Teacher education policy in Europe: a voice of higher education institutions

This monograph has been written and published as a result of the growing co-operation within the Teacher Education Policy in Europe (TEPE) Network. The initiative to set up the TEPE Network was agreed in 2006 at Umeå University (Sweden) and the first TEPE conference was organised at the University of Tallinn (Estonia) from 1 to 3 February 2007 within a relatively small group of participants from eight countries. The second conference was hosted by the Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) from 21 to 23 February 20082. The conference brought together a significantly larger group of some 100 participants from 23 countries representing most European regions to discuss the current situation of Teacher Education in Europe, look at the future and formulate recommendations for Teacher Education policy at the local, national and European levels. A decision was taken within the network to publish a monograph on Teacher Education Policy in Europe as the next step. A process of peer review took place in spring 2008 which resulted in the selection of 18 papers to be developed for publication in this monograph. These papers cover a number of key issues and have been written, individually or collectively, by 32 authors from several different European regions. There are three main threads running through these papers which cover the following themes: mobility and the European Dimension in Teacher Education, evaluation cultures in Teacher Education and advancing research in and on Teacher Education. This monograph is published as an edition in the Umeå University Faculty of Teacher Education series Monographs on the Journal of Research in Teacher Education (Monografier, Tidskrift för lärarutbildning och forskning) as a result of the joint work of both faculties from Umeå University and the University of Ljubljana. The publication has been made possible by financial support from the European Social Fund and the Slovenian Ministry of Education and Sport.