenwärtigen gesellschaftlichen Entwicklungen stellen, die schließlich in einige Reformszenarien und Vorschläge für konkrete Maßnahmen münden. 2.2. Die Vision einer 'standardorientierten' Lehrerausbildung von Fritz Oser Etwas anders ist die Schweizer Situation einzuschätzen. Wir finden hier gegenwärtig eine "große Wende von der sorgsam gepflegten Seminarkultur zur wissenschaftlichen Ausbildung an Pädagogischen Hochschulen, die bis ins Jahr 2004 weitgehend vollzogen sein wird" (Beck et al. 2001, 23). Diese Entwicklung hat jedoch ihren Grund nicht etwa in einer Krise des Berufsstandes oder in Unzufriedenheit mit der bis dahin bestehenden Lehrerbildung, sondern wurzelt im Wunsch einer gesamtschweizerischen Akkordierung der Lehrerbildung, die auch zu internationaler Anerkennung der Schweizer Lehrerdiplome führen sollte. Dennoch hat sie bald zu einer dynamischen Entwicklung bei der Erstellung neuer Curricula (vgl. z.B. Brandenberg/Keller 2002), zu einer Weiterqualifikation von Lehrenden für professionelle Lehre und berufsfeldbezogene Forschung geführt (vgl. Beck et al. 2001, 25). Wahrscheinlich stimulierend auf diese Entwicklung hat sich die Tatsache ausgewirkt, dass zeitgleich vom Schweizer Nationalfonds ein breiter Verbund von Forschungsprogrammen über “Die Wirksamkeit unserer Bildungssysteme angesichts der demografischen und technologischen Entwicklung und angesichts der Probleme in der mehrsprachigen Schweiz” lanciert wurde. Die Zielsetzung des Nationalfonds-Projekts lautete “Ausgangspunkt ist die Notwendigkeit, unser Wissen über die Bildungssysteme zu vertiefen und auf den neuesten Stand zu bringen. Es geht darum, mehr verlässliches Wissen darüber zu gewinnen, wie diese Systeme funktionieren, über die Stärken und Schwächen, aber auch über die Grenzen ihrer Wirksamkeit, die ihnen schon durch die vielfältigen, einander oft widersprechenden Anforderungen gesetzt sind” (zit. nach Criblez/Wild-Näf 1998, 24f). In diesem Projektverbund war auch ein Projekt zur Wirksamkeit der Lehrerbildung enthalten (Oser/Oelkers 2001). Im Versuch, die Funktionsmechanismen der Lehrerbildung zu verstehen, wurden dort Studierende am Ende ihrer Ausbildung, nach einem Jahr Unterrichtspraxis, LehrerInnen nach zwei bis fünf Jahren nach Ausbildungsabschluss sowie AusbildnerInnen und ExpertInnen befragt (vgl. Criblez/Wild-Näf 1998). Im Endbericht des Projekts (Oser/Oelkers 2001) wurde einerseits eine eindeutig kritische Position zu der bis dahin vorherrschenden Deutschschweizer Lehrerbildung formuliert, andererseits eine neue Idee zur Orientierung der Lehrerbildung vorgetragen, die offenbar großen Einfluss auf die Entwicklungsbemühungen an verschiedenen Orten nahm: Der Vorschlag, Lehrerbildung an professionellen Standards zu orientieren (zuerst in Oser 1997a). Es sind dabei weniger seine Einzelelemente, die Osers Konzept Sprengkraft geben, sondern die Verbindung einiger bekannter und einiger neuerer Argumentationsfiguren zu einem umfassenderen Konzept, das auf mehreren Ebenen anspruchsvolle Aussagen macht. Weil dieser Ansatz offenbar einige attraktive und diskutierenswerte Elemente enthält, soll im Folgenden eine etwas eingehendere Analyse versucht werden. 8 2.2.1. Was sind 'Standards' in der Lehrerbildung? "Wenn Lehrpersonen in komplexen Situationen des Unterrichts ein abgrenzbares, zieladäquates, effektives und ethisch gerechtfertigtes Einflusshandeln, das das Lernen von Schülern und Schülerinnen differenziell fördert, zeigen, sprechen wir von professionellen Standards des Lehrerberufs. Wenn sie eine Kette solcher Handlungen bewusst oder spontan initiieren und reflexiv umsetzen können, dann sind sie Berufsleute mit professionellem Können" (Oser 2002, 1). Zunächst enthält das Standard-Konzept materiale, relativ konkret ausformulierte Zielorientierungen für die Bildung von Lehrerinnen und Lehrern und damit auch einen Maßstab für die heute so oft beschworene Qualitätsevaluation. Osers Standards sollen ohne Scheu vor Explizitheit auf mittlerer Abstraktionsebene beschreiben, was von qualifizierten LehrerInnen heute an Qualifikation zu erwarten wäre. Der Begriff Standard steht “a) für eine hochprofessionelle Kompetenz und b) für deren optimale Erreichung. Wir meinen also Standards seien optimal ausgeführte bzw. optimal beherrschte und in vielen Situationen anwendbare Fähigkeiten und Fertigkeiten, die nur von Professionellen Verwendung finden können, aber nicht von Laien oder von Personen anderer Professionen” (Oser 1997a, 28). Standard meint also, "ein Handeln in der Situation und zugleich eine optimale Erreichung dieses Handelns als Können; "dies sind zweierlei Dinge", die allerdings für Oser (2002, 4) "situativ zusammengehören". Für Oser wird eine professionelle Kompetenz dann zu einem "Standard", wenn sie 4 Bedingungen erfüllt: • Theoretische Fundierung: "Es muss Theorien (nicht-falsifizierte Hypothesensysteme) darüber geben, welche Bedingungen zu optimalem Lernen führen ... Theorien sind also begründete Annahmen über die Wirkung und die Wirkungsbedingungen von Standards" (Oser 1997a, 29). • Empirisches Wissen: Es gibt durch empirische Untersuchungen erworbenes Wissen - "zumindest einzelne Forschungsresultate zu den komplexen Handlungsformen" (Oser 1997a, 29) - bezüglich dieser Theorien. • Qualitätsmerkmale zur Erreichung des Standards (Oser 2001, 217f), evaluative Kriterien (Oser 1997a, 26): Kriterien, um gute und schlechte Handlungsformen bezüglich des Standards zu unterscheiden, will Oser (2001, 218) aus den "Theorien und Befunden zur Expertenforschung ... von Experten abgucken, die den Standard in komplexen Emergency Situationen des Klassenraums realisieren." • Ausführbarkeit (Oser 1997a, 29) / Handlungstradition (Oser 1997a, 26): "Ein Standard muss in der Praxis repräsentierbar und einsetzbar sein; insofern unterscheidet er sich von anderen Formen professionellen Wissens. Standards sind repetierbar, die können als komplexe, in die Situation eingebettete Verhaltensweisen eingefügt werden" (Oser 1997a, 29). Auf jeden einzelnen Standard sind alle 4 Kriterien anzuwenden, wobei "nicht die Abfolge, wohl aber die Vollständigkeit" entscheidend ist (Oser 2002, 10): "Wir sprechen ja von Lehrerund Lehrerinnen-Professionalität, weil jeder Standard theoretisch und empirisch abgesichert ist, weil zugleich ein Forschungswissen darüber besteht, wann er unter welchen Bedingungen effektiv und qualitativ gut realisiert wird, und weil die bisherige Praxis zu seinem Verständnis erheblich beiträgt" (Oser 2001, 224). 9 Standards sind mehr als berufsbezogenes Wissen und sie sind auch "keine skills, weil ihr Einsatz reflexiv, unter Anwendung von Theorien in je unterschiedlichen Situationen geschieht" (Oser 1997a, 30; 2001, 224f). Auf welchen Wegen können nun solche Standards formuliert werden? Oser (2002) sieht hier im Prinzip drei Möglichkeiten: Expertenurteil, Forschung und Metaanalysen. In seinen bisherigen Untersuchungen (und auch in seiner Geplanten für den Berufsbildungsbereich; vgl. Oser 2002b) ist Oser immer den ersteren Weg gegangen. Durch eine "QuasiDelphibefragung" von ExpertInnen des Berufsfeldes wurden Kandidaten für solche Standards eruiert. Voraussetzungen, um sich als Standard zu qualifizieren, waren, dass die entsprechenden Fähigkeiten im Praxisfeld allgemein als notwendig anerkannt und im Diskurs der Fachleute akzeptiert waren sowie mit einer gewissen Validität und Reliabilität im Feld gezeigt werden konnten (Oser 2001, 215f). Auch sollten Standards auf einer "mittleren Abstraktionsebene" erfasst werden; die Formulierung richtete sich auf "ein Handlungsbündel ..., also eine variable Fähigkeit, welche Situation, Intentionalität, Einwirkung und Steuerung bzw. Evaluation umfasst" (Oser 2002, 6). Die Ergebnisse der Expertenbefragung wurden schließlich als 88 Standards ausformuliert und in 12 Gruppen geordnet (vgl. die vollständige Liste in Oser 2001, 230ff). Beispiele für derartige Standards sind: In der Standard-Gruppe 2 Schüler unterstützende Beobachtung (Diagnose) und Schüler unterstützendes Verhalten der Standard: "Ich habe in der Lehrerinnenund Lehrerbildung gelernt, den entwicklungspsychologischen Stand der Schülerinnen und Schüler in verschiedenen Bereichen (Intelligenz, Sprache, Moral, soziales Verhalten usw. zu diagnostizieren und daran anzuknüpfen" (Oser 2001, 232). In der Gruppe 9 Zusammenarbeit in der Schule der Standard: "Ich habe in der Lehrerinnenund Lehrerbildung gelernt, den Unterricht von Kolleginnen oder Kollegen zu beobachten und differenziert Feedback zu geben" (239). In der Gruppe 10 Schule und Öffentlichkeit der Standard: "Ich habe in der Lehrerinnenund Lehrerbildung gelernt, wie mittels Methoden der Selbstund Fremdevaluation die Leistungen der Schule öffentlich dargestellt werden können" (a.a.O., 240). In der Begründung seines Standard-Konzepts bezieht sich Oser (1997a , 27) zunächst auf die Ansätze von Shulman (1986, 1987) und Bromme (1992), von denen er sich ohne lange Argumentation absetzt. Ihm geht es um eine Konzeption, "die Wissen und Handeln in vielfältiger Weise miteinander verbindet. In ihr soll aber Wissen nicht bloß Handlungswissen sein, sondern von komplexen übergreifenden Wissensstrukturen mitgestaltet werden ..." (Oser 1997a, 27). In meiner Lesart ist in den diesbezüglichen Arbeiten Osers nicht genau ausgeführt, aus welchen theoretischen Gründen denn eine solche Absetzbewegung nötig ist. Im Ergebnis wird jedoch deutlich, dass es Oser um eine Verbindung verschiedener– oft konkurrierender– Blickwinkel auf Lehrerbildung geht: • Er greift die Kritik der Expertenforschung und professional development-Ansätze auf und meint in ihrem Sinn, dass Lehrerbildung von Handlungskompetenz ausgehen und zu ihr führen müsse. Oser betont, dass die notwendigen Qualifikationen nicht aus Fächern oder der Didaktik abgeleitet werden können, sondern sie entstehen "aus den Notwendigkeiten der Praxis" und führen "zu einer Wissenschaft der Praxis", zu einer Praxeologie (Oser 2002, 2). 16 Viele Länder (wie z.B. Portugal, Finnland) setzen aber den Mindestabschluss auch für das Grundschullehramt höher – bei einem mindestens 5 jährigen Master-Grad – an. 2.3.2. Zugang und Rekrutierung Der Zugang zur Ausbildung für den Lehrerberuf zeichnet sich und in vielen Ländern durch leichte Zugänglichkeit und nicht-elitäre Anforderungen aus (vgl. Lortie 1972). Es gibt relativ viele und regional gut gestreute Bildungsinstitutionen1. Lehrerbildende Studiengänge gelten im Allgemeinen als leichter als vergleichbare 'Diplomstudien'. Die wichtigsten persönlichen Qualitäten, die LehrerInnen nach Ansicht von Berufstätigen haben müssen, sind persönliche Präferenzen (gerne unterrichten wollen) und interpersonelle Qualitäten (Geduld, Humor, Führungsqualitäten). Diese Kriterien sind nicht so strikt, als dass sie eine Selbsteliminierung von Aspiranten herausfordern könnten. Als Ergebnis zeigt sich z.B. bei Giesen/Gold (1994), dass LehrerstudentInnen in verschiedenen leistungsbezogenen Kriterien (wie Intelligenz und Abiturnoten) schlechter abschneiden als Studierende derselben Fächer, die nicht das Lehramt anstreben2. Mayr et al. (1985) weisen auch darauf hin, dass engagiertere Studierende besonders häufig ein Lehrerstudium abbrechen: StudienabbrecherInnen einer Pädagogischen Akademie "hatten bei Studienbeginn in allen leistungsbezogenen Prädiktoren (Notenschnitt im Reifezeugnis, Intelligenz, Kreativität, Fähigkeit zur Sprachgestaltung) günstigere Werte und waren auch von der Aufnahmekommission besser eingeschätzt worden als jene Studierenden, sie schließlich das Lehrerstudium abschlossen" (Mayr 1994b, 3). Wenn man jedoch nicht Studierende anderer Studienrichtungen, sondern den Bevölkerungsdurchschnitt zum Vergleich heranzieht, dann erscheinen angehende LehrerInnen als überdurchschnittlich intelligent, extrovertiert und feinfühlig (Mayr 1994c). Die Gesellschaft bevorzugt offenbar in vielen Ländern die Rekrutierung der LehrerInnen über leichteren und breiten Zugang statt durch erhöhte Anreize (Lortie 1975, 23). Dies wird erstens Berufstätige mit sehr unterschiedlichem Hintergrund anziehen und zu großer Heterogenität in der schon an sich großen Berufsgruppe führen. Zweitens ist dadurch zu erwarten, dass sich überzufällig häufig einesteils Personen, die mit den ideellen Zentralwerten des Berufes (Dienstleistungsideal, Arbeit mit Kindern) übereinstimmen ("Idealisten"), und anderenteils Personen mit weniger dynamischen Einstellungen, die hohen Anforderungen und Leistungswettbewerb eher scheuen, angezogen fühlen. Leichter Zugang und Subjektivität der Zugangserfordernisse lassen einen höheren Anteil von 'second best'-Wahlen erwarten: Die Entscheidung für den Beruf erfolgt, weil in anderer Hinsicht attraktivere Alternativen zu schwer zugänglich oder zu unsicher sind oder abgebrochen werden mussten (vgl. z.B. Kelchtermans 1992, 263f). Dieses für die Sozialisation in den Lehrerberuf bedeutsame Merkmal findet sich auch in den meisten unserer Länderstudien wieder. Auch dort, wo durch eine staatliche Lenkungspolitik eine beschränkte Anzahl von Studienplätzen zur Verfügung gestellt wird, wie z.B. in Portugal, erbringt die Auswahl aus den BewerberInnen offenbar nicht, eine spezifische durch allgemeine oder berufsspezifische Leistungskriterien herausgehobene Gruppe von Studierenden (vgl. Campos 2001, 4: Minimalnoten in Gegenständen als Zugangsbedingung). 1 SEIFERT (1994) fand bei angehenden HauptschullehrerInnen eine (im Vergleich zu VolksschullehrerInnen) stärkere Bedeutung extrinsischer Berufswahlfaktoren, wie Nähe des Studienortes, Kürze der Ausbildung), die wiederum mit geringerer Zufriedenheit mit der Studienwahl und schlechteren Leistungen im Studium korrelierten. 2 Vgl. auch Terhart (1994, 24). Keine derartigen Unterschiede konnten dagegen Bergmann/Eder (1994a) zwischen höheren SchülerInnen, die sich mit dem Gedanken trugen, ein Lehramtsstudium aufzunehmen, und solchen, die das nicht taten, finden. 17 Eine Ausnahme von dieser Regel stellt offenbar der PISA-Musterschüler Finnland dar. Auch hier herrscht aufgrund staatlicher Regulierung von Studienplätzen eine Zugangsbeschränkung und nur 10 bis 15 % der AnwärterInnen auf ein Grundschullehrerstudium werden aufgenommen (Die Sekundarschullehrerbildung ist weniger attraktiv, was mit schlechteren Arbeitsbedingungen und burn out zusammenhängt). Allerdings gelingt es den Studiengängen zum Grundschullehramt offenbar, besonders talentierte Studierende anzuziehen. Die Auswahl der Studierenden ist Sache der Universitäten. Auch sind die Zugangskriterien, deren Festlegung in der Verantwortung der Universitäten liegt, anspruchsvoller als in anderen Disziplinen, weil die Ergebnisse der Immatrikulationsprüfung und des Abschlusszeugnisses oft durch persönliche Fähigkeitstests und Interviews ergänzt werden. Finnische GesprächspartnerInnen auf dieses Phänomen angesprochen, scheinen selbst nicht sicher über dessen Ursache zu sein. Hoher Stellenwert der Bildung in der finnischen Gesellschaft und damit zusammenhängend der Status der LehrerIn, angenehme Arbeitsbedingungen, Förderung akademischer Weiterqualifikation von LehrerInnen werden oft als Gründe angegeben. Jedenfalls scheint das Gehaltsniveau nicht zu den ausschlaggebenden Gründen zu gehören. 2.3.3. Weitung der Perspektive: Berufsbiographische Perspektive und systemische Relationen Weitgehende Übereinstimmung unter den TheoretikerInnen der Lehrerbildung herrscht darüber, dass man heute nicht mehr über Lehrergrundausbildung diskutieren könnte, wenn man nur sie im Blick hat: Einesteils müsste die Grundausbildung als ein Schritt in einem continuous professional development von LehrerInnen gesehen, der von der Rekrutierung für ein Studium, über die Grundausbildung, Berufseinführung, Fortund Weiterbildung gehe und in seinen spezifischen unterschiedlichen Aufgaben und Bezügen verstanden werden müsste (siehe dazu ausführlicher im Abschnitt "Kohärenz und Abstimmung" in 2.4). Anderenteils dürfe die Grundausbildung auch nicht bloß als abgeschlossener und dem auf zukünftiges gerichteten Lernen gewidmeter Ort gesehen werden, sondern auch in ihren sich ebenfalls dynamischen ändernden Bezügen zu anderen Systempartnern, wie Schule, Verwaltung, Bildungspolitik, Bildungsforschung (vgl. z.B. Buchberger et al. 1999, 3ff). Themen, wie Schulentwicklung, innerschulische Personalentwicklung und Aufgabenverteilung, Elternund Öffentlichkeitsarbeit kommen dadurch in den Blick. 2.3.4. Kohärenz der Curricula Die Spezifikation der Lehrerbildungscurricula wird in den meisten Ländern als Sache der weitgehend autonomen Anbieterinstitution angesehen. Dies bietet Spielräume für Curricula und führt in der Praxis zu einer Diversität der Angebote und Lernerfahrungen (vgl. z.B. Niemi 2001). Verschiedene Instrumente werden gefordert oder eingesetzt, um eine größere Kohärenz in den Programmen zu erreichen. Das TNTEE-Green Paper fordert - im Gegensatz zu der an vielen Orten herrschenden unverbundenen Ansammlung akademischer Disziplinen - die Entwicklung von integrativeren Curricula, die um "thematische Schwerpunkte", die aus den 'professionellen Anforderungen' von LehrerInnen abgeleitet sind, organisiert sind (vgl. Buchberger et al. 1999, 39f). In Portugal leitet ein professionelles Leitbild des Lehrberufs die Ausbildung. Diese macht klar, dass nicht Beamte, nicht Techniker, sondern "Professionelle" ausgebildet werden sollen, die Unterrichtssituationen analysieren können und solche Unterrichtspraktiken verwirklichen, die die größte Zahl von Lernenden durch den Lernprozess leitet und die auch ihre Praxis in einer Weise evaluieren können, die ihre eigene Kompetenz erhöht. Außerdem werden staatlicherseits einzelne "breite Curriculumkomponenten" (wie z.B. persönliche, soziale, 18 kulturelle, wissenschaftliche Bildung; Erziehungswissenschaft inklusive Fachdidaktik; Pädagogische Praxis) und deren minimales/maximales Gewicht (als Prozentsatz der Gesamtstundenanzahl) definiert (vgl. Campos 2001, 5). "Im Jahre 1996 setzte der [niederländische] Minister für Unterricht, Kultur und Wissenschaft ein Prozessmanagement für die Lehrerausbildungsinstitute ein, das unter anderem die Aufgabe bekam, Kohärenz in den Programmen der Lehrerausbildung für den Primarunterricht zu fördern. Im Jahre 1998 führte dies zu einem gemeinschaftlichen Curriculum. Der Vorschlag ist nicht präskriptiv und hat aber durch sein interaktives Zustandekommen eine breite Basis in der Gesellschaft. Im Augenblick benutzen viele Ausbildungsinstitute diese Lehrplanvorschläge als Ausgangspunkt für ihre eigene Lehrplanreform" (Letschert 2001, 4; meine Hervorh. HA). Ein wichtiges, weiterhin unterentwickeltes curriculares Element scheint die Fachdidaktik. Initiativen zu deren Weiterentwicklung – insbesondere in Form von übergreifenderen Bereichsdidaktiken - erscheint dem TNTEE-Green Paper essentiell (vgl. Buchberger et al. 1999, 40f). 2.3.5. Rechenschaftspflicht und Qualitätssicherung Die Informationsbasis über Prozesse und Ergebnisse der Lehrerbildung wird oft als unbefriedigend beklagt (vgl. Campos 2001, 10). Nur in der Finnischen Studie wird über Ergebnisse von Evaluationen berichtet (vgl. Niemi 2001): Graduierte finnische Grundund SekundarschullehrerInnen geben an, in den pädagogischen Grundfertigkeiten gut ausgebildet worden zu sein. Gewünscht werden Kompetenzen für Verwaltung, Elternkooperation, Arbeit mit der Gemeinschaft, Krisenintervention, Umgang mit Heterogenität, Integrationspädagogik, Schüler-Wohlfahrt, Internationalisierung sowie Vorbereitung für die Arbeit unter Zeitdruck. "Ein generelles Resultat der Evaluation ist, dass die Studien um so nützlicher evaluiert werden, je anspruchsvoller sie waren" (Niemi 2001, 7). Eine durchgehende Tendenz der Lehrerbildungspolitik in allen besprochenen Ländern ist die verstärkte Bedeutung der Themen Rechenschaftspflicht und Qualitätssicherung. Einerseits werden die tertiären Institutionen und damit auch die in ihnen verankerten Lehrerbildungsprogramme zu Selbstevaluation und interner Qualitätsentwicklung verpflichtet. Andererseits werden verschiedene Instrumente einer externen Evaluation und Qualitätssicherung – oft erst seit kurzer Zeit – praktiziert. Darunter sind zu nennen: • Akkreditierung von Studiengängen: Eine Akkreditierung evaluiert die Angemessenheit eines Lehrerbildungsprogramms und verleiht der entsprechenden Institution das Recht, dieses Programm anzubieten – stellt damit eine ex ante Prüfung von Input-Faktoren dar. Diese Akkreditierung ist meist für eine begrenzte Periode gültig und erfordert eine Erneuerung der Akkreditierung, meist auf der Basis entsprechender Qualitätsevaluationen (und kann der Prozedur damit ein Element der Prozess und Output-Evaluierung hinzufügen). Solche Akkreditierungen können durch den Staat selbst (bzw. von ihm beauftragt Institutionen) oder auch von Fachorganisationen durchgeführt werden. Die Akkreditierung, in den USA schon lange ein Mechanismus mit der v.a. durch (selbst 'dezentrale' und regierungsunabhängige Organisationen) eine gewisse Vergleichbarkeit zwischen Ausbildungsgängen hergestellt wird, kann auch ein Instrument zur Durchsetzung staatlicher Interessen sein, wie sich an der Zentralisierung der Lehrerbildung in England seit 1984 studieren lässt (vgl. Biott et al. 2001; Criblez 1998, 50ff). Mit Hilfe des Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (CATE; 1994 durch die Teacher Training Agency (TTA) ersetzt) wurden 19 (i) alternative Ausbildungswege zum Lehrberuf geschaffen, die auf vollakademische Ausbildung verzichteten und den Anteil schulpraktischer Ausbildung erhöhten. (ii) fachliche Anteile im Studium vermehrt und neuer Curriculuminhalte (z.B. Informatik, Sonderpädagogik, interkulturelle Studien) eingeführt; (iii) unterrichtspraktische Anteile im Studium vermehrt und (iv) eine durchgehende Kompetenzorientierung der curricularen Elemente angestrebt. Ein Akkreditierungs-Mechanismus wurde jüngst auch in Portugal eingeführt, allerdings in der spezifischen Version einer "professionellen Akkreditierung", in der Anbieterinstitutionen, die im Prinzip autonom sind, Studiengänge anzubieten, das Recht verliehen wird, auch Berufsberechtigungen für den Lehrberuf zu vergeben. Das Nationale Institut für die Akkreditierung der Lehrerbildung, das diese Akkreditierung vornimmt, wurde erst im Juni 1999 gegründet und ist eine öffentliche, vom Ministerium eingerichtete Institution. In seinem Leitungsgremium sind tertiäre Institutionen, Lehrer, Eltern, Ansteller, Ministerium, Studenten und die Wirtschaft repräsentiert (vgl. Campos 2001, 9). • Selbstevaluation und peer reviews, Nationale Evaluationen, monitoring: Die Prüfung der Effektivität der Lehrerbildung ist eine weit verbreitete Forderung (vgl. Oelkers 1996, 48f). Der Einsatz diverser Instrumente externer Evaluation (vgl. Posch/Altrichter 1997, 33ff) werden aus verschiedenen Ländern berichtet (vgl. Campos 2001; Niemi 2001), ohne dass hier lehrerbildungsspezifische Prozeduren beobachtbar wären. • Leistungsvereinbarungen und darauf bezogene Evaluationen: Ein Modus der Steuerung von nachgeordneten Organisationen, wie sie z.B. in der öffentlichen Verwaltung häufig zu finden sind, ist das vom 'new public managment vorgeschlagene Modell (vgl. Dubs 1996): Hier werden von vorgesetzten Instanzen mit den Suborganisationen Leistungsvereinbarungen getroffen, die bestimmte Ziel/Produkte vorgeben und vielleicht einige prozessbezogene Qualitätsstandards definieren, im übrigen aber bezüglich der Wege den Suborganisationen große Freiheit zugestehen. Für die Erbringung dieser Leistungsziele wird der Suborganisation ein 'Globalbudget' zugeordnet. Die Erreichung der vereinbarten Ziele wird jeweils durch Evaluation festgestellt. Dieses Modell wird auch im Bildungswesen erprobt und beispielsweise von Keuffer/Oelkers (2001, 15) für die Lehrerbildung vorgeschlagen. • Festlegung von Standards für Ausbildung und Berufsqualifikation: (Input-)Standards können einesteils für die Auswahl und Vorbildung von Studierenden sowie für bestimmte Elemente und Inhalte der Ausbildungsprogramme formuliert werden (die dann in Akkreditierungsprozeduren überprüft werden). Dies ist eine in den USA schon lange herrschende Praxis, die allerdings im Zuge der jüngsten Lehrerbildungsdiskussion zu einer Vereinheitlichung und Erhöhung von Standards genutzt wurde (vgl. NCATE-Standards von 1987 bei Criblez 1998, 44). Eine alternative output-orientierte Strategie besteht darin, extern (staatlicherseits) Berufsqualifikationen zu definieren, die von einzelnen LehrerInnen erfüllt werden müssen; diese sollen dann – durch den Bedarf der LehrerInnen vermittelt - auch die Grundausbildungsund Fortbildungsprogramme beeinflussen. Diese Strategie findet gegenwärtig stark steigendes Interesse und ist in einer besonders differenzierten Version in der Studie von Biott et al. (2001) nachzulesen: Die Teacher Training Agency in England und Wales hat so beispielsweise für Berufsanfänger (newly qualified teachers; NQT) ebenso wie für spätere Karrierewege (siehe dazu Abschnitt 3.2) Qualifikationsstandards formuliert3. 3 Die Standards für Advanced Skills Teachers finden sich unter http://www.dfee.gov.uk/ast/brochure/sup_02.shtml. Jene für headteachers unter http://www.ncslonline.gov.uk/programmes/npqh/210.asp. Alle anderen Standards finden sich auf der website der Teacher Training Agency http://www.canteach.gov.uk/info/standards/index.htm. 20 Dieser Typ der Standardisierung setzt die Tendenzen zur Vereinheitlichung der schulischen Curricula und zur Messung ihrer Wirksamkeit fort, wie sie in England durch das Nationale Curriculum und die vergleichenden Tests der Schulleistungen im Alter von 7, 11, 14 und 16 Jahren (die aggregiert als "Leistungen der Schulen" national publiziert werden) erreicht wurden. • Inspektion: Eine im Schulsystem traditionelle und dort in Transformation befindliche Methode der Qualitätssicherung, die Inspektion, scheint im Bereich der höheren Bildung wieder verstärkte Aufmerksamkeit zu finden. So wurde in Portugal erst kürzlich der Aufgabenbereich der Inspektion auch auf die Institutionen der höheren Bildung ausgedehnt, die die Übereinstimmung der Programme mit den gesetzlichen Richtlinien zu überprüfen hat (Campos 2001, 10). Das Niederländische Higher Education Inspectorate hat eine meta-evaluative Funktion: Es beobachtet die Qualität der Selbstund peer Evaluationen und die Maßnahmen, die als Konsequenzen der Evaluationen ergriffen werden (vgl. Letschert 2001). Die Inspektion durch das englische OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education) entscheidet über Größe und Weiterbestehen von Lehrerbildungsprogrammen (vgl. Biott et al. 2001). Ein wesentliches Element einer Strategie zur Qualitätsentwicklung wird aber gerade in einen Sektor, der eine vergleichsweise kurze Geschichte auf tertiärem Niveau hat, ein kohärentes Personalentwicklungsprogramm sein, das MitarbeiterInnen die Erhöhung ihrer formalen Qualifikationen (vgl. die Nachdiplomkurse in der Schweiz), den Erwerb spezifischer Zusatzqualifikationen für den tertiären Bereiche (z.B: Forschung, Präsentation von Forschungsarbeiten, erwachsenengerechte Lehre) und den Aufbau einer spezifischen Identität als akademischer LehrerbildnerIn4 erlaubt (vgl. Buchberger et al. 1999, 53). Das Ergebnis dieser vielfältigen Rechenschaftsbeziehungen ist oft einigermaßen komplex, wie Biott et al. (2001) zeigen. In einzelnen Ländern, so z.B. besonders deutlich im englischen Bericht (vgl. Biott et al. 2001), werden die unter der Flagge der Qualitätssicherung segelnden Maßnahmen schmerzhaft als verstärkte zentrale Regulierung durch eine sich liberal gebende Administration empfunden. Deutlich wird, dass auch die Lehrerbildung unter verstärktem Wettbewerbsdruck steht. In manchen Ländern, wie z.B. in England, haben Regierungen versucht, die Zahl der Anbieter von Lehrerbildung zu steigern (z.B. durch die Ermöglichung schulbasierter Ausbildungsgänge). In vielen Ländern bekommen Lehrerbildungsfakultäten oder -programme den verstärkten inneruniversitären Wettbewerb um Ressourcen zu spüren. Dessen Kriterien, die oft aus der Forschungsqualität abgeleitet sind (z.B. Anzahl von Doktoraten, hochqualitative Forschung und internationale Publikationen, Kooperation mit der Wirtschaft; vgl. Niemi 2001), bereiten Lehrerbildungsfakultäten, die traditionell lokaler und weniger forschungsintensiv ausgerichtet waren, oft Schwierigkeiten. 2.3.6. Forschung "... the research basis for such important work as educating the nation's teachers is still extremely thin" (Houston 1990, IX) steht in der ersten Ausgabe des Handbook of Research on Teacher Education zu lesen. Die Situation hat sich seither nicht entscheidend gebessert und so herrscht große Übereinstimmung, dass eine Reform der Lehrerbildung auch mit einer 4 Eine solche ist an Universitäten ja üblicherweise auch nicht gegeben. Status kann nur durch Engagement in möglichst grundlegender Forschung gewonnen werden; die Tätigkeit in 'angewandten Bereichen, wie Lehrerbildung eine ist, wird geringer geschätzt. Die Ausnahme zu diesem Muster konnte ich nur an der Universität Helsinki beobachten, wo sich der Arbeitsbereich für Lehrerbildung, durch ein gut funktionierendes Ausbildungsprogramm und internationale Vernetzung seiner Forschung ein eigenständiges Profil erworben hatte, das durchaus neben jenem der 'allgemeinen PädagogInnen' bestehen konnte. 21 quantitativen und qualitativen Entwicklung der Lehrerbildungsforschung einhergehen müsse (vgl. Buchberger et al. 1999, 43). Insoferne sind die finnischen Anstrengungen, die Forschungsbasis in der und über die Lehrerbildung zu stärken, besonders erwähnenswert (vgl. Niemi 2001, 13): Im Zuge der Forschungsförderung in allen Disziplinen, wurden auch in der Lehrerbildung gut ausgestattete post-graduate schools gefördert. Die Anzahl der Doktorate im Bereich der Lehrerbildung konnte mehr als verdoppelt werden. Der Bericht weist daraufhin, dass für eine intensivierte Forschungsorientierung in der Lehrerbildung ein Wandel von Rahmenbedingungen und Institutionskultur nötig ist: So sind größere Teile des Personals als an anderen Fakultäten lecturers ohne Forschungsverpflichtung. Pädagogische Forschungsprojekte sind häufiger klein und kürzerfristig, während die Tendenz der Forschungsfinanzierung in die Richtung großer langfristiger Projekte geht. Indikatoren der Forschungsqualität richten sich häufig an "referierten internationalen Publikationen" aus, was mit der derzeitigen Publikationsstruktur, in der nationale Publikationen (die für die Entwicklung des pädagogischen Feld ebenfalls wichtig sind) vorherrschen, nicht gut zusammenpasst. Nicht diskutiert wird in dem Bericht die Frage, ob und wie bei einer Intensivierung der Forschungsanstrengungen die Lehrqualität erhalten und weiterentwickelt werden kann. Ein Ansatz zur Steigerung der Bedeutung der Forschung in der Lehrerbildung, der in Finnland offenbar erfolgreich verfolgt wird – Finnland hat einige international renommierte ProtagonistInnen einer forschungsorientierten Lehrerbildung (z.B. Pertti Kansanen) -, besteht in einer "reflektierenden oder forschungsorientierten Lehrerbildung" (vgl. auch Criblez 1998, 41f, über die Rezeption von Donald Schöns Konzept des ‘reflective practitioner’ in den USA; Altrichter 2000). In einer solchen wird versucht, die Fähigkeiten von LehrerstudentInnen zu entwickeln, ihre eigene, sich entfaltende Praxis mit Hilfe verschiedener Forschungsstrategien zu reflektieren und ihre Fähigkeitsentwicklung dadurch zu evaluieren und zu orientieren – oder wie Niemi (2001) sagt, "Forschung und professionelle Entwicklung zu verbinden". In den Evaluationen zeigt sich offenbar, dass die entsprechenden Elemente der Ausbildung von den Studierenden durchaus goutiert werden: Die abschließende Forschungsarbeit (master thesis) und die Ausbildung in Forschungsmethoden erscheinen vielen Studierenden als die besten Teile der Grundschullehrerbildung, weil sie dabei ein echtes Projekt im Kontakt mit dem Praxisfeld machen können (vgl. Niemi 2001, 7). Eine derartige "forschungsorientierte Lehrerbildung" böte auch die Möglichkeit, größere Teile des Personals in Kontakt mit aktiver Forschung zu bringen, indem sie ihre eigene Lehrerbildungspraxis evaluieren und weiterentwickeln bzw. sich auf gemeinsame Forschungsprozesse mit Schulen einlassen. Der Stellenwert der Forschung im Studium ist auch in anderen Ländern ein wichtiger Punkt in der Debatte der Lehrerbildungsreform. So fordert Oelkers (1996, 50f) "ein forschendes, empirisches Verständnis von Erziehungswissenschaft". Stärkeren Forschungsbezug versteht er als Mittel um die Ausbildungsorganisation "besser als bisher auf die Probleme des Berufsfeldes [einzustellen]. Dazu zählen ein verstärktes Forschungsaufkommen, die Steuerung durch Forschungsdaten, der Aufbau neuartiger Serviceeinrichtungen im Evaluationsbereich, die Abnehmerorientierung der Fortbildung, die Rotation des Personals und Ähnliches mehr" (Keuffer/Oelkers 2001, 15). Er will auf Erziehungsberufe nicht durch Erziehung vorbereiten, sondern im forschenden Lernen und zwar in der gesamten Ausbildung und auch in der Weiterbildung. Das heißt jedoch nicht, dass er "jeden Realitätsbezug mit dem Ehrentitel ‘forschendes Lernen’ ... versehen [will]. Nur bestimmte Probleme - unbekannte Dimensionen, herausfordernde Fragen, aufregende Möglichkeiten ..." (a.a.O., 51). Als Möglichkeiten für solches 'forschendes Lernen' nennt er "Einbindung in Forschungsprojekte: Wissenschaftliche Begleitungen, neutrale Evaluationen, größere Forschungsvorhaben, die sich mit akademischen Qualifizierungen verbinden lassen, Beteiligung an Unterrichts- 22 forschung oder Fachdidaktik" (ebda.). Beispiele 'forschenden Lernens' in der deutschsprachigen Lehrerbildung finden sich in Dirks/Hansmann (1999), Altrichter/ Lobenwein (1999), Feindt/Meyer (2000) und Schneider/Wildt (2001). Wichtig erscheint in diesen Bestimmungen, dass Forschungsbezug und Praxisbezug nicht als unverbunden oder gar gegeneinanderstehend konzipiert werden, sondern – wenn sie richtig "organisiert" werden - als einander zuarbeitend, als Voraussetzung, um reflektiertes und praxisrelevantes Expertenwissen aufzubauen. „Die Bedeutung des pädagogischen Expertenwissens [ist] unbestreitbar. Unterrichtserfahrungen alleine scheinen für den Erwerb dieses Wissens und Könnens aber nicht ausreichend zu sein, denn es gibt im Gegensatz zu anderen Expertisedomänen (z.B. Schach, Physik, Medizin) keinen signifikanten Zusammenhang zwischen der Dauer der Berufstätigkeit von Lehrern, dem Niveau ihres Expertenwissens und ihrem Unterrichtserfolg. ... es spricht trotzdem schon jetzt vieles dafür, dass quasi-experimentelle Einstellung zur eigenen Unterrichtspraxis, verbunden mit kooperativen Formen der Lehrerweiterbildung ..., von großer Bedeutung für den Erwerb professionellen Wissens und Könnens sind ... " (Weinert/Helmke 1996, 232). Das TNTEE-Green Paper empfiehlt den europäischen Ländern den Aufbau von kohärenten Strukturen für Lehrerbildungsforschung, die auch ein nationales knowledge resource center für Lehrerbildung auf tertiärem Niveau umfassen, das ein umfassenderes und koordiniertes Forschungsprogramm für alle Phasen der Lehrerbildung entwickelt (vgl. Buchberger et al. 1999, 51f). 2.3.7. Praxisorientierung und schulpraktische Anteile Die Bedeutung, die den schulpraktischen Ausbildungsanteilen im Rahmen einer tertiären Lehrerausbildung gegeben wird, scheint in allen Ländern im Steigen zu sein. Dies trifft ebenso (und in moderater Weise) für die Niederlande zu (vgl. Letschert 2001, 6) wie für England, wo die konservative Regierung eine Zeitlang sogar einen teilweisen Ersatz tertiärer Lehrerausbildung durch schulbasierte Lehrerbildung anstrebte (vgl. Biott et al. 2001). Auch für Oelkers (1996, 44ff) sind 'klinische Erfahrungen' anhand des 'Ernstfalls' ein zentrales Element einer Lehrergrundausbildung und auch ein Mittel gegen "die Beliebigkeit wenigstens der erziehungswissenschaftlichen Angebote". Er schlägt vor, "das Studium mit dem Ernstfall beginnen zu lassen und die Themen aus der Erfahrung von Gelingen und Scheitern zu entwickeln" (a.a.O., 46). Der 'Ernstfall' wäre dann nicht, das was 'am Schluss warte', sondern würde zum "Lernobjekt", "wäre so früh wie möglich zu suchen mit begrenzter Aufsicht und hoher Verantwortlichkeit" (a.a.O., 51). Organisatorisch wünscht er sich die Anbindung der Studien an Universitätsschulen, die einem Klinikum vergleichbar wären; eventuell ein praktisches Jahr vor dem Studium, "in dem Lehrer die Novizen anleiten und ihnen Ernstfallsituationen übertragen. Sie können ein Problemverständnis entwickeln, das die Fragestellungen der Erziehungswissenschaft testen und zugleich nutzen kann" (a.a.O., 50). Auch das TNTEE-Green Paper erachtet "aktive wechselseitige Partnerschaften zwischen Institutionen der Lehrerbildung und Schulen [als] ein Schlüsselproblem für alle Formen der Lehrerbildung" (Buchberger et al. 1999, 43). Solche Partnerschaften eröffnen den Lehrerbildungsinstitutionen ein Potential für ihre schulpraktischen Anteile, für Bildungsforschung und für Schulentwicklungsaktivitäten. Schulpraktische Anteile dürfen aber nicht bloß der sonstigen Lehrerbildung hinzugeführt werden, sondern müssen sich auf ein Netzwerk von Modellschulen mit hochqualifizierten und speziell für ihre Lehrerbildungsaufgabe ausgebildeten Mentoren stützen. Aktive wechselseitige 23 Partnerschaften zwischen Institutionen der Lehrerbildung und Schulen sind ein Schlüsselproblem für alle Formen der Lehrerbildung" (Buchberger et al. 1999, 43). Solche Partnerschaften eröffnen den Lehrerbildungsinstitutionen ein Potential für ihre schulpraktischen Anteile, für Bildungsforschung und für Schulentwicklungsaktivitäten. Schulpraktische Anteile dürfen aber nicht bloß der sonstigen Lehrerbildung hinzu addiert werden, sondern dürfen sich auf ein Netzwerk von Modellschulen mit hochqualifizierten und speziell für ihre Lehrerbildungsaufgabe ausgebildeten Mentoren stützen (vgl. Buchberger et al. 1999, 44). Ein Kernstück vieler US-amerikanischer Konzepte zur Lehrerbildungsreform waren schooluniversity-partnerships mit besonderen professional development schools (PDS), die als Weg zur Lösung des Theorie-Praxis-Problems angesehen wurden. Diese Schulen sollten Orte sein, an denen die professionelle Entwicklung der LehrerInnen gefördert wird, die aber auch einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Ausbildung der Lehramtskandidaten leisten. Sie sollten Orte der Forschung sein, an denen Universitätslehrende mit der Schulpraxis in Kontakt kommen und die LehrerInnen vor Ort mit der Forschung und deren Resultaten vertraut gemacht werden (vgl. Criblez 1998, 44). Tatsächlich wird eine steigende Zahl solcher PDS eingerichtet. Erste Evaluationen zeigen aber, dass sich "die PDS aufgrund der institutionellen und organisatorischen Rahmenbedingungen sehr unterschiedlich entwickelt haben, dass die Übernahme von Lehrerbildungsaufgaben durch die Schule keine signifikante Veränderung der Schule in Sinne der Schulreform erzeugt, und dass der Support für die PDS innerhalb der Universitäten und der Schuldistrikte zu gering ist" (a.a.O., 48). In Portugal ist wie in vielen anderen Ländern die schulpraktische Ausbildung in Diskussion, und es herrscht Übereinstimmung, dass hier große Verbesserungen notwendig sind. Die Probleme ergeben sich aus dem Mangel an qualifizierten Mentoren, aus der Vernachlässigung der Praxis durch tertiäre Institutionen, aus den mangelhaften Verbindungen zwischen Schulen und der Universität (Campos 2001, 10). In vielen Ländern, auch in jenen, in denen – wie z.B. in Finnland spezifische an die Universitäten angegliederte Universitätsschulen existieren – scheint ein Problem darin zu bestehen, genügend geeignete Praxisorte und qualifizierte PraxisbetreuerInnen zu finden: Ebenso wird in vielen Berichten über 'schwierige Abstimmung' bis 'mangelhafte Kooperation' oder "Kohäsion" zwischen Universitätsausbildung und schulpraktischen Erfahrungen (vgl. Letschert 2001, 6). Keuffer/Oelkers (2001, 56) nennen einige Probleme der derzeitigen Gestaltung von Praktika, die so gravierend sind, dass sie es überraschend finden, dass Praktika nicht stärker in Diskussion stehen: 1. "Die universitären Praktika sind nicht untereinander verbunden und ermöglichen auch keine kontinuierliche Erfahrung. 2. Die Praktika werden zwar zumeist mit einzelnen Lehrveranstaltungen verbunden, aber nicht systematisch in das Studium eingebunden. 3. Die Praktika beeinflussen nicht oder nur zufällig die Entscheide für die Berufseignung. 4. Die Prüfungen beziehen sich nicht auf die Praktika. 5. Universitäre Praktika und schulpraktische Ausbildung in der zweiten Phase haben keinen Bezug aufeinander. 6. Beide sind nicht oder nicht genügend gebunden an Ausbildungsstandards." 2.3.8. Neue Ausbildungskonzepte Pädagogische Neuerungen spielen eine relativ untergeordnete Rolle in den Länderberichten, vielleicht weil sie sich auf strukturelle Fragen konzentrieren, vielleicht auch weil 24 gegenwärtige Lehrerbildungsinnovationen oft eine Variation schon bekannter Themen darstellen (vgl. dazu auch Abschnitt 2.5). Neben der schon genannten reflektierenden oder forschenden Lehrerbildung (vgl. Dirks/Hansmann 1999; Altrichter/Lobenwein 1999) sowie einer standardorientierten Lehrerbildung im Sinne der Vorschläge Osers (vgl. Abschnitt 2.2) ist hier der verstärkte Einsatz selbstgesteuerter Lernformen (independent study) zu nennen, der im finnischen und niederländischen Kontext zu beobachten ist (vgl. Letschert 2001, 7). Derartige Lernformen in der Lehrerbildung reflektieren einerseits den Aufstieg der verschiedenen Variationen offenen Lernens in den Schulen, sie werden begleitet von konstruktivistischen Argumentationen und sollen Voraussetzungen für das bildungspolitische Postulat nach lebenslangem Lernen schaffen. Selbständigere Formen des Studiums erfordern allerdings auch neue Überlegungen in Hinblick auf Studienbegleitung und Lernberatung (Beck et al. 2001, 27). Formen selbständigeren Studiums werden oft begleitet von einer Modularisierung der Ausbildung (die überschaubare - in den deutsprachigen Ländern meist unfangreichere - Lerneinheiten schafft, die mit bestimmten Kompetenzzielen assoziiert sind) und einer Berechnung von Lehr/Lern-Einheiten nach der angenommenen Arbeitszeit der Studierenden und nicht nach der Präsenzzeit der Lehrenden. Diese Entwicklung wird durch die Berechnung des Gewichtes von Kursen in ECTS-Punkten unterstützt und spiegelt einerseits ein wachsendes Bewusstsein über die Bedeutung der Eigenaktivität der Lernenden, ermöglicht aber auch andererseits eine Ökonomisierung des Mitteleinsatzes (weniger Präsenzzeit der teuren Lernenden bei nominal gleicher Zahl der Lehrveranstaltungen). Vor allem in Deutschland hat die Idee eines Kerncurriculums einen hohen Stellenwert, auch in den schon genannten Berichten der Enquetekommissionen. Darunter versteht man einen im Lehrerbildungscurriculum explizit ausgewiesenen "verbindlichen Kern an wissenschaftlichen Fragestellungen und Grundkenntnissen ..., der es Studierenden und Lehrenden erlaubt, zwischen dem für die Vorbereitung auf die künftige Tätigkeit von Lehrkräften unentbehrlichen Wissen und speziellerem Wissen zu unterscheiden ... Die Funktion eines solchen Kernwissens besteht darin, eine verlässliche Grundlage an Kenntnissen zu schaffen, die als gemeinsame Basis sowohl für die individuellen Schwerpunktsetzungen im übrigen Studium als auch für die an das universitäre Studium anschließenden Phasen der Lehrerbildung dienen kann" (Keuffer/Oelkers 2001, 48). Seine ProtagonistInnen erwarten von Kerncurriculum folgenden Funktionen (nach a.a.O., 46): • Es soll die Beliebigkeit der Themen im Studium einschränken; • Das Angebot spezifizieren und auf die Zwecke der Lehrerbildung ausrichten: Dabei soll es "verbindliche Standards festschreiben, die mit der Entwicklung eines individuellen Profils der künftigen Lehrkräfte verträglich sein sollten" (Keuffer/Oelkers 2001, 49); • Verbindlichkeiten für Lehrende und Lernende formulieren; • Anschlüsse und Abstimmungen erlauben und • als Steuerungsinstrument für die Entwicklung der Ausbildung " dienen. Keuffer/Oelkers (2001, 49) sehen die mit dem Kerncurriculum verbundene "Paradoxie, Studium zugleich als forschendes Lernen und als verpflichtende Inhaltlichkeit begreifen zu müssen." Sie halten sie für nie ganz auflösbar, wollen sie jedoch durch selbstständige Arbeit der Studierenden an den verpflichtenden Inhalten, z.B. durch Fallstudien und Fallanalysen, mildern. 25 2.4. Internationale Tendenzen in der Reform der Lehrerfortbildung (Continuing professional development) Im Bereich der Fortbildung von Lehrpersonen und anderen im Schulwesen pädagogischprofessionell tätigen Personen sind nach Auswertung der diesbezüglichen Aussagen unserer internationalen Expertengutachten, der OECD-Studie "Staying ahead" (1998) sowie des TNTEE-Green Papers folgende Tendenzen erkennbar: 2.4.1. Ziele von Fortbildung Von allen denkbaren Zielen von Fortbildung, wie z.B. • Auffrischen des Fachwissens individueller LehrerInnen • Auffrischen individueller Kompetenzen • Persönliche Weiterentwicklung von LehrerInnen • Karriereförderung für LehrerInnen • Implementierung zentraler Reformen • Schulen bei ihrer Entwicklung unterstützen • Austausch von Information und Expertise zwischen Lehrern und mit anderen • Unterstützung schwächerer LehrerInnen haben in den letzten Jahren gesamtstaatliche und einzelschulische Reforminteressen gegenüber den Interessen einzelner LehrerInnen stärkeres Gewicht gewonnen. Dies geht einher mit der Tendenz, Fortbildung eher als Verpflichtung denn als Gelegenheit, eher in Hinblick auf aktuelle Leistungen von LehrerInnen denn auf deren zukünftige Perspektiven zu sehen (OECD 1998, 33f). Die Verbindung von staatlicher Reform und Fortbildung war nicht immer vorhanden, hat sich jedoch neuerdings stark gefestigt (a.a.O., 11f). 2.4.2. Anbieter und Angebotsmodelle LehrerInnen können auf unterschiedliche Weise lernen; das geht vom Selbststudium über die Zusammenarbeit mit Kollegen und einzelne Abendkurse bis zu weiterführenden Universitätskursen. International sind folgende Typen von Anbietern, überall in größerer Diversität als in Österreich, zu beobachten: • zentrale, regionale und lokale Bildungsverwaltung bzw. von ihr abhängige Einrichtungen (z.B. Pädagogische Institute, deutsche Landsinstitute, englische Lehrerzenten der LEAs) • verwaltungsunabhängige öffentliche Institutionen, v.a. Universitäten und andere Bildungseinrichtungen • private Firmen und Personen • Organisationen, wie Fachgesellschaften und Lehrergewerkschaften (vgl. z.B. Campos 2001) • Schulen • Netzwerke von Schulen (South Dakota Study Group) Hauptanbieter von Fortbildung waren traditionellerweise einerseits Einrichtungen der Bildungsverwaltung (z.B. in England LEAs und deren Lehrerzentren) bzw. andererseits überall auch tertiäre Institutionen. In der Regel bieten alle Institutionen, die in der Lehrergrundausbildung engagiert sind, auch Fortbildung an (vgl. Campos 2001; Niemi 2001). Die Tendenz geht in vielen Ländern – v.a. in Kontext von Dezentralisierungsund Deregulierungsmaßnahmen - in die Richtung, die Zahl und Diversität der Anbieter zu steigern und Wettbewerb zwischen ihnen zu stimulieren (vgl. das besonders weitgehende ungarische Beispiel bei Setenyi 2000, aber auch Biott et al. 2001). Dies führt zu einer stärkeren, wenn 32 Eine solche Lehrerbildung, die praktisch bedeutsame Fragen erforscht, stellt er dem herrschenden "Philologismus" gegenüber, der nach seiner Beobachtung in Diplomarbeiten waltet; "aus Lehrerbildung ist eine Exzerpierund Buchhaltungskost geworden" (Hentig 2000, 65). In Handreichungen für ReferendarInnen ist "alles unfraglich, imperativ, fix und fertig, alles großgeredet und kleingeregelt und dadurch alles tief entmutigend" (Hentig 2000, 67). "Eine Denkart, in der es um Vergewisserung durch Ordnung geht!" (Hentig 2000, 69) Warum ist – trotz vieler Unzufriedenheitsäußerungen - das Beharrende in der Lehrerbildung so mächtig? Hentigs Erklärungen dafür sind: • "Die Lehrerbildung ist für die vorhandene Schule und deren Verhältnisse da" (Hentig 2000, 64). • "Die Erziehungswissenschaft ... befasst sich ... mit Götterkämpfen einerseits und mit Gehbeschwerden der Profession andererseits, sie stiftet nicht zu Reflexion und Selbstreflexion der Schulleute an, die mit den Widersprüchen und Demütigungen ihres Amtes nicht zurechtkommen" (a.a.O., 64). • "So gut wie alle im öffentlichen Diskurs über die Schule und die Lehrerbildung eingenommenen Positionen und Gegenpositionen dienen der Wahrung von Ansprüchen von Personengruppen" (a.a.O., 64). • "Die Lehrerbildung vollzieht sich administrativ, additiv, adhibitiv ... – sie bleibt unphilosophisch, unpolitisch, unpädagogisch" (a.a.O., 65). Eine andere Lehrerbildung braucht aber auch eine andere Erziehungswissenschaft. Für Hentig ist die Erziehungswissenschaft keine Grundlagenwissenschaft, vielmehr ist sie darauf angewiesen, "dass sie der Praxis dient; dass sie eine Ancilla, eine Magd der Lehrerbildung, der Familienerziehung, der Sozialpädagogik, der Lehrund Lernkunst ist ... " (Hentig 1996, 18). In seinen Bielefelder Schulprojekten sollte eine andere Erziehungswissenschaft "ihre eigenste Aufgabe besser (...) erfüllen, weil hier ihre Fragen, Hypothesen, Forschungen, Analysen von den Problemen der Praxis ausgehen, der sie - in der Form der Lehrerbildung und der Schultheorie - Klärung, Kritik, Kontextbewusstsein geben soll" (Hentig 1996, 20). Heute wird wieder häufig der prinzipielle Unterschied zwischen Wissenschaft und Praxis betont; Hentig verwischt nicht, dass diese in unterschiedlichen Berufen betrieben werden, aber betont die wechselseitige Aufeinanderangewiesenheit ihrer Rollenträger: „Der Wissenschaftler wird seine Sache besser treffen, wenn er sie kennt. Ist die Sache ein längerer, wechselvoller, nicht vorherbestimmter Prozess, wo sie sich längere Zeit mit ihr befassen. Geht sie auch ‘innerlich’ vor sich, muss er sich an dem Prozess persönlich beteiligen. Nachdem er aus dem Prozess herausgetreten ist und wenn die Erfahrung aus dem nacherzählenden Imperfekt in das feststellende Perfekt übergegangen ist, fängt die Wissenschaft an: Die Überprüfung der Eingangsfragen, die Ordnung der Tatbestände, ihre Bezeichnung, Verknüpfung, Auslegung und so fort. ... die Verstrickung in die Realität ist wohl nie ein Vorteil für die Erkenntnis. Aber zu wissen, wie Verstrickung ist, macht den Erkennenden aufmerksamer, umsichtiger, selbstkritisch; dies bekommt der Erkenntnis, wo immer Menschen ihr Gegenstand sind ..." (Hentig 1996, 22). Hentig betont weiter, dass die Lehrerbildung ihren Anlass und ihr Ziel - Das Kind, das erwachsen werden will – nicht aus den Augen verlieren dürfe. Heutige Lehrerbildung befasse sich "vornehmlich mit den Schwierigkeiten ... und nicht oder nur beiläufig mit dem ... Auftrag der Menschenbildung. Sie üben sich in den Mitteln ein, ohne den Anlass und das Ziel ihrer Anwendung deutlich wahrgenommen zu haben: Das Kind, das erwachsen werden will und das in der Schule vor allem zum Schüler gemacht wird; die Gesellschaft, die Bürger braucht und sich mit Konsumenten, Zuschauern, Steuerzahlern begnügt; die Idee vom Guten Leben, von dem man einen Zipfel erfasst haben muss, um für das einzutreten, und das meist in den 33 Schriften der Philosophen, in den Präambeln, in den Jubiläumsvorträgen stecken bleibt" (Hentig 2000, 61). Der Lehrerberuf ist Handwerk und Existenzform, Lehrerbildung erfordert daher Berufsbildung und Menschenbildung. "Das Lehren ist ein Handwerk, das Lehrersein eine Existenzform. Das Handwerk ... gedeiht umso besser ... wenn die Existenzform 'Lehrersein' im doppelten Sinn wahrgenommen wird: Erkannt und erfüllt. ... Statt des Rufs nach mehr Praxisbezug hören Sie von mir den Ruf nach mehr Lebensbezug oder besser, weil 'Bezug' schon wieder etwas Systematisierbares meint, den Ruf nach mehr Leben – einem vollen, vielseitigen, gewagten, persönlichen und gemeinschaftlichen Leben während der Ausbildung" (Hentig 2000, 70). Zu dieser Menschenbildung könne nicht allein formalisierte Ausbildung verhelfen, dazu brauche es auch Lebenserfahrung an verschiedenen Erfahrungsorten, wofür Hentig eine Reihe von Vorschlägen anbietet: • LehrerInnen sollten andere Lebenserfahrungen gemacht haben (z.B. Ausübung eines anderen Berufes; Hentig 1996, 35). • Erfahrungen vor der Lehrerausbildung machen durch ein "Allgemeines soziales Dienstjahr" (Hentig 2000, 71) oder Erziehertätigkeit. (Mit jungen Menschen leben und umgehen lernen, ein halbes bis ein Jahr mit Personen arbeiten, "die nur bedingt durch das Wort lenkbar sind", um zu lernen: "Führung durch Eingehen auf den anderen, durch Vormachen, durch Vorbild, durch Beteiligung"; Hentig 1996, 36) • Auslandsaufenthalt von mindestens einem Jahr. • Spezielle nicht fachliche Fähigkeiten erwerben und weitergeben können, wie Hentig (2000, 73) am Beispiel der Einstellungsmaxime in einer englischen Privatschule ausführt: "Jeder Lehrer muss bei der Einstellung in Bryanston eine Sache besser können als alle anderen an dieser Schule – und das darf nicht sein Fach sein." 34 Literatur Altrichter, H. (2000). Handlung und Reflexion bei Donald Schön. In: G. H. Neuweg (Hrsg.): Wissen – Können – Reflexion. StudienVerlag: Innsbruck, 201 - 221. Altrichter, H. & Lobenwein, W. (1999). Forschendes Lernen in der Lehrerbildung? Erfahrungen mit reflektierenden Schulpraktika. 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In: Erziehungswissenschaft 11 (22), 46 - 52. 37 ENGLAND Tendencies of teacher education policy and practice in England during the last decade (a paper for the Commission of Planning and Evaluation of Teacher Education, Austria) Colin Biott / Patrick Easen / John Spindler 1. Introduction Teacher education in England has been transformed over the last decade, and far reaching change continues. In this introduction we outline, briefly, the political and ideological context for these changes. We then outline and discuss reform and developments in (i). initial teacher education, (ii) career entry and induction, (iii) continuing professional development. We conclude by discussing some of the issues and dilemmas that arise from the reform of teacher education in recent years. The trend has been towards more diversity in the kinds of organisations providing teacher education, coupled with more standardised provision arising from increased regulation. This has its origins in the policies of the previous conservative government, and in the arguments of the ‘new right’. The trend has continued under the Labour government, which has been influenced by ‘the third way’ and is intent on ‘modernising’ the British economy and public services. The education policies of the conservative governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major were founded on the ‘new right’ argument that standards in schools had fallen as a result of a teaching profession dominated by left wing dogma. The ‘educational establishment’ (in particular Higher Education Institutions -HEIs - and the teacher unions) were seen as responsible for seducing teachers into ideologies and educational practices that denied traditional values and resulted in low attainment by pupils. In the name of raising standards, conservative governments in 1990s sought to undermine the influence of the ‘educational establishment’ and to regulate more closely Schools, Local Education Authorities (LEAs) and HEIs. Their strategy reflected tensions between neo-liberal and neo-conservative strands in the new right. The neo-liberal emphasis on market forces, competition and choice led to a policy of increasing the routes into teaching and broadening the range of teacher education providers, in order to break the monopoly of Higher Education. As consumers in a teacher market, schools would appoint teachers whose training most fitted their needs. Schools, under a neo-liberal regime, would themselves operate in a market in which parents, armed with detailed information about each school’s performance, would select schools. In this way markets would ensure improvement in standards, because schools and teacher education providers that failed to provide what consumers required would go out of business whilst the best would expand. Whilst the neo-liberal strand of the new right was suspicious of central control because of its potential to distort the market, neo-conservatives argued for more regulation of teacher education so that traditional values could be restored. The Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (CATE) was established in 1984, and it was replaced by the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) a decade later. Both of these agencies, and particularly 38 the TTA, have overseen increasing regulation of teacher education, much of it emphasising traditional values espoused by neo-conservatives. The tension in the new right, between neo-liberal emphasis on a free market in teacher education and neo-conservative demands for tighter regulation, failed to emerge as a political issue mainly because of the need to sustain teacher supply. It was recognised that it would take time for new providers to be established and it was necessary to retain a significant proportion of teacher education in HEIs in order to avoid, or at least alleviate, problems of teacher shortage. Both strands of the new right could, therefore, accept a need for regulation, at least until markets were sufficiently established. Both also supported efforts to involve schools more substantially as teacher education providers. In this way, conservative governments in the 1990s could be seen to be promoting choice and diversity, whilst also increasing regulation and central control.10 This trend has continued since the election of a Labour government in 1997 but the ideological basis of government policy has changed. ‘New Labour’s’ economic policy is focused on creating a high-tech, high wage economy that can compete in global markets. Investment in the workforce, through education and training, forms a key part of its economic strategy, and there is an emphasis on raising standards in schools and a return to ‘the basics’ which is reminiscent of the ‘new right’. Central direction, for schools and teacher education, provides one means through which government is seeking to ensure that schooling provides the labour market with the requisite knowledge and skills. At the same time local determination is stressed through the government’s promotion of social inclusion, stakeholder participation in the shaping of social policy and a citizenry that participates actively in a social democracy. It suggests that teachers, teacher associations, schools, LEAs, Higher Education and employers should participate in debate, and have some influence on teacher education. Nevertheless, government, it might be argued, has a responsibility to promote the values and a framework within which local determination will develop. (The recent requirement that ‘Citizenship’ should be taught in schools could be seen as one way in which government, through central control, is trying to meet this responsibility.) The Labour government, like its predecessor, can be seen as standardising teacher education through increasing regulation whilst at the same time encouraging greater diversity and the active participation of stakeholders.11 2. Phases of Teacher Education: initial training, induction and continuing professional development In the sections which follow we trace the implications of the tension between diversity and standardisation as it has emerged in the different phases of teacher education over the last ten years or so, and then we discuss some of the issues and dilemmas currently facing teacher education in England. 10 For a concise but useful exploration of the impact of the new right on teacher education in England see: Whitty, G. 1993, Education Reform and Teacher Education in England in the 1990s in Journal of Education for Teaching, Vol. 19, Nos. 4 & 5 pp447-465 11 For a useful discussion and critique of the economic, philosophical and social/political basis of Labour’s education policies see: Bottery, M. 1999, Education Under the New Modernisers: an agenda for centralisation, illiberalism and inequality? in Cambridge Journal of Education Vol. 29 No 1 pp103-120. 39 2.1. Initial Teacher Training 2.1.1. Changes in courses of Initial Teacher Education Anyone wishing to work as a teacher in state or ‘maintained’ schools and ‘non-maintained’ special schools in England needs to have ‘Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)’. Qualified Teacher Status is achieved by successfully completing a course of Initial Teacher Training (ITT). In the last few years ITT courses have changed considerably. The main features of those changes are: 1. The forging of stronger partnerships with schools. The teaching profession itself is actively involved now at all levels in any ITT coursefrom planning the course and the selection of students for entry, to actual participation in the learning/teaching situation and the assessment of the students. 2. The detailed specification of a set of ‘standards’ that have to be met by the student before QTS can be awarded. These standards run into the hundreds and are listed under the headings of ‘Knowledge and Understanding’, ‘Planning, Teaching and Classroom Management’, ‘Monitoring, Assessment, Recording, Reporting and Accountability’ and ‘Other Professional Requirements’. They are supported by a national curriculum for ITT in English, Mathematics and Science. In addition, each student has to pass ‘skills tests’ in Literacy and Numeracy. Soon this will be extended to include an ICT ‘skills test’ as well. All courses must involve the assessment of all students to ensure that they meet all the standards specified. 3. The development of a diversity of routes into teaching. Until 1993 there were only two routes into teaching– the ‘undergraduate route’ and the ‘postgraduate route’. They were both full-time and provided by HEIs, such as Universities. Each led to an academic and professional award. In the last seven years a variety of routes have developed so that anyone wishing to train for teaching has far more choice than ever before. Whichever route into teaching someone chooses, (s)he will need to meet the same QTS standards. Consequently every route leads to the professional recognition conferred by QTS. Not all, however, lead to a professional or academic award. Essentially, the growing choice reflects an increasing national emphasis on more flexible (‘trainee responsive’) and quicker (‘needs analysis led’) routes into teaching with less concern for Higher Education awards, and a greater role for the school. Taken together, these three features have changed the landscape of Initial Teacher Training in England. In many ways the first two features were important enabling factors for the third. 2.1.2. The Diversity of Routes into the Teaching Profession One of the biggest changes in the provision of different ITT routes is that Initial Teacher Training is no longer the monopoly of Higher Education Institutions. It is now possible for groups of schools or individual schools to be accredited as providers of training that lead to QTS. Although currently 96% of ITT provision is in HEIs, it is anticipated that this figure will drop considerably and rapidly in the future. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, as we explained in the introduction, the policy of the government is to actively promote choice and diversity. While there are ideological foundations for this policy it is also a pragmatic reaction to the problems of teacher recruitment and supply developing in England. Nationally there are several recognised ‘shortage subjects’ in Secondary teaching – Mathematics, Science, Design Technology, Geography, Modern Foreign Languages and Music. In certain localities, mainly in London, there is also a shortage of primary teachers. Policymakers are responding by developing a more sophisticated approach based on the identification of various distinct 40 recruitment pools - such as career changers, mature entrants and teachers trained overseas - who would be served by a commitment to flexibility and diversity. Secondly, as both the funding of Higher Education and the wider employment context for potential students changes some routes are becoming more attractive than others to would-be teachers. The implication of all this is that HEIs, the traditional providers of ITT, face increasing competition from providers with different missions, different modes of delivery and different costing bases. The choice of route starts with whether or not a potential student is already a graduate with a relevant degree. There are undergraduate and postgraduate routes and opportunities to study full-time or part-time with the training base in either a HEI or a school. In addition, several postgraduate routes are now available by distance learning or other forms of flexible study. 1. Undergraduate teacher training programmes combine degree studies with QTS. Usually these are located in Colleges and Universities and offer the degrees of B.Ed, BA, or BSc. These undergraduate courses last for three or four years full-time with few, if any, opportunities for part-time study. Most of these courses prepare students for primary teaching but there are also some undergraduate secondary programmes. In addition there is a ‘Registered Teacher Programme’ (RTP) available to prospective students without a degree. This is located in a school rather than a HEI, takes up to two years and the student completes a degree while (s)he trains. This option is only available to mature entrants who need to find a job in a school first. The school then needs to work with an HEI to provide a suitable degree course. 2. Postgraduate programmes enable existing graduates to gain QTS. It is here that most diversity can be found. Essentially there are four types of route a) The Higher Education Institution-based route. Usually located in a University, this route is normally a one-year full-time course leading to the award of a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) and of QTS. Most prospective Secondary teachers and an increasing number of prospective Primary teachers are trained this way. b) The flexible Higher Education Institution-based route. Known nationally as the ‘Modular PGCE’, this provision allows trainee teachers to follow a more individualised programme in order to gain Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) usually with the award of PGCE. These programmes have a number of start dates per year, and the traditional one-year training programme is replaced with a student dependent time frame. Following the initial assessment of training need, each student is given an individual training plan. The training plan is designed to enable the student to reach the standards required for QTS while taking into account his or her personal circumstances and preferred mode and timing of training. Thus, someone can study part-time, often using distance-learning materials and the Worldwide Web, over a time-scale that suits him or her. The programme finishes with a consolidated period of teaching that is assessed against the QTS standards. Suitably experienced candidates are able to take the final assessment period of teaching without further training thereby enabling a much quicker route into teaching. c) The school-based route run by a group of schools. These schemes are known as School-Centred Initial Teacher Training Schemes (SCITTs). In this route the schools play the leading role in the training that their scheme provides. They take responsibility for designing, delivering and assessing a course that is based on the ITT 41 National Curriculum and prepares students to meet the standards for QTS. Often, but not always, a SCITT will link to a HEI for the validation of the award of PGCE. d) The school-based route run by one school as an ‘employment-based route’. This is known as the Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP) and leads to QTS. This route enables the trainee to work as a teacher employed in a school and to train at the same time. This option is only available to mature entrants. At its simplest, the diversity of routes can be characterised as in this matrix: Full Time Provision Part Time Provision HEI located *Undergraduate degrees routes with QTS (BEd, BA or BSc) *Postgraduate routes (PGCE) *Flexible Postgraduate routes (‘Modular PGCE’) School located *SCITT Postgraduate routes (usually PGCE) *Work-based routes (e.g. GTP and RTP) – often with QTS but not PGCE 2.1.3. ‘Fast Track’ for those with potential for excellence In addition, the Government has introduced also a new scheme for individual students available in some routes offered by some providers. The programme is designed to develop and support those considered to have the ‘highest potential for excellence in teaching’ and is called ‘Fast Track’. The intention is to use this as a means of recruiting those who may become outstanding classroom teachers, heads of department or head-teachers. If accepted onto ‘fast track’ the student undertakes tailored developmental activities designed to help him or her to realise his or her potential quickly. After successfully completing his or her initial training, the newly qualified teacher works through a structured programme of challenging teaching posts designed to give him or her a diverse range of experience. Promotion is achieved more rapidly than is normal. 2.1.4. Trends in students’ choice of routes There is, however, another factor working in the present context – the ways in which potential students are ‘voting with their feet’ by preferring to follow some routes rather than others. In the last five years, for example, there has been a drop in applications for undergraduate ITT courses from approximately 100 000 to 50 000. One reason for this may be the funding factors associated with various policy changes introduced by the present Government – the first being the introduction of student fees for undergraduates, the second being the introduction of training salaries for postgraduate routes into teaching (with an even bigger training salary for those who take a postgraduate employment based route). Financially, postgraduate routes are much more attractive to a potential student than the undergraduate 48 This complex and sometimes conflicting set of accountabilities can be set out as in the following diagram. Figure illustrating the complex relationships of accountability and responsibility for University Schools of Education UNIVERSITY NATIONAL GOVERNMENT DfEE - Regulations covering ITT TTA - Course recognition and student allocations OFSTED – External quality Inspection PROFESSION Preparation of effective and professional entrants Contribution to the continuing development of those professionals in-service Mission awareness and quality assurance LEAs Provision of adequate supply of new teachers Support for school improvement and professional development programmes SCHOOLS Partnership arrangements for ITT Provision of ‘quality’ NQTs Support for school-embedded professional development SCHOOL OF EDUCATION LOCAL COMMUNITIES Contribution to the educational awareness of the area 3.2. Educational Research and Development Essentially, the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) determines the distribution of state research funding to Universities. The RAE is not a policy in itself but a device for the implementation of a policy of selective research funding. On a regular basis (every four or five years) assessment panels scrutinise and judge the quality of research in all subjects in all Universities. The resulting grades are used to allocate funds for the next four or five-year period. Those University Schools that achieve a high grading get proportionally more research funding; some Schools that achieve low gradings may get none. Generally, it appears that non-RAE activity, such as teaching and administration, has been downgraded in some Universities. Educational research operates in this context. In the last few years, however, there have been other, particular, factors concerning educational research. Essentially, these are rooted in recent and considerable criticism of educational research on two main grounds. Firstly, that the actions and decisions of policymakers and practitioners are insufficiently informed by research. This is linked to the movement towards ‘research and evidence based practice’ in the professions. Educational researchers are accused not only of failing to disseminate their work adequately but also, too frequently, of not engaging with the pressing problems of policymakers and practitioners. 49 Secondly, the non-cumulative nature of much educational research limits its capacity to impact by not generating a robust research base around issues. In recent years the Teacher Training Agency has sought to influence this debate both by funding some large-scale research into classroom practice and by making small grants available to teacher-researchers. Impact on the University School Of Education As may be inferred from the previous sections, in the last decade Teacher Education in England has changed in nature, structures and processes in the last two decades. University Schools of Education, cast by politicians and much of the press as monopoly providers of teacher education at the expense of the real client, are subjected now to a variety of external and sometimes competing demands that render them almost semi-detached from their University. Their funding provided from a different source than other academic schools, their courses tightly prescribed and their activities closely monitored, the School of Education is a part of the University whose autonomy has been undermined and which increasingly has less in common with other academic Schools. At least one University School of Education has even withdrawn from Initial Teacher Training because of the time-consuming nature of the work and the level of external control. 3.3. Teacher Supply: recruitment and retention issues As we approach a general election in May 2001, the party political debate on education has shifted from concern about standards of pupil achievement to concern about teacher supply. Although the problems of supply are most pronounced in the capital city where reduced working weeks are evident, a number of schools in other areas of the country are also beginning to consider introducing four-day weeks because of staff shortages. Opposition parties and the media are making much of what they describe as an impending crisis in staffing public services, especially education, policing and health. Recent statistics (DfEE 2000) do confirm worsening trends in retention of teachers. For example, there is an increase in the numbers of qualified teachers aged below 60yrs who are ‘out of service’. In the period 1983-1987, there were 8.400 primary school teachers out of service, in the period 1988-1992 this increased to 15,800, and then the figure doubled to 36,000 in the period 1993-1999. For secondary school teachers the numbers ‘out of service’ have increased from 21,500 in 1983-7, to 22,500 in 1988-92 and then to 45,500 in the period 1993-99. Particularly striking are the figures for the 35yrs – 39yrs age group. Over the same period, the numbers ‘out of service’ increased, for primary school teachers from 3.5K to 10K in 1993-99, and for secondary school teacher from 4.4K to 13,5K. There has also been a similar doubling of the number of qualified teachers who have never been in service, from 3,100 in 1994 to 6,300 in 1998. The shortage of teachers is being felt most acutely in the London area where there are currently vacancy rates of 2.3% compared with 0.2% in Yorkshire, 0.3% in the North West and 0.5% in the North East (see www.dfee.gov.uk/teachingreforms/rewards/strb2000/tables/tab20.shtml). A number of contributory factors are being cited as causes of retention problems, such as low salaries, more employment opportunities in other fields, and changes in the nature of the work. Of the latter, it seems that we may be seeing some effects of increasing bureaucracy and intensification of workloads associated with heavy external accountability, surveillance and inspection. It is unclear how far teacher education factors, including Continuing Professional Development Standards, are influencing supply. The most recent statistics show a 6% decrease in recruitment, over all programmes, between 1997-8 and 1998-9. For shortage 50 subjects the drop in recruitment is even more marked across the same two years: 23% in mathematics, 18% in science, and 15% in design technology (see www.dfee.gov.uk/review body/tab27.htm). Diversity of initial training routes into the profession, especially to employment-based routes, are seen, along with bursaries and training salaries for graduate trainees, as a part solution to difficulties of recruitment. It is too early to tell what the impact will be, but, according to the Teacher Training Agency, recruitment in 2000-2001 has increased by 6% overall, with an 8% increase in the Graduate Teacher Programme. 4. Summary of Main Trend The main trend in teacher education over the past two decades has been increasing central control by the government, first through an input model and more recently through an output model. Key elements of both approaches have been increasing involvement of schools, increased accountability and a reduction of the influence of university departments of education. One consequence of this trend has been a move away from academic critique of professional practice and towards a more instrumental approach to training at all phases of teacher education. The input model was evident, for example, in the setting up, in 1984, of the Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. With this came the specification of the time to be spent on different aspects of training programmes, such as minimum number of days for placements in schools and minimum time to be allocated to particular areas of training. The output model is evident, more recently, in the specification of Standards for Qualified Teacher Status, Induction and Continuing Professional Development. This standardisation of output criteria has been accompanied by diversity of routes, possibilities for individualised programmes of training and a wider range of providing agents. 51 FINNLAND Expert Opinion: Tendencies of teacher education and practice in Finland Hannele Niemi 1. Teacher education as a part of universities in Finland Teacher education for elementary and secondary schools was transferred to universities in the Finnish educational system through the Teacher Education Law, in 1971. The earlier teacher training colleges, the "seminars" for the primary level, were attached to Education Faculties as newcomers. Secondary school subject-teacher education was also renewed by expanding pedagogical studies. Earlier subject-teacher education consisted of a basic degree in some academic field and thereafter teaching practice and some pedagogical studies (mainly reading materials). The purpose was to unify elementary and secondary schools and to develop an academically high standard of teacher education. It was also necessary to answer to the needs of a new comprehensive school system which was implemented in the sixties. In the late seventies, university education for both teacher groups was planned as 4 to 5 - year programmes. The basic qualification for secondary and elementary school teachers was decreed as a Master's degree. The first teachers who received a Master's graduated in 1984-85. In other words, Finnish TE has a 15 - year experience of university-based teacher education, with a strong research component. Education for comprehensive school and general upper secondary school teachers is available in university faculties. In 1995, kindergarten teacher education was also transferred to universities. In Finland university students do not have to pay for tuition or for taking a degree. Each teacher education unit has its teacher training schools. These are lower and upper stage of comprehensive schools, in some cases including pre-school, or general upper secondary schools. Since 1996 Finnish vocational teachers have been trained in vocational teacher education colleges operating in conjunction with AMK institutions (polytechnics). All teacher education in the Swedish language, including vocational teacher education, is provided by the Abo Akademi University. Vocational teacher education always comes after graduation. At universities, teacher education is usually incorporated into the initial Master's degree, but the pedagogical studies in teacher education can also be taken separately after graduation. 2. What academic grades and professional licenses are awarded by the units of teacher education? The university degrees in the Finnish universities are Bachelor, Master and Doctoral degrees. 52 Educational departments provide the following degrees: • B.A., Bachelor of Education, (or Bachelor of Arts), 120 study weeks. • M.E., Master of Education (or Master of Arts), 160 study weeks • Licentiate of Education (or Licentiate of Philosophy) consists of 80 study week after Master degree. It is an intermediate degree for Ph.D. This level is not compulsory, but some doctoral students prefer to have this degree before their doctoral degree because of some tertiary level teaching posts (mainly in polytechnics) have this qualification criteria for teaching posts. • Ph.D., Doctor of Education (or Doctor of Philosophy) The degrees and grades are equivalent with the same level degrees in other academic disciplines. They are awarded by "the traditional universities" (the concept in the question). Major and minor in education and Pedagogical studies are organised in Faculties of Education. The name of the degree is depending on a major subject. The structure (major + minors) and standards of the degree of teachers are corresponding with other academic disciplines. The major subject includes always a research component with master thesis. The degree of M.E. (Master of Education) gives a right to continue to doctoral studies (160 study weeks). Many teachers and school leaders at different levels of the Finnish educational system participate in doctoral programs as a part of their personal development plans. The structure of academic degree in the universities: • Major • Minors • Language and communication studies • Optional studies or e.g. practical studies The main structure and components of studies in TE departments are summarised in Table 1. 53 Major Minors Master Thesis Teaching practices Other studies Elementary School TE 160 credits (4 - 5 years) Educational studies in Education Faculties 55 credits Combination of basics of diff erent school subjects and specialising in one or two subjects 35 + 35 credits In education 20 credits As a part of educational studies (20 credits) Language and communication Optional courses 10 - 20 credits Secondary School TE 160 credits (5 years) Different school subjects in academic faculties 55 - 60 credits One or two other subjects And Education in Educational faculties 30 + 35 credits In academic subjects 20 credits As a part of educational studies (20 credits) Language and communication Optional courses 10 - 20 credits Table 1. The main components of Finnish teacher education. 1 credit = One study week (40 working hours including contact sessions (as lectures, seminars, etc) and independent and peer group work. Master Degree is the compulsory qualification to teaching profession. The pedagogical studies may be as a part of the major (class teachers) or as a minor (subject teacher). Teacher's pedagogical qualifications are the same for all kinds of educational institutions (comprehensive schools, general upper secondary schools, vocational institutions and adult education institutions). The minimum extent of pedagogical studies is 35 credits for all these teachers. The pedagogical studies include the intermediate level in educational science, subject didactics and teaching practice. Teaching practice takes place in practice schools attached to universities or in ordinary schools. Teaching practice includes observation, supervised teaching (both individually and together with other teacher trainees) and didactic group counselling. In pedagogical studies, it is possible to specialise in adult education. 2.1. Class teachers Class teacher trainees study for the higher academic degree (Master's; 160 credits), majoring in education. The Master's degree takes five academic years or more. Class teacher education consists of advanced studies in education, studies in subsidiary subject and teaching practice. Students usually specialise in one or two subjects. If they have a minimum of 35 credits in a given subject, they are qualified to teach at the upper stage of comprehensive school. 54 A graduate with a Master's degree in Education, or corresponding studies, is eligible for special-needs teacher education, which usually comprises 35-50 credits. 2.2. Kindergarten teachers The minimum requirement for kindergarten teachers is the lower academic degree, (Bachelor of Education), which consists of 120 credits. The normative duration of studies is three years. 2.3. Subject teachers Subject teachers have a Master level academic degree of 160 or 180 credits, which takes 5 or 6 years. The students major in the subject(s) they intend to teach at schools. The department of teacher education provides the pedagogical studies and these studies are concurrent with subject studies. Other academic faculties provide subject area studies. Subjects taught at school include religion, mother tongue, foreign languages, history, social studies, psychology, philosophy, ethics, biology, geography, mathematics, physics, computer science, chemistry, home economics, textile and technical work, physical education, music, and arts. University graduates with a Master's degree and qualified teachers can apply for separate student counsellor studies of 35 credits, which will qualify them as student counsellors. 2.4. Vocational institution teachers The pedagogical studies required from vocational teachers are 35 credits. The studies include basic and subject studies in education, teaching practice and other studies. Prospective teachers can study full-time for one year or flexibly in multiform education during 1 to 3 years. Vocational teacher education colleges also offer special-needs teacher education of 35 credits and student counsellor education of 35 credits. 3. Organisational autonomy of teacher education Teacher education units are parts of universities and have the same kind of organisational autonomy as other faculties. The university policy in Finland has moved from centralized system to more autonomous and decentralized during eighties and nineties. The ministry of Education gives frames for degrees, but otherwise the universities are independent. They are held accountable based on their functional effectiveness and outcomes (amount of Master and Doctoral Degrees; outcomes of Research e.g. publications etc) The national degree regulations define the objectives, extent and overall structure of degrees at universities. Within the framework of these regulations, the universities decide on the contents and structure of their degrees in more detail and devise their annual curricula and forms of instruction. Teacher education at universities is regulated by a Decree Concerning Higher Education Degrees and Teacher Education (576/1995). Vocational teacher education is regulated by an Act (452/1996) and Decree (455/1996). The competencies of teachers are determined in a Decree on Teacher Qualifications (986/1998). 55 In the seventies and eighties, a fairly strict core curriculum was set by the Ministry of Education. It unified the teacher education in all universities. A good point was the standardised quality and unified programmes, but it made teacher education too inflexible. It also fixed the non-relevant practices and did not activate seeking new forms on the local level. The newest decrees provide a very loose framework for universities to plan their teacher education. Recently, however, teacher educational departments have faced problems which place new restrictions on their development. There have been great economic pressures and budget cuts of basic degrees in a university sector. Accountability criteria emphasise doctoral degrees, high quality research and international publications. Also, co-operation with the business world and private money have become important funding sources for universities. It is for technological disciplines easier to find sponsors and co-funding, but the education sector has fewer chances. In Finnish universities, teacher education departments have succeeded to create a research tradition, but the opportunities for them to compete through research and external funding are weaker than in many other university sectors. The main resource allocation to TE units is based on Master degrees. Although Finnish teacher education has nowadays fairly stable place in universities, they have some problems, which have been difficult to solve. One of these is the status of teacher education in universities. They have had to show and to convince other disciplines, sometimes also educational sciences, that teaching and research in TE have high academic standards. The path has been rocky and consisted of many tensions. After twenty years of work the TE departments have established Master and Doctoral level programs and they have their own academic traditions. At general level, and also politically, teacher education is now accepted as an academic partner at the universities. However, in late nineteen's the pressures towards universities require to produce more degrees with less money, to increase effectiveness of research work and to establish high quality international research projects. This means a high pressure also to teacher education and it has to seek effective strategies to find out how to combine professional components and high quality research with each other. 4. What quality criteria are formulated for units of teacher education? In what way must units of teacher education demonstrate that they fulfil these quality criteria? The statutes and decrees set by Ministry of Education give basis to university degrees. These regulations give very general level aims to TE. Local teacher education departments or universities set more concrete objectives and quality criteria. Fulfilment of these criteria are evaluated in self-evaluation processes and through national evaluations. During the last ten years, Finnish teacher education has been evaluated systematically many times at national or international levels. There are no common national quality criteria for teacher education, but national evaluations provide information which directs teacher education to renew their teaching and research strategies. The following major evaluation processes have been carried out during last ten years: • 1989 National committee for developing teacher education • 1993-94 National and international evaluation of educational sciences and teacher 56 education. (The Committee Report, 1994; Buchberger et al. , 1994; Niemi & Kohonen, 1995a) • 1995-1998 Research project “Effectiveness of Teacher Education" as part of a large national research programme “Effectiveness of Education”. (Niemi, 1996b; Niemi & Kemmis, 1999) • 1998 National evaluation of ICT in teacher education. (Niemi, 1999a) • 1998-99 National evaluation of teacher education. (Jussila & Saari, 1999) • 1999 Evaluation of the quality of research in the teacher education department of the University of Helsinki. (University of Helsinki, 2000) Main trends and scenarios emerging from the evaluations can by summarised as strengths and weaknesses of Finnish TE in the following way. The evaluations have revealed many positive outcomes of TE in Finland. Elementary teacher education is one of the most popular study options. Teacher education has succeeded to recruit high quality students. The competition has made TE very selective, only 10-15 % of the applicants are accepted to start their studies. Secondary TE is not as attractive and there will be a lack of teachers in certain subjects in the coming years. Graduated teachers have good classroom skills and content knowledge. The future lack of qualified teachers, however, is not caused by the quality of teacher education. It is more a consequence of early retirement, poor working conditions in schools and teachers' burn-out problems. Teachers in Finland until now have been highly committed to their profession. There has not been a real problem of dropouts in the teacher-education programmes and teachers do not usually change from their teaching job to another profession. Only 10-15 % of teachers have even thought of changing to another career. Young teachers see their profession as life-long learning process and they have a very positive attitude towards developing their job. Now the situation seems to point to the fact that older teachers have difficulties continuing in their career until normal retirement age. The evaluation projects have also revealed that both schools and teacher education departments have overcome the attitudinal resistance of using ICT. There are several innovative processes, both in schools and in teacher education departments. They are distance-learning projects in which e.g. language teaching and optional courses are provided to schools in remote areas in Lapland or on isolated islands. Some pilot projects have opened new routes through ICT for partnerships between teacher education, local schools and business life. There are projects for media education and interactive technology projects for the evaluation of teaching practice. The research component is an essential part in teacher education. Despite the first years' difficulties, in the eighties, to integrate research studies with other components of TE, research methods and the writing of a Master's thesis are the best parts in elementary school teacher education to many student teachers. Research studies give an opportunity to do a real project, in which students have to formulate a problem in an educational field, to seek information and data for the problem independently, to elaborate it with the newest research and to make a synthesis as a written thesis. They learn to study actively and internalise the attitude of how teachers may act like researchers in their work. The general result of the 57 evaluations is that the more demanding the studies were, in terms of quality of learning, the more useful they were evaluated as. There are also students who are very practically orientated and they would prefer to have more practical skills and school experiences. Sometimes the criticism is directed to the teaching methods how research studies are implemented. Subject-oriented didactics has been evaluated as very relevant and meaningful component by secondary school teachers. They emphasise how important it is to learn to integrate educational methods in the context of the subject they teach at school. The contextual knowledge also helped them to understand how to better approach students' learning. Although teacher education has succeeded in many respects, there are still many problems which need to be taken seriously. Many evaluations have pointed out that the lack of cooperation between different partners decrease the quality of teacher education. Co-operation should be much better organised, more oriented towards common purposes and more intensive. These needs are apparent between academic disciplines and educational departments, normal schools and teacher education departments, local schools and university schools, teacher education institutions and local communities. 5. Access of students to units of teacher education The student selection is the responsibility of the universities and their faculties or departments. Students are ranked on the basis of grades in the matriculation examination and in the school-leaving certificate, plus entrance examinations. Admission criteria and selection process of teacher education are more demanding if compared to other disciplines because of personal aptitude tests and interviews. The purpose is to get students who have high quality academic abilities and good social skills. The admission requirements for class teacher education are a written examination, an aptitude test and interviews. Some universities also include a short teaching demonstration or group session in their entrance examination. The admission requirements for kindergarten teacher education are mainly the same as for class teacher education. Those wishing to study for subject teachers apply for entry to universities according to their major subject (e.g. languages, mathematics). The entry requirement is the matriculation examination. The admitted students who wish to become teachers then apply for subject teacher education. The admission is based on an aptitude test and sometimes the applicant's study record. Admission to the education of special-needs teachers and student counsellors is based on the general university admission rules and requirements defined by the faculty of education. Persons who have the required education and work experience for teaching posts in AMK institutions (polytechnics) or vocational institutions can apply for vocational teacher education Depending on the institution and subject, the required education is a university degree, an AMK degree or a post-secondary level qualification and work experience. 64 important key persons in renewing teacher education and school culture. The doctoral schools have been active in national and international networks. The schools have also combined cooperation among supervisors in different universities. There is a trend in Finnish higher education that has led to an increasing amount of doctoral degrees also in the educational sciences and teacher education in the last five-eight years. The number of doctors has more than doubled. This trend appears to be continuing. The ministry of Education have also had some additional money for national innovative projects and strategies in teacher education e.g. Information and Communication Technology. Faculties of education compete about this funding. It is only a very small portion from the total budget of TE (1-3%), but it gives a sign to areas where TE should be developed. National Board of Education has also some money for school development projects. This is also competitive money for TE units. The research component is not very strong in these projects. Private sector has also provide money for some TE projects, particularly to ICT projects. In general, the business or private sector has a minimal share in the funding of the educational sciences. There are although some signs in the research area of vocational education that private companies are becoming increasingly interested in investing in education research, for instance by supporting doctoral candidates as members of their staff. In all teacher education departments there is systematic research training at the following levels: • Master thesis (methodological studies and research seminars) • Doctoral programs (methodological and philosophical studies, research seminars, international research co-operation) • Research projects (intensive projects funded by Academy of Finland, Ministry of Education, National Board of Education or private sector). Projects include also research training for younger partners. The teacher education units compete about research funding as other units in universities, but the research potential could be stronger if research would be better organised and more focused at the teacher education departments. Among the typical features of the educational sciences and teacher education there has also been a tendency to create research projects which are fairly small and narrow. The same kind of research questions may be elaborated in different universities, but researchers are working alone. The structure of educational science may also cause segregation. There are also good examples of the research co-operation and intensive, fairly large research projects, which have initiated by teacher education professors and researchers. These projects concern e.g., teachers' professional growth, evaluation, effectiveness of education, and ICT in pedagogy. The international review team of the evaluation project also made recommendations for renovating research supervision in the educational faculties in Finland (Buchberger et al., 1994, p. 21). The faculties' research policies should provide better opportunities for researchers to connect ideas with practice through organisational structures that do not 65 artificially separate the two domains (theory and practice). It would also important to provide opportunities for novices to learn alternative strategies for research and to benefit from intellectual exchanges with the whole faculty. There are signs that development of educational sciences has moved to this direction. The aim of many TE departments is to enlarge student teachers' competence to combine research studies with their professional development. The Ministry of Education and Academy of Finland have stressed "the policy of units of excellence" as their most recent strategy. Those disciplines which are highly competitive at international level, such as medicine, technology and the biosciences are rewarded. This means that only those sciences which have big research groups, large, high-tech laboratories and which produce innovations which also can be commercialised are potential units of excellence. The educational sciences are too weak with small, individual projects to be competitive with the criteria which are used. The real challenge in the coming future is whether there is a capacity in the educational sciences to form real units of excellence and what would it mean in teacher education? Is it possible? At the very least it means a very strongly networked co-operation with several educational faculties or research groups. When comparing the educational sciences to the humanities or social sciences, the volume of publishing and portion of referee publications is smaller. Typically, educational researchers publish their results in the research series of the university departments. The traditional publishing form has been a monograph. Educational science departments that include teacher education have actively established various research series for publishing recent research results and raising urgent themes in education into public discussion. This has been an indication of their scientific activities. The university series have not been very effective in delivering new information and research knowledge, but currently a greater problem is that departmental research series are no longer considered as accountability indicators in the university administration. The model comes from the hard sciences, such as medicine and technology. Only books of publishing companies and articles in referee journals are valid as accountability criteria. Thus, there is a real problem in educational science faculties concerning how to find other forums for publishing research results. There is also a tension between national and international publication needs. The national educational field (i.e. schools, working life, etc.) would need information on the newest research in a national language, but university indicators value international publications more highly. The question of how is it possible to serve national needs and be in active communication in the international scientific community is a continuous challenge which should be taken seriously. A typical problem in educational sciences is the structure of posts among the university staff. The largest portion of personnel (68%) consist of lecturers or teachers who have had no obligation to do research work. Since 1998 regulations concerning the working load of staff have been altered to allow more flexible opportunities to organise work, which would also emphasise the component of research. The real problem is, however, that resources have radically decreased in recent years and budget cuts appear to continue in many universities. This means that working load of lectures is almost totally tied up in teaching and there are very few resources for research. Teacher education is nowadays based more on information and accountability steering than strict regulations from the Ministry of Education or central administration of the universities. The changes in teacher education can not be regulated from top to bottom as in seventies'. It 66 means that the teacher education departments have to grow from inside and find strategies to survive economically, also in difficult times. The basic condition for this kind of development is TE staff members' ability to be active innovators and high quality researchers. This is the most critical and difficult issue in teacher education. In Finland when teacher education was transferred in seventies to university sector, the old staff of earlier seminars came along. They had totally different working culture than what is needed in high quality universities. The research component was not an essential part of their work. They were very teacher-centered subject specialists and they wanted to have a lot of contact sessions for giving direct instruction to student teachers. The teaching practice was also very normative. The university culture with research orientation, independent studying and explorative workshops in teaching practice was an odd culture and this has caused a strong tension for twenty years (until retirement of some key persons). Afterwards, lessons learnt from this transition period, I would recommend to invest more to teacher education staff development and provoke cultural changes in teacher education. The real issue is how to get teacher educators in touch with an active research work. They should have the identity "teacher educators as researchers" and they should be partners in action research processes with local schools as well as in university training schools. Teacher education departments have a high accountability to produce master degrees and to keep high standards in teachers' professional competence. Staff members of teacher education departments are overloaded with teaching and they do not have sufficient time for research. Earlier (about 10 years ago) teacher education staff members had a sabbatical (half an year) every seven years. In difficult economic times this was cut out from budgets. This research opportunity should still be available for teacher education. Although there has been and still are difficulties to carry out effective research strategies in teacher education, a positive trend is increasing numbers of doctors, and year by year a better competence to compete about research funding at national and also international levels. 67 Literature used in the article Buchberger, F./De Corte, E./Groombridge, B./Kennedy, M. (1994): Educational studies and teacher education in Finnish universities. A commentary by an international review team, Ministry of Education, Division of educational and research policy, 14. Helsinki. Jussila, J./Saari. S. (1999): Opettajankoulutus tulevaisuuden tekijänä. Korkeakoulujen arviointineuvoston julkaisuja 11, Edita: Helsinki. (Teacher education as a factor for the future; Evaluation of teacher education in universities. Higher Education Evaluation Council Publications 11:1999). Mikkola, A. (2000): Teacher education in Finland. A paper presented at the Conference on Teacher Education policies in the European Union and quality of life-long learning, 22 and 23 May 2000, Faro: Portugal. Niemi, H. (1996a): Do teachers have a future? Conditions of teachers’ growth. In Ruohotie, P./Grimmett, P. (Eds.): Professional growth and development. Direction, delivery and dilemmas. Saarijärvi, Finland: Career Educational Centre, Canada and Career Development, Finland, pp. 227-262. Niemi, H. (1996b): Effectiveness of teacher education. A theoretical framework of communicative evaluation and the design of a Finnish research project. In Niemi, H./Tirri, K. (Eds.): Effectiveness of teacher education. New challenges and approaches to evaluation. Reports from the Department of Teacher Education in Tampere University A 6, pp.1132. Niemi, H. (1997): Effectiveness of teacher education. A theoretical framework and the design of a evaluation project. Papers from the 21st Annual Conference of the Association for Teacher Education in Europe (ATEE) held at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, September 1966. (Selected papers by a review process), pp. 321-338. Niemi, H. (1999a): ICT in Teacher education. In: Sinko, M./Lehtinen, E. (Eds.): The Challenges of ICT, pp.145-173. Niemi, H. (Ed.) (1999b): Moving Horizons in Education. International Transformations and Challenges of Democracy, Department of Education: University Press. Niemi, H. (2000): Teacher Education Confronting a Moving Horizon. In: Kumpulainen, K. (Ed.): In search of powerful learning environments for teacher education in the 21st century, Acta Universitatis Ouluensis, University of Oulu, 16-29. Niemi. H. (2000): Teacher education in Finland: current trends and future scenarios. A Keynote Lecture at the Conference on Teacher Education policies in the European Union and quality of life-long learning, 22 and 23 May 2000, Faro: Portugal. Niemi, H./Kemmis, S. (1999): Communicative evaluation: evaluation at the crossroads, Lifelong Learning in Europe (LLinE), Vol. IV, No.1, pp.55-64. Niemi, H./Kohonen, V. (1995a): Evaluation of quality in Finnish teacher education, European Journal of Teacher Education 1/1995. 68 Niemi, H./Kohonen, V. (1995b): Towards new professionalism and active learning in teacher development: Empirical findings on teacher education and induction, University of Tampere, Department of Teacher Education, Research series A 2. Niemi, H./Tirri, K. (1997): Readiness for teaching profession evaluated by teachers and teacher educators. In: Finnish:Valmiudet opettajan ammattiin opettajien ja opettajien kouluttajien arvioimina, Reports from the Department of Teacher Education in Tampere University, A 10/1995 The Committee Report (1994): Educational sciences towards the future. The final report of the Committee for the Evaluation and Development of Educational Sciences, Ministry of Education. Division of educational and research policy, 16. Helsinki. (in Finnish, abstract in English) University of Helsinki (2000): http://savotta.helsinki.fi/researcheval 69 NIEDERLANDE Teacher education in the Netherlands Jos Letschert The Austrian ‘Commission for Planning and Evaluation of Teacher Education’ is interested in tendencies of teacher education policy and practice in the Netherlands. In this paper we first give some information about de construction of the education system in the Netherlands in general. We continue with information about the teacher education system. 1. Education system 1.1. General information The Dutch education system comprises primary, secondary and higher education. In principle, the Dutch schools are for all children. All children, also those with behavioural or learning problems, are accepted in regular schools. For children with highly specific needs, such as those with serious mental or physical handicaps, there are separate, special schools. 1.2. Primary education The primary school has existed in the Netherlands since 1985. This is a school for children between the ages of four and twelve. Before the primary school existed, the Netherlands had a nursery school or kindergarten (for the four and five-year-olds) and an elementary school (for children between the ages of six and twelve). With the advent of the primary school, nursery school and elementary school have disappeared. They have merged into undivided primary education. Compulsory education for Dutch children begins on their fifth birthday. Almost all children, however, start primary education at an earlier age. The door to primary school is open for them on the first day of the month following the one in which they become four years old. But many children have already experienced various kinds of pre-school day-care centres and other educational provisions, like crèches or playgroups. 1.3. Secondary education Secondary education starts at the age of 12. Compulsory education in the Netherlands lasts until the end of the school year in which students reach the age of sixteen. The childrens' performance in the upper years of the Primary school determine the type of secondary school they should attend. Secondary education starts with a period of two to three years in which a core curriculum of 14 or 15 subjects is offered to everyone. Core objectives are also available. After the basis period the secondary school contains four programmes. Two consecutive vocational programmes; pre-vocational education (VBO) and individualised pre-vocational education (IVBO) and three parallel programmes; junior general secondary education (MAVO) senior general secondary education (HAVO) and integrated pre-university education (VWO). The 70 programmes vary in length, from four to six years, and in the difficulty of their respective curricula, from vocational training (VBO) to university preparatory education (VWO). Teachers in secondary education are mainly specialists. Hey have been trained in one, two and sometimes three subjects. They are working together within the school in subject departments. Education Age students Primary education - general education 04 - 12 - special education 03 -12 Secondary Education - basis period 12 - 14 - pre-vocational education VBO 14 - 16 - individualised pre-vocatio nal education IVBO 14 - 16 - junior general secondary education MAVO 14 - 16 - senior general secondary education HAVO 14 - 17 - pre-university education VWO 14 - 18 Tertiary Eduaction - secondary vocational education MBO 16 - 20 - higher professional education HBO 17 - 21 - university education WO 18 - 22 - adult education VAVO 18 + - open higher distance education OU 18 + 1.4. Tertiary education Students in tertiary education have in general graduated from a MAVO, HAVO or VWO programme. The secondary vocational education (MBO) is divided into four levels of training. The training to assistant level takes 6 months - one year. The basic vocational training takes 2 -3 years. The professional training takes 2 - 4 years. The fourth level contains a middle – management training, which takes 3 - 4 years or a specialist training, which takes 1 – 2 years. The general adult education is called VAVO. Besides there are courses for adults providing a broad basic education, courses for Dutch as a second language and courses aimed at fostering self-reliance. 71 2. Teacher education system 2.1. Primary education Teacher training in the Netherlands is in general a tertiair sector. However, there is much differentiation in the system itself. Teacher training for primary education is organised in specific institutions. They are called ‘Pabo’s’. A Pabo is a pedagogical academy for teacher training. They train generalist teachers for the undivided period of primary education for children from 4 / 5 till 12. Teachers in primary schools teach language, arithmetic/mathematics, environmental studies, including such subjects as geography, history, art education (music, handicrafts, dance, drama), etc. They must be all-rounders. Some teachers in the primary education are subject specialists. They are trained at other institutes than the Pabo. They give for example music education, physical education or religious education. Sometimes primary schools appoint subject teachers for these kinds of educational activities. They teach their subject in the whole school instead of one specific group of children. There used to be only three positions in a primary school: the director (head), the class teacher and the subject teacher. Nowadays we see more differentiation of functions and tasks. Teachers may have specific tasks and functions. Sometimes they are released for part of their time to devote themselves to the tasks and functions in which they have specialised. One of these functions is a counsellor. The counsellor is concerned about the teaching of children with problems. They do this for the entire school. There are also ict-specialists. They know about computer-assisted education. 2.2. Secondary education For secondary education there are specific teacher training institutes. They are called ‘Lerarenopleidingen’. A lerarenopleiding is an independent institute, a part of higher vocational institutes or a part of universities. They are all subject oriented. Students study for a degree in one or more subjects. The institutes do not only provide the initial teacher education of trainee teachers, but they also enable teachers to attend in-service training courses in areas that the schools find important. Additional to a university qualification in a certain discipline students can opt for a teacher qualification. For lower and higher education there is a differentiation in teaching qualification: Teacher education Primary education - Pabo Third degree generalist Secondary Education - Lerarenopleiding Second degree Subject specialist - University First degree Subject specialist Tertiary Education - University First degree Subject specialist 72 2.3. Tertiary education The higher professional education (HBO) institutions and universities are since 1993 governed by the same legislation: the Higher Education and Research Act. This Act permits the institutions a large measure of freedom in the way they organise their teaching and other matters to meet changing demands. The HBO institutions are responsible for the programming and quality of the courses they provide. Quality control is exercised by the institutions themselves and by external experts in so called ‘review committees’. The quality of the review committees' work and the action taken on the basis of their conclusions and recommendations is controlled by the ‘Higher Education Inspectorate’. The statutory basis for funding is laid down in the Higher Education and Research Act and funding arrangements are set out in the Funding Decree and in the Higher Education Funding Scheme. The overall budget for higher professional education is allocated to the individual institutions on the basis of a set formula. Since 1994 there has been a fixed budget, corrected to reflect wage and price rises. In addition to the central government grant, the HBO institutions receive income from a variety of sources, including tuition fees and income from services to third parties, like contract teaching. The central government grant has included expenditure on statutory benefits and accommodation. Almost 90 % of it is paid directly to the institutions in the form of a block grant. The institutions themselves decide on the most effective distribution between staffing, non-staff costs and accommodation. The remaining 10 % consists of statutory benefits, like redundancy pay and funds earmarked for specific activities such as educational innovation, internationalisation, projects to improve the quality and practicability of courses, and information and communication technology. 2.4. Process management In 1996 the then minister of education, Ritzen, installed a process management for teacher training (PML) with the specific task to bring more community in the programmes of primary teacher training and teacher training for secondary education. In 1998 the proposals for such plans have been delivered by PML. Proposals which are not prescriptive, but because of their interactive genesis documents with a broad support. At this moment a lot of institutes use the proposals as a foundation for their own curricula. Every institute develops its own institute plan. In this plan they describe their specific goals, a justification of the organisation model, supervision and the study load. In fact the institutes are autonomously within limits. They are controlled by a strict external supervision on quality aspects from the national inspectorate. There is a tension between the general perspectives of the main direction or guiding principles in teacher training. Some people advocate the importance of being excellent in subject matters and didactics focused at the transmission of subject content. Others see as a main goal for training the pedagogical skills and attitudes. The proposal for a common curriculum for primary teacher training makes a clear choice: the training is in the first place a pedagogical training. For a long time nothing was officially regulated with respect to the content of primary education. The teachers were expected in nursery school and in elementary school to develop 73 the pupils’ sensory development, to teach arts and crafts, arithmetic, language, history, geography and a few other subjects. What exactly had to be done was not laid down in the law. It was left to the individual schools. Developments in society, though, grew faster and faster and knowledge became something that was of use for an increasingly short period of time. At that time the need was felt to say more about the content of primary education than just give a list of subjects. Core objectives were formulated. These are descriptions of contents of education, of subject matter that must in any case be offered to the pupils at each primary school. Core objectives for primary education were laid down by law for the first time in 1993. Besides a guideline for the primary curriculum they are also the perspective for teacher training. In the past period of time those first core objectives have been critically assessed. On the basis of the experiences obtained by the schools, those initial core objectives have been revised. Since August 1998 the revised core objectives have applied. A new revision has been foreseen for 2003. 2.5. Content of the process management The curriculum proposal for primary teacher training is based at a pedagogical concept with core principles like: relation and reflection. The teaching profession is the kernel of the concept. The proposal contains an orientation and a justification, the headlines, a kind of normative demands to be used as tools for the development of an own curriculum and subject specific demands. For primary teacher training there is also a job profile available and also a set of initial standards of competence. The standards are giving a sketch how a teacher looks like after finishing the initial training. In this case for primary teacher. A large part of the standards deals with demands focused at the core content in primary education, which is established in core objectives. Besides that there are standards focused at: • knowledge and insight in the development of children • the preparation of education by the teacher • the design of learning environments • the use of didactic models and the use of (new) media • dealing with differences between children • the pedagogical approach • the evaluation of learning processes • professional development • relations with others The aims for primary and secondary teacher education are formulated (but not formalised) in the curriculum proposals from the process management for teacher education. Based on these proposals institutions develop their own goals. Besides that there are regulations for examination. Partly internal, partly external demands. Another steering instrument are the core objectives for primary education and secondary education. They are the perspectives for training because teachers have to become skilled to handle with these objectives in their future work places. 80 The previously mentioned Government political definition, following a broad statement on the components which the teacher education curriculum should comprise − (i) personal, social and cultural development, (ii) scientific knowledge of the subject-matter, and (iii) didactic and pedagogical training − subsequently organized the three components differently (the first two merge and the third is divided into theory and practice): (i) personal, social, cultural, scientific, technological, technical or artistic training for a specific teaching speciality; (ii) educational sciences (including specific didactics); (iii) pedagogical practice. The political definition also considers the weight of the various components in the programmes. Two overall principles rule this consideration: (i) the cultural and scientific education component should be of increasing importance the higher the teaching level teachers are being prepared for, (ii) the pedagogical-didactic component should be emphasized when educating pre-school and primary school teachers. The political definition even sets out quantitative parameters to define the components’ weight. Therefore: (i) the pedagogical-didactic education component and the pedagogical practice component should be kept in balance with the cultural and scientific education component, and both should not exceed 60% of the time allocated to all subjects in programmes for pre-school and primary school teachers; (ii) the cultural and scientific component should not exceed 70% of the time allocated to all subjects in programmes for teachers of the 2nd and 3rd cycles of basic education, and 80% in secondary teacher education programmes. The presence of these three components has been assured in two ways: all components are either present throughout the programme, in parallel, or the theoretical and practical pedagogical and didactic components follow (generally after the 3rd year) the cultural and scientific component, this only being the case in teacher education programmes for subjectmatter teachers. For both subject-matter teachers of a vocational and artistic nature, and secondary subject-matter teachers, professional teaching qualifications can also be acquired through a licenciatura graduate programme, which guarantees academic subject-matter preparation, complemented by a suitable pedagogical education programme. Two types of situations comprise this reality, but these have rarely been taken: (i) The licenciatura programme covers, over four years, the cultural and scientific, and the educational sciences components, whereas the complementing programme covers, over one year, the specific didactic and pedagogical practice components; and (ii) the licenciatura programme only covers, over four years, the cultural and scientific component, whereas the complementing programme covers the remaining components over two years. 3.3.3. Practice component The governmental political definition is more detailed concerning the pedagogical practice component. After stating the formative value of this component in the development of the skills and competencies teacher education integrates, it is also established that this component should be materialised through diversified activities to be supplied throughout the programme. There is then the possibility of it assuming the nature of an internship in its final part, the institutions therefore being connected to a network of schools. Co-operation mechanisms to be established with the school network, and the conditions under which pedagogical practice should be developed, are also the object of the Ministry of Education’s specific political definition, these are, however, variable, depending on the programme. Several features distinguish the pedagogical practice supplied in teacher education programmes for pre-school teachers and teachers for the 1st and 2nd cycles of basic education from that supplied in those for the 3rd cycle of basic education and for secondary education. 81 In the first case, the logic of the teacher education situation prevails: (i) the school teacher who is supposed to supervise practice is entitled to a salary bonus provided by the higher education institution and (ii) does not benefit from any reduction in teaching activity to accomplish it; (iii) the student-teacher takes on the responsibility of teaching the classes assigned to his/her supervisory teacher and (iv) is not entitled to a work contract signed by the Ministry of Education, nor does s/he earn a salary for the supervised teaching activity s/he undertakes; (v) assessment of pedagogical practice is the higher education institution’s exclusive responsibility. Contrarily, in the second case, the participation of the Ministry of Education is significant, thus the logic of the professional activity starting position prevails: (i) the supervised teaching is called internship and the supervisor is entitled to a salary bonus and (ii) reduction in teaching activity, both provided by the Ministry of Education; (iii) the student-teacher is assigned her/his own classes to teach during this period; (iv) the Ministry of Education signs a work contract with her/him and pays the corresponding salary; (v) evaluation during this period is the shared responsibility of the higher education institution teacher and the school teacher where the internship takes place. 4. Teacher education programmes’ funding There is no specific policy for state funding of institutions and initial teacher education programmes as the general funding policy for higher education applies to them. Yet policy is different for public and private sectors, and in the public sector funding depends on the diferent programmes groupings, one of which are the teacher education programmes. However, there is indirect funding for 3rd cycle and secondary teacher education programmes covered by universities. In question is funding for school internship. In fact (i) studentteachers are remunerated as full-time teachers although they undertake training and teaching on a part-time basis; (ii) supervising teachers get a small supplementary bonus directly from the Ministry of Education and (iii) are assigned reduced working hours, which incurs costs as schools must rely upon other teachers’ work; (iv) finally, sometimes teachers cannot be assigned full-time teaching activities to allow for student-teachers training placements, which also incurs extra costs as they are paid as full-time workers. 4.1. Authorisation for running teacher education programmes Authorisation for the creation and operation of an initial teacher education institution is not the object of any specific political definition, the overall policy being applied with regard to the creation and running of higher education institutions, which, as can be noticed, is different if it involves university or polytechnic, public or private education. Authorisation for running a programme and public recognition of degrees awarded by initial teacher education programmes also follow the overall policy regarding programmes in the higher education sector to which they belong. Therefore, state university education programmes are created by the appropriate university bodies, although programme operating depends on its registration in the Higher Education Directorate. Polytechnic education programmes are created by the Minister of Education 82 following this Directorate's analyses of the institution’s proposal. Private higher education courses are created by the respective institutions but programme operating authorisation is granted by the Minister of Education following analysis of the proposal by the Higher Education Directorate. According to a recent Higher Education Law, the requirements and the procedures to follow for running a programme and obtaining public recognition of academic degrees have to be united. Although teacher education programmes award not only academic degrees but also professional diplomas, programme running used until recently, to depend on a similar process to that followed by any higher education programme conferring academic degrees, mindful of a brief checking procedure on its conformity to teacher education legal rules. The similarity of the processes having been identified as inadequate, the running authorisation of programmes aimed at preparing teachers and certifying initial professional teaching qualifications recently became dependent on profession-enabling recognition through a specific procedure – that of professional accreditation. 5. Developing and assuring quality in teacher education 5.1. Quality development Promoting the quality of teacher education programmes, as in the case of other higher education programmes, is the responsibility of autonomous higher education institutions, and is mainly conducted by their pedagogical and scientific co-ordination bodies, therefore relying upon financing resources and incentives available and acting according to the appropriate legal framework. One of the main instruments for the promotion of quality used for this purpose is institutional and programme evaluation. This evaluation is assured by associations of each sector’s higher education institutions under the co-ordination of the National Council for the Evaluation of Higher Education. It is a self-evaluation procedure initially undertaken by the institutions’ staff and then validated by an external committee. The evaluation procedure that started in public higher education in the mid 90’s (the first evaluation procedure of all institutions and programmes completed in 2000) was extended to public and private polytechnic higher education only at the end of the decade. One of the aims of the recently created National Institute for the Accreditation of Teacher Education is also to promote, at national level, debate and dissemination of ideas and practices on the quality of initial teacher education. This activity is about to start although no specific funding has yet been settled for initiatives to be carried out by the teacher education institutions. 5.2. Quality assurance The certification of professional teacher education quality is done through a process of professional accreditation and by inspection. 83 5.2.1. Professional accreditation of initial teacher education. Professional accreditation evaluates how appropriate the teacher education programme is to the quality demands of professional teaching performance. Recognition of a teacher education programme leading to a professional teaching qualification requires an initial professional accreditation certificate. This entitles the higher education institution itself to certify the professional teaching qualification of graduates. Accreditation is valid for a limited period, therefore, to keep programmes which lead to professional teaching certification running, they are required to obtain professional accreditation renewal. So, it is a question not only of exante but also of ex-post accreditation. The framework for the professional accreditation procedure is composed of the legal norms for teacher education, overall and specific professional teaching performance profiles and quality standards for initial teacher education programmes. Definition of the former lies with the Ministry of Education, while the latter is the accreditation body’s responsibility. Accreditation also takes into account the programmes’ internal and external evaluation reports undertaken by the higher education evaluation system. The accreditation body, the National Institute for the Accreditation of Teacher Education, is a public institution to which Government has delegated this responsibility. It is governed by a General Council, where there is representation of teacher education institutions, basic and secondary teachers, parents, teachers’ employers, departments of the Ministry of Education, student teachers and business. General Council members are appointed by the institutions they represent, and its President is appointed by the Council of Ministers. Appointment of the Accreditation Committee members is made by the General Council. As the system for initial teacher education professional accreditation was created in June 1999, the accreditation of programmes has not yet started. Its instruments and methodologies are being prepared with the participation of social partners. In addition to future new programmes, all existing teacher education programmes will have to apply for professional accreditation. The accreditation process will start next spring. 5.2.2. Inspection All higher education institutions and programmes, and therefore those that prepare teachers, are submitted to inspection by the General-Inspection of Education. The legal framework for the running of higher education programmes has implicit quality requirements, so inspecting conformity is also a means of quality assurance. It should be stressed that inspection has only recently extended its sphere of action to higher education, its activities having, up to now, mainly focused on private higher education. 6. Some current issues for teacher education policies 6.1. Teacher education centred in professional teaching outcomes The specific expected outcomes of teacher education are not clearly established and the definition of the curriculum components to achieve them is nearly generic, as higher education is, scientifically and pedagogically autonomous. Therefore it is small wonder there is great curriculum diversity in the more than three hundred programmes provided by nearly fifty institutions, even among programmes which prepare for the same teaching qualification. There is no evidence given this diversity, although desirable to a certain extent, that equivalence among the main outcomes is being achieved and that these are suitable to the 84 teaching subjects and levels they should qualify for. Doubts increase if we consider the weak tradition of higher education providers in teacher education curriculum development, implementation and evaluation centred in professional teaching outcomes. At the same time, several new challenges to the role of teachers have emerged or are emerging, and the teacher education culture of universities and colleges is changing slowly in response to them. It is expected that this situation will be improved by the recently created professional accreditation system of teacher education programmes and by the political definition of professional teaching profiles which constitutes the framework of that system. In particular, if its implementation is paralleled by the development of the accreditation body’s other task, that is, the promotion of teacher education quality by means of promoting debates and disseminating ideas and practices within this field among the institutions and social actors engaged in it. 6.2. Conditions of schools and of professional teachers’ participation in practice and internship Supervised student-teaching practice is necessary for learning initial teaching competence. There is general agreement on the need for substantial improvement in this component of teacher education. Some of the problems stem from the difficulties of finding enough well qualified supervising teachers; of higher education institutions appropriately valuing practice as an unavoidable opportunity for qualifying teachers; and of establishing effective links with the schools where the internship takes place. The lack of well qualified supervisors and of other favourable conditions for internship increases when the number of student-teachers in the same teaching speciality is high and exceeds the number of the teachers needed, as is often the case. 6.3. Professionally qualified teachers in all teaching specialities and nation-wide In some teaching specialities, namely in arts, technological and vocational areas, there is no possibility of obtaining professional qualifications before being employed as a teacher. Moreover, some schools do not attract enough qualified teachers. Thus, despite the great investment made in the last two decades, still about twenty percent of secondary school teachers do not hold a professional qualification, and some do not even hold an appropriate academic one. 6.4. Annexes • Organic Law for the National Institute for Accreditation of Teacher Education • Accreditation system for Initial Teacher Education • The regulation of the accreditation process for initial pre-school, basic and secondary teacher education programmes • Standards in initial teacher education 85 Anhang 1: Instruktion und Fragenliste für die VerfasserInnen der Länderstudien Expert Opinion: Tendencies of teacher education policy and practice in your country Please note: This list of questions is supposed to inform you about the interests of the Austrian 'Commission for Planning and Evaluation of Teacher Education'. • The list of questions need not determine the structure of your text: as product we do not aim for a list of answers to all our questions but for a structured and readable short text of 10 to 15 pages which organises the essential information about your system of teacher education in a manner you consider appropriate. • We do not expect that you will undertake new research but ask you to write your contribution on the basis of your prior research and knowledge of the system. • You need not answer all the questions. Please concentrate on those questions in your text which are meaningful for your system. • We do not aim for a long list of references, however, we would appreciate if you mention a few central papers (which are available in German or in English), which exemplify the development of your system of teacher education, which critically discuss it or research its experiences. • When answering some of these questions it might be necessary, to distinguish between the ideal concept and the average way of putting this concept into practice. • Deadline is January 15th, 2001. • Contact address: Herbert Altrichter, Dpt. of Education and Psychology Johannes-Kepler-University Linz, Altenbergerstrasse 69, A-4040 Linz, Austria, Phone +43-732-2468-8221 (or 8600), Fax +43-732-2468-9315; Mobile Phone +43-66444 33 462. Email [email protected]-linz.ac.at • To account for different systemic settings, we use the absract term 'units of teahcer education'. If teacher education is fully incorporated into traditional universities or in other institutions, than read the term "units of teacher education" as "faculty, department, unit" of teacher education in a university etc. If teacher education is provided by separate institutions, please read "unit of teacher education" as "separate institutions of teacher education". List of questions The place of teacher education in the educational system • Is teacher education a part of the tertiary education sector, is it part of traditional universities or is it located in special institutions? Since when? • What academic grades and professional licenses are awarded by the units of teacher education? Are these grades and licenses different from those one awarded by the traditional universities? • If units of teacher education have only recently become part of the tertiary sector: What was the strategy of making teacher education a part of the tertiary sector? What were the 86 experiences of these strategies? Was the transfer of teacher education to the tertiary sector connected with special programmes of qualification and investment in the areas of personnel, buildings and equipment? • Do units of teacher education have organisational autonomy similar to the autonomy of universities? In what areas are they autonomous in their decisions, in what areas are they dependent on decisions by central administration or any other body? • If units of teacher education are fairly autonomous: In what way are central interests of system regulation (for instance in times of school reform) satisfied by units of teacher preservice and teacher in-service training? • What quality criteria are formulated for units of teacher education? Are these criteria identical with those one formulated for other universities? In what way must units of teacher education demonstrate that they fulfil these quality criteria? Are there special demands with respect to quality assurance, accreditation, certification for units of teacher education, which are not relevant for traditional universities? What experiences has been made with quality assurance in teacher education? • Are the conditions of access of students to units of teacher education identical with those valid for universities? • Is there co-operation between the various institutions of teacher pre-service and in-service training and between teacher education units and traditional universities which might be considered as relevant for the quality of teacher education? What is the relationship between teacher pre-service and in-service education? Aims • Is there a uniform set of aims and goals relevant for all units of teacher education or are various institutions free to formulate their own aims? What image of the teaching profession is incorporated in the goals and practices of teacher education? • What is the relationship between personal, educational and subject matter-related competencies in the programmes of teacher education? • Are units of teacher education providing offers other than pre-service education and research (e.g. in-service training of teachers, adult education, counselling, research for the ministry etc.)? Internal organisation • Are units of teacher education free with respect to structuring their internal organisation or must they follow specific blue prints? What are the most usual ways of internal organisation of units of teacher education (e.g. faculties, departments, management responsibilities)? What are the most usual structures of management and decision making? • What concepts of internal quality assurance and quality development are used? • In what way may students and external groups influence programmes of study and the work of the teacher education unit in general? • Do units of teacher education collaborate with specific "practicum schools" (professional development schools)? What are the demands on such professional development schools? What are their tasks? 87 Personnel • What different types of personnel are employed by units of teacher education? What is the minimum qualification of these types of personnel? What is the average ratio between different types of personnel? What opportunities of carrier are open for the personnel? • In what way and by whom is personnel recruited? • Are there special programmes to develop research, teaching and other competencies of the personnel in teacher education units in order to assure that their qualification is equivalent to the qualification of traditional university personnel? What are the experiences with these programmes? Teaching • Are there special demands or quality criteria for teaching and for study programmes at units of teacher education which differ from the criteria for traditional universities? What are the main criteria for quality of study programmes at units of teacher education? In what way are these quality criteria monitored? • What is the role of – guided and unguided – practical school experiences by students in the study programme? • Do students have the opportunity to acquire competencies for reflection of practical work and/or for research within their course of studies? • Which new developments with respect to study programmes are presently discussed and/or tried out? What is the role of part-time study programmes, of modularised study programmes and of distance education programmes in teacher education? • Is the system of examination in units of teacher education different from the one in traditional universities? Research and development • What demands (quality criteria) with respect to research and development are put on units of teacher education? Are these demands different for basic research, applied research and research in/about the professional field? Are these demands different for educational research, subject matter-related research and research with respect to subject teaching? Are these demands different (with respect to quantity or quality) compared to those one asked from other tertiary institutions? In what way are these quality criteria monitored? • Are units of teacher education competing for research money at prestigious research funds? Are they competing for research commissions? • Are there special programmes for developing research at teacher training units? What are the experiences with such programmes? 88 Anhang 2: Das neue ungarische Fortbildungssystem Ungarn besitzt gegenwärtig eines der dezentralisiertesten, wettbewerbsbetonenden Bildungswesen in Europa. Auch das Lehrerfortbildungssystem wurde in den letzten Jahren nach diesen Gesichtspunkten reformiert (vgl. Setenyi 2000, 24 & 29ff). Ziele dieser Reform waren: • Marktähnliche Funktionsweise • Staatliche Unterstützung direkt an die Schulen • Stimulierung von Schulen, ihr Humanpotential zu entwickeln • Kein Monopol im Programmangebot • Erhöhung der Qualität (a.a.O., 29f) Die Absicht war, einen "selbstregulierenden, quasi-Markt innerhalb des Bildungswesens" zu schaffen, der • offen für das Aufnehmen von Regierungspolitiken war, • ohne externe Administration und • in reflektierender und lernbereiter Weise funktionieren sollte (a.a.O., 29). Wesentliche Elemente des neuen Systems sind: • LehrerInnen und die Lehrerkonferenz können akkreditierte Kurse vom Fortbildungsmarkt wählen, unter denen auch solche sind, die zu Graduierungen führen oder post graduate-Status haben. • Auf Angebotsseite wurde strikt zwischen programme founder (entwickelt Programm und besitzt Copyright) und programme provider (führt dieses Programm durch) unterschieden. Dadurch sollten private Experten, Firmen und Schulen selbst in den Kreis der Anbieter aufgenommen werden. • Tatsächlich sind die wichtigsten Anbieter derzeit Universitäten, Lehrerbildungsstätten und die regionalen pädagogischen Institute sowie private Firmen, Berufsorganisationen und Kirchen, allerdings ohne dass ein Monopol einer Seite besteht. • Der Kern ist das Akkreditierungsschema: Die Akkreditierung wird durch ein halbautonomes ministerielles Zentrum (methodological and information centre for in-service teacher training) mit der Hilfe von derzeit 300-350 trainierten Akkreditierungsexperten durchgeführt (für die wiederum bestimmte Anforderungen bestehen). Die Idee ist dabei, dass durch Akkreditierung eine Eingangskontrolle auf dem Trainingsmarkt besteht, Schulen aber die angebotenen Programme selber testen. Angebote müssen nach bestimmten formalen und inhaltlichen Kriterien geschrieben werden. Unter denen z.B. sind: - Mindestdauer von 30 Stunden - Freie Preisbildung - Programmelemente, wie intensives Training, Teamwork und Praxis sind notwendig - Bewertung und Endevaluation durch die TeilnehmerInnen ist verpflichtend - Interne Qualitätssicherung ist verpflichtend (vgl. a.a.O., 31) • Schulen managen ihr Humanpotential aktiv. Sie müssen 5-Jahrespläne für Fortbildung, die mit ihren "pädagogischen Programmen" abgestimmt sind, und darauf basierende Jahrespläne für die Beteiligung der Lehrer entwickeln. Dies soll Schulen dazu bringen, ihre Humanressourcen zu erwägen, bewusst zu planen, sie als Wert und systemintegrierenden Faktor anzusehen. • Die Zentralverwaltung ist dafür verantwortlich, die finanziellen Bedingungen (3 % des jährlichen Bildungsbudgets), die Akkreditierung, die Evaluierung und die Sicherstellung von Qualitätssicherung zu besorgen. Gegenwärtig werden 14.000 HUF pro Jahr und Lehrer an die Schulen gegeben. Der Betrag wird jährlich im Budgetgesetz definiert und geht gegenwärtig zurück15. 15 Pers. Mitteilung Gabor Halasz vom 1.7.2001 89 Die Erfahrungen mit diesem System wurden im Jahr 2000 in einer Evaluation dokumentiert, von der gegenwärtig eine englische Kurzfassung hergestellt wird.16 16 Pers. Mitteilung Setényi János vom 3.7.2001 96 l) Approve its operational rules m) Evaluate other matters submitted by the president. Article 15 Meetings 1 – The general council shall ordinarily meet four times a year and extraordinarily when convened by the president, at his initiative or at the request of at least one third of the current members. 2 – The general council shall operate once the majority of its current members are present, among whom the president or whoever is substituting for him. 3 – Resolutions shall be taken by simple majority, with the president having the casting vote. Subsection III Steering committee Article 16 Composition The steering committee shall be constituted of the president, the vice-president, the general-secretary and by the standing commission co-ordinators. Article 17 Jurisdiction 1 – The steering committee shall have jurisdiction over INAFOP administration in general, and in particular shall: a) Prepare and submit, for general council approval, INAFOP rules of procedure; b) Prepare, with the collaboration of the standing commissions, and propose, to the general council, the plan and annual report; c) Prepare the draft budget and the annual accounts report; d) Propose, to the general council, the appointment of the members of the standing commissions; e) Create accreditation and certification sub-commissions, on the proposal of the accreditation and certification commission; f) Request, from the competent standing commission, recommendations, studies, proposals and opinions; g) Administer and arrange INAFOP assets, and shall be responsible for deciding on the acquisition of services and on the acquisition, conveyance or onerousness of moveable and immovable goods in order to achieve its ends; h) Collect revenue and accept gifts, bequests or legacies, under the terms of the law; i) Define the structure of general-secretariat personnel and its respective categories; 97 j) Establish salaries for personnel, subject to their individual employment contract; l) Propose, for approval by the Minister of Education, the personnel chart; m) Propose, to the general council, the pay table for the opinions developed in the scope of the standing commissions and sub-commissions; n) Contract and manage INAFOP personnel; o) Raise loans; p) Propose, for general council approval, the amount to collect for services rendered; q) Request, from public or private entities, those elements it considers vital to the accomplishment of its duties; r) Appraise, permanently, INAFOP’s financial position; s) Undertake all necessary actions in pursuit of INAFOP duties which do not fall under the jurisdiction of other organs. 2 – The steering committee may delegate authority to any of its members. Article 18 Meetings 1 – The steering committee shall ordinarily meet once a month and extraordinarily when convened by the president, at his initiative or at the joint request of two of the other members. 2 – Steering committee decisions shall only be valid when taken in meetings where the majority of its current members are present. 3Steering committee decisions shall be taken on the majority of the votes of those members present, with the president having, in the event of a tie, the president’s vote shall be counted twice. 4 – The members of the steering committee shall be jointly responsible for the decisions taken, except if they were not present or, having been present, they requested their defeated vote be registered. 5 – The president shall be able to perform all actions which, due to their nature and urgency, cannot wait for the steering committee meeting. 6 – The actions of the president, performed according to the previous paragraph, shall be subject to ratification at the first subsequent meeting of the steering committee. Subsection IV Standing commissions Article 19 Standing commissions The standing commissions are: a) The commission of accreditation and certification; b) The commission of studies and opinions. 98 Article 20 Members of the standing commissions 1 – The members of the general council shall not be part of the either the standing commissions or the sub-commissions. 2 – The co-ordinators of the standing commissions are elected by the latter, from among their members. 3 – Article 13 shall apply to the members of the standing commissions. 4 – The members of the standing commissions are appointed by the general council, on the proposal of the steering committee, from among individuals of recognised standing in the scope of INAFOP activities. Article 21 Accreditation and certification commission 1 – The accreditation and certification commission shall be constituted of seven to fifteen members. 2 – The composition of the accreditation and certification commission shall reflect the diversity of teaching qualification areas. 3 – The accreditation and certification commission shall have the authority to: a) Decide on the accreditation of initial teacher education programmes; b) Decide on the conferring of the external certification for the professional qualification of individuals; c) Prepare the regulation of the accreditation process, in addition to the certification process, for approval by the general council; d) Prepare and approve all the means necessary for realisation of the accreditation and certification processes; e) Propose, to the steering committee, the creation of the necessary sub-commissions and their respective members; f) Guide and co-ordinate the realisation of all accreditation processes, from candidature to final decision; g) Guide and co-ordinate the realisation of all phases of the certification processes; h) Promote the necessary training activities of its members and of the members of its sub-commissions; i) Prepare and approve its rules of procedure. Article 22 Sub-commissions 1 – The technical sub-commissions shown to be necessary shall operate within the scope of the accreditation and certification commission, taking into consideration the education and qualifications which shall receive accreditation and certification. 99 2 – The members of the sub-commissions shall be appointed by the steering committee, on the proposal of the accreditation and certification commission, from among persons of recognised standing in the area of the education and qualifications which shall receive accreditation and certification. 3 – Each sub-commission shall be constituted of five to seven members, among which one shall be the co-ordinator. 4 – Article 13 shall apply to the members of the sub-commissions. 5 – Whenever, in a meeting of the standing commission, processes submitted by a subcommission are under analysis, the respective co-ordinator shall be present, without the right to vote, except if a member of the commission. Article 23 Studies and opinions commission 1 – The studies and opinions commission shall be constituted by five to seven members. 2 - The studies and opinions commission shall have the authority to: a) Promote and monitor the studies necessary to the performance of INAFOP; b) Promote and monitor the global analyses of the accreditation and certification processes; c) Develop the studies, opinions and recommendations requested of it; d) Encourage reflection, debate and communication of ideas and practices relative to the quality of initial teacher education, taking recourse to suitable means and opportunities for this purpose; e) Propose, to the steering committee, the acquisition of services necessary to the realisation of its activities; f) Promote the necessary training activities for its members; g) Prepare and approve its rules of procedure. Article 24 Opinions The rapporteurs of the opinions reached in the scope of the standing commissions and subcommissions are paid in agreement with the table to be approved by the general council, on the proposal of the steering committee. SECTION III Service Article 25 General-Secretariat The general-secretariat shall have the authority to: 100 a) Act as secretary to the general council, the steering committee, the standing commissions and the sub-commissions; b) Provide technical, information, documentation, secretarial and administrative support to INAFOP organs, for achievement of their respective activities; c) Ensure the general management of INAFOP assets, personnel and goods; d) Implement the INAFOP budget. Article 26 General-secretary 1 – The general-secretariat is managed by a general-secretary, appointed by order of the Minister of Education, on the proposal of the president. 2 – The general-secretary is equivalent, for all legal effects, to the director of services. CHAPTER III Finance matters Article 27 Assets INAFOP assets shall be constituted by the universality of its goods, rights and duties. Article 28 Revenue INAFOP revenue shall be constituted of: a) Income collected in the scope of the accreditation and certification processes; b) Provisions bestowed upon it in the State budget; c) The product of sales of goods or services; d) Revenue originating from contracts entered into with the State; e) Income from separate property and that originating from its activity, or which by legal or lawful provision should belong to it; f) The outcome of conveyance of separate property and the establishment of rights on it; g) Subsidies, financial contributions or gifts bestowed by any public or private entity, national or foreign, as well as the possible provisions written into the State budget; h) The outcome from sale of publications and documentation of any form published by it; i) Copyright; j) Any other income which by law, contract or other title shall be bestowed upon it. 101 Article 29 Contracts 1 – In order to pursue objectives in the scope of verifying the quality of initial teacher education, the Government may enter into contracts with INAFOP. 2 – The contracts referred to in the preceding paragraph shall integrate the business plan for the period they respect. Article 30 Expenses INAFOP expenses shall be: a) Expenses for its operation and for accomplishment of the responsibilities and jurisdictions entrusted to it; b) The costs of acquisition, maintenance and preservation of goods, facilities or services which it must use. Article 31 Tutelage Plans and annual reports, in addition to the draft budget, are subject to approval by the Minister of Education. Article 32 INAFOP Obligations INAFOP shall be placed under obligation before third parties, by the signature of two members of the steering committee, one of them being the president or whoever has been delegated his powers. CHAPTER IV Personnel Article 33 Personnel matters INAFOP personnel are managed by the norms applicable to individual employment contracts, without prejudice to the provisions of the following Article. Article 34 Mobility 1 – The officials of the Public Administration and of public institutions, in addition to employees in public companies, may be called upon to perform functions in INAFOP through 102 requisition or commission of services, with the original position and the privileges attained in it being guaranteed. 2 – The circumstances of requisition, referred to in the preceding paragraph, shall not be subject to a fixed term in general law. Article 35 Personnel chart INAFOP personnel, whether contracted or under the mobility system, as referred to in Articles 33 and 34, may not exceed the provisions established by the chart for approval by order of the Ministry of Education, on the proposal of the steering committee. CHAPTER V Final and transitional provisions Article 36 Service period 1 – When the appointment of the president, vice-president and general-secretary falls to teachers of whatever level of education and teaching, the service period rendered in INAFOP shall be equivalent, for all legal effects, to actual performance of duties in the respective career. 2 – When the appointment for the president, vice-president and general-secretary falls to teachers from higher education, the counting of terms provided for in the respective career statues shall be suspended on application by the interested parties. Article 37 Compatibility The recognition of salaries, in the scope of INAFOP, for members of the general council, standing commissions and sub-commissions shall be understood to be compatible with the performance of teaching or research functions only, exclusive of other activities. Article 38 General council 1 – The president is responsible for initiating the necessary attention with which the first appointment of the general council members shall be undertaken. 2 – The general council may meet once half-plus-one of the expected members have been appointed. 3 – Whilst two thirds of the general council members have not been appointed, decisions taken, with votes in-favour by two thirds of the current members, are valid. 103 Article 39 Steering committee The steering committee shall be constituted, for all effects, once the president, vicepresident and general-secretary have been appointed. Article 40 Premises INAFOP shall have at its disposal premises made available by the General Directorate of Heritage. Seen and approved in the Council of Ministers on 9th of July 1998. — António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres — António Luciano Pacheco de Sousa Franco — Jorge Paulo Sacadura Almeida Coelho — Guilherme d’Oliveira Martins Promulgated on 3rd September 1998. Let it be published. The President of the Republic, JORGE SAMPAIO. Countersigned on 8th September 1998. The Prime Minister, António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres. 104 DECREE-LAW no. 194/99 of 7th June Accreditation System for Initial Teacher Education Under the terms of sub-paragraph a) of paragraph 1 of Article 198 of the Constitution, to be enacted as a general law of the Republic, the Government decrees as follows: CHAPTER I General provisions Article 1 Object This decree-law creates and regulates the accreditation system for initial education programmes for pre-school, primary and secondary school teachers. Article 2 Accreditation Accreditation of an initial education programme for pre-school, primary and secondary school teachers which aims to provide a professional teaching qualification recognises this programme’s suitability to the demands for quality in professional performance in the educational or teaching level and area included in the same. Article 3 Objectives of accreditation The accreditation system shall aim for the following objectives: a) To certify and promote the quality of education leading to a teaching qualification; b) To guarantee the qualitative equality of the various programmes leading to the same specific teaching qualification; c) To inform interested parties on the quality of the initial education programmes for pre-school, primary and secondary school teachers; d) To contribute to the external regulation of initial education for pre-school, primary and secondary school teachers; e) To contribute to regulating admission to the teaching profession; f) To further the mobility of pre-school, primary and secondary school teachers within the European Union space. 105 Article 4 Professional qualification The diploma from an initial education programme for pre-school, primary and secondary school teachers may only provide a professional teaching qualification if the programme has been subject to accreditation under the terms of this decree-law. Article 5 Accreditation institution Accreditation shall fall under the jurisdiction of the Instituto Nacional de Acreditação da Formação de Professores (National Institute for Accreditation of Teacher Education), henceforth referred to as INAFOP. CHAPTER II Accreditation of programmes Article 6 Programmes 1 – The initial education programmes for pre-school, primary and secondary school teachers referred to in paragraph 1 of Article 31 of Law no. 46/86 of October, with the alterations introduced to it by Law no. 115/97, of 19th September, henceforth referred to as the Basic Law of the Educational System, shall be subject to accreditation. 2 – Equally, subject to accreditation, together with the higher education programmes they give access to, shall be the complementary pedagogical education programmes referred to in paragraph 7 of Article 31 of the Basic Law of the Educational System. 3 – Also subject to accreditation shall be the complementary pedagogical education programmes referred to in paragraph 6 of Article 31 of the Basic Law of the Educational System: a) Together with the higher education programmes they give access to, when provided by the same institution; b) Together with the admission requirements for the programme and the procedure for verifying these when supplied by a different institution. Article 7 Fundamentals of accreditation In order to confirm the suitability of the programmes to the demands for quality in professional performance, the accreditation process shall take into account: a) The teacher education project in all its components, in addition to, when applicable, the respective development and evaluation; b) The human resources and materials affected; 112 2 – The provisions of the previous paragraph shall apply equally to programmes created between the date this decree-law comes into force and the date INAFOP begins to invite candidature. 3 – INAFOP shall publish, in the Diário da República, 2a série, within a maximum time limit of six months, the candidature submission schedule for programmes referred to in the previous paragraphs, which may be performed in phases. 4 – Programmes which accreditation has been applied for shall continue to certify professional teaching qualifications under the terms in use up to the date this decree-law comes into force until the INAFOP decision. 5 – Refusal of accreditation for a programme shall have the following consequences: a) The non-opening of new enrolments for said programme; b) The suspension of providing professional teaching qualifications on the part of said programme from the start of the immediate academic year. 6 – Students enrolled on a programme included in the previous paragraph shall apply, with due adaptations, to the provisions of Article 20. 7 – Programmes for which no accreditation shall be required in the time established the terms of paragraph 3: a) Shall no longer provide professional teaching qualifications from the start of the immediate academic year; b) Shall not accept new enrolments. 8 – Students enrolled, at the end of the time established under the terms of paragraph 3, on a programme included in the application of the previous paragraph may, as an alternative, opt to: a) Complete the programme in the same institution and apply to INAFOP for external certification of the professional teaching qualification, with the respective costs falling to the teacher education institution; b) Request transfer to another teacher education institution. Article 32 Transitional regimes 1 – Programmes currently recognised as an academic teaching qualification shall continue to be so until the end of the time limit established by the directive referred to in sub-paragraph b) of Article 26. 2 – Programmes currently recognised for effects of the provisions of paragraph 1 of Article 55 of the Statute for Careers of Pre-school, Primary and Secondary School Teachers shall continue to be so until the time limit being set by the directive referred to in paragraph 2 of Article 28. Seen and approved in the Council of Ministers on 6th April 1999. — António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres — Eduardo Carrega Marçal Grilo. 113 Promulgated on 14th May 1999. Let it be published. The President of the Republic, JORGE SAMPAIO. Countersigned on 20th May 1999. The Prime Minister, Antonio Manuel de Oliver Gutteres. 114 STANDARDS IN INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION17 INTRODUCTION Standards in Initial Teacher Education, in accordance with Article 8 of decree-law no. 194/99, of 7th June, establish reference to the accreditation process of programmes which give access to professional qualifications for teaching in basic education (including pre-school education) and secondary education. These standards constitute a set of criteria for assessing the degree to which the programmes meet the demands of teaching performance. It is a question of generic statements, applicable to all programmes, and involves principles, objectives and conditions which should be taken into account and linked with the general profile and the specific profiles of pre-school and school teacher performance, the regulation of the accreditation process and the accreditation candidature guidelines. They focus on the following areas: 1. Programme’s professional objectives, co-ordination and regulation; 2. Collaborative and partnership efforts for developing the programme; 3. Programme curriculum; 4. Selection and evaluation of trainees and professional qualification certification; 5. Teaching and non-teaching personnel and materials. The standards indicate the principles, which must be safeguarded, and the objectives which should be reached, but they leave a wide margin of freedom for institutions to decide on how to effect them. For example, they do not prescribe in detail how professional practice periods, field trips and mechanisms for regulating the programme should be run, nor how to effect partnerships with schools and the educational administration. The set of criteria presented for appraising initial teacher education programmes may involve changes in relation to certain aspects, causing some teacher education institutions to have problems in meeting certain standards immediately. Naturally, in the near future, they may be met only gradually, namely with regards to teaching staff qualifications for programmes in operation or resulting from changes to these. Moreover, the rapid and constant change of information, and of access to it, creates new demands on the schools and teachers, which require initial education programmes be subject to continuous reevaluation and, consequently, that standards be open to revision. 1 PROGRAMME’S PROFESSIONAL OBJECTIVES, COORDINATION AND REGULATION 1.1 The programme develops in the trainees the qualifications and skills necessary for professional teaching performance and lifelong learning, based on a teacher education project which expressly takes into account: i) legally defined, general and specific, professional profiles; ii) curricular guidance and plans for basic and secondary education; iii) scientific and technological development; iv) relevant conclusions from the education research; v) changes in society, schools and teacher profiles; vi) direction of national educational policy. 1.2 Programme co-ordination structures and mechanisms exist to develop, manage, regulate and evaluate the programme of initial teacher education and to carry through the changes necessary, with the involvement of management organs, teaching and student bodies from the teacher education institution and other interested parties, such as management organs of co-operating schools, teacher associations, scientific societies, programme graduates and members of the community, representing a variety of perspectives and cultures. 17 Approved unanimously on 15th June 2000, by the Accreditation and Certification Commission of the National Institute for Accreditation of Teacher Education (INAFOP), and unanimously ratified, on 13th November 2000, by the INAFOP General Council. 115 1.3 The teacher education institution ensures work undertaken may be assessed by making the information relevant to understanding its pedagogical project, curriculum, activities, modus operandi, resources, general policies and trainee results available, both at the end of the programme and during subsequent professional performance. 2 COLLABORATIVE AND PARTNERSHIP EFFORTS FOR DEVELOPING THE PROGRAMME 2.1 The teacher education institution has forms of collaboration and/or partnership agreements with: i) other institutions – for research, development and teaching activities – promoting the active involvement of teaching and student bodies in projects of an inter-institutional, national and international nature; ii) schools from the various educational and teaching cycles in association with the educational administration structures, when necessary, and with the teachers’ organisations, so as to link various education dimensions, specifically collaborative research, professional development of teachers, postgraduate teaching and initiation of professional practice activities. 2.2 The partnerships effected with schools and other institutions, for the purposes of initiation of professional practice, are formalised through collaborative protocols, clearly indicating the roles, responsibilities and skills of all participants, including the trainees. 2.3 The teacher education institution: i) ensures that the schools and other institutions with which it establishes collaborative partnerships have the necessary human resources, materials and interest for quality education; ii) ensures that the professional practice period mentors, and other teachers from the schools and the other institutions co-operating on the programme, have suitable skills to perform their roles, in particular for adult education, and are chosen by clear and appropriate selection mechanisms and supported in their professional development. 3 PROGRAMME CURRICULUM 3.1 The programme is organised so as: i) to be coherent between the programme’s conceptual structure, the kind of discipline and trainee evaluation system; ii) there is articulation between theory and practice, integrating initiation of professional practice activities throughout the programme; iii) to have careful articulation between the different programme units and activities undertaken in the initiation of professional practice, so as to sustain a fruitful relationship between specific knowledge and general perspectives, as well as develop a critical capacity in relation to different knowledge areas; iv) to develop cross-curricular objectives adequately; v) to enable trainees to undertake activities with trainees from related programmes, aiming to increase the crossover of knowledge and the evaluation of different skill areas, useful in subsequent professional work. 3.2 Teaching and learning methodologies: i) are diversified and consistent with the principles which shape adult education within a higher education context and include specific education in the areas in which trainees need to gain skills; ii) promote collaborative work practices, essential to the functioning of academic organisations; iii) offer understanding of the complexity of schools and educational situations, based on multiple practical experiences; iv) encourage trainees to have an active and responsible role in their learning and professional development, not only during the initial education programme, but also when they begin to teach and, subsequently, during their professional career; 116 v) include the necessary work experience in laboratories, offices, artistic workshops, language learning, etc, in line with the programme type; vi) recognise, value and take advantage of the different cultures and experiences of trainees, as well as of teaching personnel; vii) offer all trainees opportunities to deepen study of problematics, undertake research and be involved in projects in their educational field; viii) encourage high levels of performance from trainees. 3.3 The programme offers access to the new information and communication technologies and to other resources in order to meet specific needs with regard to: i) teaching methodologies used; ii) access to information and communication between trainees, teachers, schools and other participants in the teacher education process; iii) learning judicious use of information and communications technologies, with their different focal points; iv) the use of these resources as an integral part of the preparation and professional experience of trainees. 3.4 The programme curriculum includes the following education components, appropriately inter-linked: i) cultural, social and ethical education which includes, complementing the contribution other components must give for this purpose, sensitivity to the big issues of the contemporary world, expanding to areas of knowledge and culture different from a particular teaching speciality, reflecting on ethical problems attached to teaching, as well as dimensions instrumental to the search, organisation and communication of information, including use of information and communications technologies and knowledge of foreign languages; ii) education in speciality teaching area(s) which includes curricular units of a diversity and depth appropriate to gaining basic education in the programme area and in knowledge areas connected to professional performance in the teaching levels for which the programme is aimed; iii) education studies which covers specific didactics in the teaching area the programme gives access to and other educational learning areas, relevant to understanding the educational act, including attention to diversity; iv) initiation of professional practice, which includes observation, collaboration, intervention, analysis and reflection on educational situations. 3.5 The credit units of the education components, calculated by the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), meet the suggested minimum values, bearing in mind each subject can contribute to education in more than one component: i) in the programmes which prepare for teaching in pre-school education or the 1st cycle of basic education: a) cultural, social and ethical education – 15 ECTS; b) education in areas of specific teaching and didactics – 105 ECTS; c) general education studies – 35 ECTS; d) initiation of professional practice – 50 ECTS; ii) in the remaining programmes: a) cultural, social and ethical education – 15 ECTS; b) education in teaching areas – 125 ECTS if they prepare for teaching one subject and 150 ECTS if they prepare for teaching more than one subject or for secondary education; c) general education studies and specific didactics – 50 ECTS; d) initiation of professional practice – 50 ECTS. 3.6 The pedagogical education programmes provided for in Article 31 of the Basic Law of the Educational System, by themselves or in conjunction with the earlier licenciaturas, ensure the minimum education expected for the cultural, social and ethical, education studies, initiation of professional practice for the respective professional teaching 117 qualification education components, with said licenciaturas needing to satisfy the minimums established for education in the speciality teaching area(s). 3.7 Programmes have academic years of a minimum of 30 weeks, with the weekly lecture attendance load not exceeding 25 hours. 3.8 Initiation of professional practice activities: i) are conceived of from the perspective of professional development of trainees as future teachers, so they may come to adopt a critical and reflective approach to daily professional challenges, processes and performance, and should include a research component; ii) fuse coherently, throughout the programme, with its objectives, through different activities of increasing length and progressive responsibility, concluding with the supervised professional practice period; iii) take place in groups or classes at different levels of development in all the cycles which the programme gives access to, in compliance with the curriculum areas to which education is aimed; iv) offer varied experience, namely with students of different sexes, ages, levels of development, social environment and culture; v) facilitate trainee contact with schools and other institutions in different fields and offer planning, teaching and evaluation experience, as well as involvement in the wide spectrum of responsibilities expected of the teacher, including teamwork in and outside the classroom; vi) forestall trainee behaviour and attitudes which could harm pre-school, basic and secondary school pupils; vii) include, as well as the professional practice period, activities of a minimum length of 2 hours which take place for at least 15 days, spread over one or more academic years. 3.9 The professional practice period: i) is undertaken by giving lessons to one or more classes in a system of shared responsibility between trainees and the school mentor, and supervision by the teacher education institution, safeguarding the specificity of each educational and teaching level; ii) takes place over an academic year or equivalent; iii) involves holding seminars combining science and pedagogy, theory and practice, as well as analysis work and discussion with the mentors and the professional practice period group. 3.10 Research and discussion of research work form a regular part of the teacher education institution’s activity: i) teachers undertake research projects, publish work of a scientific nature and participate regularly in the activities of the respective scientific communities; ii) results from research carried out in the institution, from own experience, and in other institutions, are used to support the development and improvement of the programme; iii) trainees learn the essential aspects of the methodologies used in research undertaken in their teaching area and educational field, and have the opportunity to participate in projects or initial research activities undertaken by the institution’s teachers. 3.11 In the teacher education institution, a variety of activities and programmes exists, namely: i) programmes of continuous education – linked to initial education, which may or may not lead to degrees or formal certification – for teachers and other professionals and activities for members of the educational community, such as parents, local authorities, etc.; ii) publication of studies and pedagogical materials concerning the various teacher education components; iii) support and consultation services for educational institutions and for the community in general. 118 4 SELECTION AND EVALUATION OF TRAINEES AND PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATION CERTIFICATION 4.1 The criteria and procedures for selecting candidates for entry to the programme or a stage of the programme that leads to the teaching qualification: i) reflect the principles and objectives of the programme, selecting candidates whose field of study corresponds to the speciality they aim to study and who hold the appropriate minimum requirements for entrance subjects; ii) consider the probable suitability of candidates to a career in the profession; iii) recognise informal qualifications, obtained whilst performing professional or other activities, whenever relevant to the respective programme. 4.2 The evaluation criteria used on the programme cover a set of characteristics associated with the probable suitability of trainees to professional teaching, offering them experience of selfand external evaluation. 4.3 The evaluation procedures are suited: i) to the type of subject and the different stages of the programme; ii) to the nature of the characteristics evaluated and the purpose of the evaluation, whether it be formative or summative; iii) to the specificity of its different components. 4.4 Evaluation of trainee performance in initiation of professional practice activities involving teaching experience is effected in co-operation with the teaching personnel of the teacher education institution and the schools’ mentors, with clear procedures for the resolution of potential conflicts. 4.5 The evaluation is appropriate for certifying professional qualification to start teaching. 5 TEACHING AND NON-TEACHING PERSONNEL AND MATERIALS 5.1 The teacher education institution assures, with respect to the teaching staff of each programme and the teachers of the schools and institutions which co-operate in education: i) the existence of effective scientific and pedagogical co-ordination; ii) participation in the development and evaluation of the programme; iii) opportunities for professional development in various spheres. 5.2 The programme’s teaching staff: i) guarantees the teaching in programme areas it is qualified for by its academic, scientific and professional curriculum; ii) is highly qualified, consisting mainly of PhDs, working exclusively or fulltime both in the teaching speciality areas as well as in education studies; iii) also includes teachers, allocated to this programme, with actual experience of the education and teaching levels to which the programme gives access; iv) performs a variety of activities, including research and collaboration with teachers and the educational administration; v) is continually updating its knowledge, skills, teaching and evaluation methodologies; vi) knows how to make appropriate use of the new information and communications technologies, in particular for instruction in its teaching area and activity. 5.3 The teacher education institution has qualified technical and administrative personnel to support the programme and takes measures for its continual up-to-dateness. 119 5.4 The teacher education institution has: i) equipment and facilities suited to the programme type, namely buildings, laboratories, libraries, media libraries, resource centres and computer and study rooms, with the necessary conditions for access by the physically handicapped; ii) teaching media that allow trainees to familiarise themselves with the materials used in schools. 120 REGULATION OF THE ACCREDITATION PROCESS FOR INITIAL PRE-SCHOOL, BASIC AND SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMMES18 CHAPTER I General Provisions Article 1 Object and scope 1. This regulation, in accordance with the provisions of Article 13 in decree-law no. 194/99, of 7th June, establishes the organisation of the accreditation process and monitoring of the operation of accredited programmes for initial education of pre-school, basic and secondary education teachers, henceforth referred to by ‘programmes’ and by ‘teachers’, whose professional teaching qualification the diploma aims to certify. 2. This regulation shall be applicable to the accreditation of all programmes defined in Article 6 of the aforementioned decree-law, whether they be administered by polytechnic or university higher education institutions, in the public sector or the private and cooperative sector, or also the Portuguese Catholic University. Article 2 Framework 1. Accreditation of an initial teacher education programme constitutes recognition of the programme’s suitability to the demands of professional performance at the level and educational or teaching area it comprises. 2. The accreditation process takes into consideration: a) The teacher education project, with all its components, as well as, when applicable, its respective development and evaluation; b) The human resources and materials for the programme; c) The results attained by graduates, namely in their professional performance, when applicable and possible. 3. The accreditation system takes as reference: a) The legal system for initial education of pre-school teachers and basic and secondary education teachers established in the Basic Law of the Educational System and complementary legislation; b) The curricular guidance for pre-school education and the curricular plans for basic and secondary education; c) The general performance profile of the pre-school, basic and secondary education teacher and the specific performance profiles for each teaching qualification, defined by the Ministry of Education; d) The quality standards of initial teacher education defined by the accreditation and certification commission and ratified by the INAFOP general council. 4. The methodology for submission, appraisal and decision on the accreditation candidature process shall be established in the “accreditation candidature guidelines” and in the “accreditation candidature appraisal guidelines”, defined by the accreditation and certification commission and ratified by the INAFOP general council. Article 3 Types 1. The accreditation process is organised according to the following types: 18 Approved by the INAFOP general council, on 28th September 2000, with 18 votes in favour and 3 abstentions. 121 a) Initial accreditation; b) Renewal of accreditation. 2. The initial accreditation process shall apply to the programmes teacher education institutions intend to offer for the first time for a specific teaching qualification, henceforth referred to as ‘new programmes’, and to those in operation at the starting date of the period referred to in paragraph 2 of the following Article. 3. The renewal of accreditation process shall apply to accredited programmes in operation and shall proceed whenever institutions seek to renew the validity of the initial accreditation of said programmes. Article 4 General timeframes 1. The starting date for submitting candidature for initial accreditation of new programmes, for each teaching qualification, shall be published by INAFOP in the Diário da República, 2ª série. 2. The period for submitting candidature for initial accreditation of programmes in operation, for each teaching qualification, shall be published by INAFOP in the Diário da República, 2ª série. 3. The accreditation process, excluding the month of August, shall observe the following timeframes: a) 6 months for initial accreditation of new programmes; b) 12 months for initial accreditation of programmes in operation or for renewal of accreditation. 4. When, for unforeseen reasons, an unusual quantity of candidatures for initial accreditation for new programmes are received simultaneously, the timeframes referred to in the previous paragraph may be exceeded. 5. Calculating the accreditation process timeframes follows the provisions of Article 72 of the Administrative Procedure Code. CHAPTER II Accreditation processes Section I Candidature Article 5 Submission 1. The accreditation process, for whatever type, begins with the submission of candidature, in which the institution and the programme are identified and profiled and the latter is proven to meet the demands of professional teaching performance at the level and in the education or teaching area it comprises. 2. In the processes for initial accreditation of a programme in operation and for renewal of accreditation, the proof referred to in the previous paragraph must, further, include critical consideration of the prior progress of the programme’s teacher education project, which may result in submission of proposals to reformulate the teacher education project in operation. 3. Candidature is formalised with the dispatch of the following documents: a) Application to submit candidature to the INAFOP president, signed by the responsible member of the teacher education institution, accompanied by proof that it is legally competent to provide licenciatura programmes; b) Identification and profile records for the institution and the education programme, the computerised model of which shall be made available by INAFOP on its internet site, with digital support compatible with the INAFOP computer system, or on paper; c) Accreditation dossier, prepared according to the “Candidature and Accreditation Guidelines”, in digital form compatible with the INAFOP computer system, or on paper, in this case requiring eight copies; d) The most recent internal and external evaluation reports for the programme and the respective teacher education institution, drawn up within the scope of the evaluation system for higher education, which may be accompanied by any additions the institution considers suitable; e) Payment method for the obligatory financial contribution with the teacher education institution, under the terms of the following Article. Article 6 Financial contribution 1. The financial contribution referred to in Article 18 of decree-law no. 194/99, of 7th June, shall be defined by the general council on the proposal of the Steering Committee, taking into account the parameters established in the contracts to be entered into with the Government and the accreditation process types. 2. The actual sums to collect shall be decided on and published annually and, to all effects, shall be considered as annex to this regulation.