Common pressures, same results? Recent reforms in professional standards and competences in teacher education for secondary teachers in England, France and Germany

Abstract

Over the last decade, the introduction of professional standards and competences in initial teacher education for secondary teachers in England, France and Germany has provided the cornerstone of education reform in all three countries. The precise number and specific content of a measurable set of skills for teachers have offered challenges for policy makers, teacher educators, student teachers and teachers alike. The concept of standardised teacher education feeds into the idea that there is some convergence towards a uniform teacher ideal. However, an examination of the skills required of teachers in each of the three countries in this study reveals distinct education systems where path divergence is more evident.

Keywords:

• teacher education
• professionalisation
• standards
• competences
• performance
• England
• France
• Germany

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank Professor Guy Lapostolle, University of Lorraine, Nancy, France, and Karl Handschuh, Seminardirektor, Pädagogische Hochschule, Meckenbeuren, Germany, for their help with my research for this study.