The European commission has been actively engaged in redesigning the structure and content of teacher education.<\/p>\n
In December 2006, The European Parliament and Council<\/strong> recommended eight Key Competencies for Lifelong Learning<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n They defined key competencies as “a combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes…which all individuals need for personal fulfilment and development, active citizenship, social inclusion and employment.”<\/em> Skills and attitudes, including critical thinking, creativity, initiative, problem-solving, risk assessment, decision-taking, and constructive management of feelings are also made explicit within many of the competencies.<\/p>\n The full document can be found here <\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n They defined the key competencies as:<\/p>\n 1) Communication in the mother tongue;<\/p>\n 2) Communication in foreign languages;<\/p>\n 3) Mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology;<\/p>\n 4) Digital competence;<\/p>\n 5) Learning to learn;<\/p>\n 6) Social and civic competences;<\/p>\n 7) Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship;<\/p>\n 8 \u00a0Cultural awareness and expression.<\/p>\n \u00a0The competencies were partly derived from a survey of EU countries carried out in 2001 by Eurydice, the Information Network on Education in Europe. The survey, which examined which key competencies, if any, were defined in the national education systems , can be downloaded here <\/sup><\/a>\u00a0.(taken from wikipedia).<\/p>\n In august 2007 other report was published:<\/p>\n Communication from the commission to the council and the european parliament: Improving the Quality of Teacher Education, 2007\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n The document states (p. 4).:\u00a0<\/p>\n … Teacher Education policy is closely connected with other key European policy areas, notably:<\/p>\n \u2013 Social policy with its emphasis on the role of education and training as a route out of poverty and a key factor of social inclusion, and the emphasis on ‘core skills’ in the Youth Pact;10<\/p>\n \u2013 Innovation policy11 with its emphasis on ensuring that teachers help young people to acquire a spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation.<\/p>\n \u2013 Research policy with its emphasis on improving the teaching of sciences at all levels of education in the Union12.<\/p>\n \u2013 Enterprise policy13 <\/em>with its emphasis on the need for public authorities to promote education for entrepreneurship to heads of schools and teachers through initial and in-service training;<\/p>\n \u2013 The Commission’s New Framework Strategy for Multilingualism14 which promotes the value of language learning and which identifies the quality of language teaching and better training of language teachers as important challenges; and<\/p>\n \u2013 Directive 2005\/36\/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications, which provides the legal framework for the professional mobility of teachers.<\/p>\n and on page 12:<\/p>\n The Common European Principles for Teacher Competences and Qualifications,\u00a0… were written on the basis of the experience of teachers and teacher educators across Europe and validated by stakeholders. It describes a vision of a European teaching profession that has the following characteristics:<\/p>\n \u2013 it is well-qualified <\/strong>profession: all teachers are graduates from higher education institutions (and those working in the field of initial vocational education are highly qualified in their professional area and have a suitable pedagogical qualification). Every teacher has extensive subject knowledge, a good knowledge of pedagogy, the skills and competences required to guide and support learners, and an understanding of the social and cultural dimension of education.<\/p>\n \u2013 it is a profession of lifelong learners<\/strong>: teachers are supported to continue their professional development throughout their careers. They and their employers recognise the importance of acquiring new knowledge, and are able to innovate and use evidence to inform their work.<\/p>\n \u2013 it is a mobile <\/strong>profession: mobility is a central component of initial and continuing teacher education programmes. Teachers are encouraged to work or study in other European countries for professional development purposes.<\/p>\n \u2013 it is a profession based on partnership<\/strong>: teacher education institutions organise their work collaboratively in partnership with schools, local work environments, workbased training providers and other stakeholders.<\/p>\n In line with these principles, and in the light of the foregoing analysis, the Commission believes that the following policy steps could be addressed to improve the quality of Teacher Education in the European Union.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n EU on teachers education<\/a>\u00a020.\u00a0august \u00a02007<\/p>\n ” J\u00e1n Figel\u00b4, the European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth, said “Better teaching and learning are critical for the EU’s long-term competitiveness, since a highly educated workforce is a more efficient workforce. I believe we need to ensure that the EU has high-quality teachers if the Member States\u00b4 education reforms are to be a success. However, as studies show, there are worrying developments across the EU, with most Member States reporting shortfalls in teachers\u00b4 skills, and difficulties in updating them.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The European commission has been actively engaged in redesigning the structure and content of teacher education. In December 2006, The European Parliament and Council recommended eight Key Competencies for Lifelong Learning. They defined key competencies as “a combination of knowledge, … Continue reading