EU TRAIN: towards a Common Curriculum for the Teaching Practice of Science Teachers

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1 EU TRAIN: towards a Common Curriculum for the Teaching Practice of Science Teachers 2008

2 This book is financially supported by the European Commission through the Comenius Programme for European cooperation on school education. The contents of this book are the sole responsibility of the EU TRAIN project partners and in no way represents the views of the European Commission or its services. Available in English and Polish. This document is also available on the Internet ( Cover picture: Vasilev Angel: Old city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria Editors: Jarkko Lampiselkä and Zhelyazka Raykova Address editorial correspondence to University of Helsinki P.O. Box 9 FIN University of Helsinki Project EU TRAIN was funded by the European Commission in the framework of Comenius 2.1 Funding for the international mobility was provided by Socrates National Agencies in the participating countries. Copyright 2008 by the authors of the chapters. Printed in the Bulgaria, Plovdiv University Press. Published in Finland, University of Helsinki ISBN

3 Practice makes perfect. Практиката води до съвършенство. Harjutamine teeb meistriks. Harjoitus tekee mestarin. Doświadczenie czyni mistrza. 3

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5 Acknowledgments EU TRAIN project has been interesting and important work that has also made the members of the international working team close friends. We wish to express our sincere gratitude to all who placed their expertise to our disposal. It really is impossible to name all who kindly contributed to the many different activities of this three year project so we wish to thank every present and future teacher and teacher educator in Plovdiv, Tartu, Torun, Jyväskylä and Helsinki who did something to help. Anonymous some of them may be but their role was essential in carrying out the aims and goals of the project. Especially, we express our thanks to the students who wanted to spend three weeks of their practical training period abroad and so gave us very useful information about teacher training in another country. Our sincere thanks also go to all their tutors, mentors and peer trainees who helped to collate their experiences. We are deeply indebted to the leading Bulgarian member Zhelyazka Raykova, PhD., vice professor of Physics Didactics in Plovdiv University, the original initiator of EU TRAIN project. Her sagacity, frankness and patience greatly contributed to dealing with unexpected problems during the project and her friendship has been a continuous encouragement to us. Yordanka Dimova, PhD. and Roumyana Mitrikova, PhD., adroitly helped us on several occasions and Dragia Ivanov, PhD. and Stefan Nikolov, PhD., Professors in the Physics Department, gave their friendly support. We wish to express our sincere gratitude to the Polish team, Katarzyna Przegietka, PhD. and PhD. Jozefina Turlo, PhD. for their work and care which greatly facilitated every stage of the project. Jozefina s immense knowledge of physics teacher education worldwide and Katarzyna s adroit management skills were crucial to our work. We are also deeply conscious of our indebtedness to the Estonian team, Ott Krikmann, MSc. and Jaan Susi, PhD assistant and lecturer of the didactics of physics at the Faculty of Science and Technology in Tartu University, whose co-operation right from the very beginning was more than indispensable. 5

6 In Finland, we would like to acknowledge the encouragement of Jari Lavonen, PhD., professor of Physics and Chemistry education and Maija Aksela, PhD., Leader of the Centre of Chemistry Education in Helsinki University. We also wish to thank Lauri Vihma, MSc. for his excellent work as our web master. The Jyväskylä specialist team consists of physics and chemistry teachers and trainers Pekka Parkkinen, MSc., Tom Nevanpää, MSc. and Elisa Heimovaara who provides international liaison at the Department of Teacher Education. Pekka s extra skills in English and experience of international work in Africa served us well whenever communication problems arose. Elisa s expert advice and readily given assistance were invaluable as she helped us in very practical ways. We are very grateful to the international group of referees for checking every paragraph of this book for accuracy and for supplying many timely suggestions. Our sincere gratitude also goes to Reg Kennedy in Finland, who corrected the language. We are particularly grateful to artist Angel Vasilev in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, who gave us his work, filled with energy and joy, to be used on the cover of this book. Finally, we wish to thank the High School Teacher Programme of CERN, the European Organisation of Nuclear Research, that enabled Seija Valtonen from Finland and Zhelyazka Raykova from Bulgaria to meet during the HST 2001 summer course and begin planning the EU TRAIN project. This project is funded by the European Union and belongs to the Comenius 2.1 Socrates-programme in the field of education. We hope that the participants in this project can also rely on EU funding for future projects when they follow the implementation of the curriculum, the main product of this project. Sincerely PhD. Jarkko Lampiselkä Project Leader EU TRIAN project MSc. Seija Valtonen Project coordinator EU TRAIN project 6

7 Contents Acknowledgments...5 Chapter 1 Introduction...9 Seija Valtonen Chapter 2 Development activity of the project...16 Jarkko Lampiselkä Chapter 3 Description and comparison of the teacher...20 training programmes in the partner countries Katarzyna Przegiętka, Józefina Turło Chapter 4 Description of current teacher training practice...36 Pekka Parkkinen Chapter 5 Comparison of teacher training practice...57 Zhelyazka Raykova, Stefan Nikolov Chapter 6 Towards unified teacher training practice...71 Jarkko Lampiselkä Chapter7 Evaluation of the EU TRAIN project...89 Ott Krikmann, Jaan Susi References...97 Appendices

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9 Chapter 1 Introduction to the Comenius project EU TRAIN- European Training for student teachers in science Project coordinator Seija Valtonen Project initiatives EU TRAIN was a three-year EU project, which worked from to form a framework for a unified training of future teachers of physics and chemistry. The participating universities were the University of Plovdiv in Bulgaria, Tartu University in Estonia, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland, the University of Jyväskylä in Central Finland and with the University of Helsinki, Finland, as the coordinator. The main university representatives were: Plovdiv: Zhelyanzka Raykova, PhD., Associate Professor of Methodology of Physics Teaching Tartu: Ott Krikmann, MSc., Assistant of Didactical Physics at the Centre of School Physics. Torun: Katarzyna Przegietka, PhD. and Jozefina Turlo, PhD., Physics Education Laboratory Jyväskylä: Pekka Parkkinen, MSc., Teacher and trainer of Chemistry and Physics at Teacher Training School Helsinki: Jarkko Lampiselkä, PhD., Lecturer, Didactics of Chemistry and Physics Coordinator: Seija Valtonen, MSc., Teacher and trainer of Physics and Chemistry, Teacher Training School No. 1, Helsinki, Finland We believe that teachers are the real driving force behind educational change in schools and in society. Moreover, the teacher should be an organiser, 9

10 guide and adviser for the pupil in his or her development and quest for knowledge. However, recent investigations have shown that the way science (especially physics) is taught in schools is not optimal and needs improvement. It has been documented that it is common for students to lose interest in, and to develop negative attitudes to physics and chemistry and this results in fewer enrolments in tertiary studies. Many arguments can be found in the literature, e.g. Black and Atkin (1996), Monk and Osborne (2000), Bloom and Davis (2001), Sjøberg (2003) and OECD (2004). Training in reflective teaching must be part of the initial teacher training and strongly connected to teaching practice in schools. Obviously, schools would be more efficient if they had better teachers and, to improve the quality and effectiveness of the initial training of science teachers in Europe, elaboration of the current teacher training programmes was very important. In order to change this situation the project participants decided to launch the EU TRAIN project. Project Objectives The initial teacher training period is when the future teachers find their own professional identity: their particular teaching style. It is the most important time for them to become better-equipped science teachers and to change from the behaviouristic tradition to the modern constructivist ideology. The main objective of this project was to present guidelines for a unified initial training of science teachers in the participating countries. For the first time in the EU, our aim was to design, develop and deliver a new and flexible programme with common core elements relating to science teachers training at school. The overall aim was to synthesise theoretical, pedagogical knowledge and teacher training practice in classrooms into a new programme (curriculum) of science teacher training resulting in reflective science teachers. This programme will be tested, adjusted to local requirements and adopted by the project partner institutions. 10

11 Objectives of the project were: 1. To find the best practices to adequately combine knowledge gained from theoretical pedagogical research with school teaching practice in the participating countries To observe and analyse the different nationally available resources concerning the initial training of teachers of physics and chemistry in the participating countries To identify in detail the different ways of organising the periods of practical teacher training To compare and analyse the results of activities 1.1. and 1.2. in order to agree on the objectives and content of the initial training of physics and chemistry teachers. 2. To facilitate the mobility of student teachers of physics and chemistry and their future access to the European professional market To structure supervised exchanges to gain experience in how school practices of future science teachers are organised in the participating countries To combine the good practices in teacher training, in order to identify common needs among student teachers and trainers and to discover how equal opportunities can be enhanced among future science teachers in different countries To design, develop and deliver a new and flexible programme with common core elements relating to the practice of science teachers training in schools To improve communication and collaboration in team skills at all levels of science teaching, especially to enable departments of physics, chemistry, teacher education and teacher training schools to work together to facilitate the mobility of future teachers of physics and chemistry and their access to the EU professional market. An analysis of the national resources is introduced in Chapter 3 and followed by the introduction to the current teacher training programmes. A comparison of the current teacher training programmes is shown in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 introduces the construction of the model of the unified teacher training practice module, its implementation and evaluation. Chapter 7 evaluates the data gathered and introduces the list of the best practices found in these four systems. 11

12 Main activities and outputs The main activities of the project were: 1. To create an overview and comparison of science teacher training in the participating institutions, especially aimed at identifying possible common parts of the programme related to teacher training practice. 2. Based on the research findings and identification of the best practice in the partner countries, to specify desirable science teacher competencies and develop a common part of the programme to achieve them. 3. Agreements on inter-institutional accreditations were worked out and applications sent for support from Comenius 2.2.A. 4. A student exchange phase in two steps, leading to evaluation and modification of the training programme. 5. Completion of the common part of the science teacher training programme. Internal and external evaluations of the project were made. 6. Dissemination of the interim results took place through the WWW page of the EU TRAIN project, but the final results were also translated into all project partner languages and disseminated in national booklets and journals as well as being reported during international and national conferences devoted to science teacher education. Several methods were used for introducing and strengthening valuable, reflective practice of future science teachers. Giving student teachers the theoretical tools for understanding reflective practice. Using log books/portfolios for formulating aims, plans and evaluation of their teaching practice as well as for their reflections on the practice. Using teacher coaching during the practice period. Using peer coaching during the practice period. To function optimally this requires groups of two or more student teachers from different countries. When the students arrived at the host institutions, an 18 hr orientation course was arranged, including elementary studies in the language of the host country and information about its history and culture. 12

13 Three main products were developed in the project 1. Web page It includes documents describing new, common and flexible elements of the curriculum for science teachers. A printed version of this document will be sent to science teacher educators in participating countries. 2. This present book containing the science teachers common training programme. All chapters were assessed by external evaluators. 3. Meetings with local and national educational authorities and also with local educators in charge of the initial training of science teachers. Dissemination took place through the student teachers that had taken part in the mobility actions. The outcomes of the project can be used productively in the development of teacher training curricula and teacher education across the participating countries and beyond. Recommendations The work of education is one of a society s most important missions. The opportunities teachers enjoy doing their work and attending to their development as professionals depend largely on the resources directed toward education. The EU TRAIN project showed the partners that opportunities among future science teachers in different countries depend on their history and current policy, and not so much on teachers or students. We discovered substantial differences in teachers salaries in European countries. Consequently, one core problem seems to be that teacher trainers in most of the participating countries are paid very little for their work. If you get very little or no extra salary for the time-consuming, demanding and important work of guiding and giving feedback to student teachers, it is understandable that you are not very motivated to assist them during the practice. The situation is not optimal in Bulgaria, Estonia and Poland and needs improvement. As educational authorities want experienced teachers in the European Union to bequeath their knowledge and experience to a new generation of teachers, mentoring should be encouraged by paying a proper salary. This is one of the most important recommendations we want to give to the teacher education authorities in the EU. 13

14 It is essential that during the training period future teachers are not given models of the old behaviouristic style of teaching but encouraged to find their own constructivist teaching methods. Courses of education and subject didactics should also be available so that future teachers can see how they may use knowledge of educational psychology to solve specific teaching, motivating and learning problems. Moreover, one of the principles of teacher education in the European Union underlines the construction of the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) (Anon., 2008). This means that student teachers need to learn, not only the subject, but also subject didactics and educational psychology, along with their practical training in schools. Based on our curriculum analysis, it seems that many of the partner universities emphasise subject knowledge rather than pedagogical knowledge. Among the partner universities, only Finland seems to have a fair balance between these knowledge areas, and other countries need to refine their teacher training programs. In conclusion, to enhance the quality of teaching in EU, we recommend the following to the authorities responsible for teacher training: 1. Practical training, including tutored teaching, should be an essential part of initial teacher education in every EU country. 2. The practice should last at least a few months and be organized in separate periods to enable reflective practice. 3. The ideal timing of the practice is after subject studies at university and before the first working place at school but, for motivational reasons, subject didactics should be attached to subject studies right from the beginning of teacher education. 4. The practice should concentrate on the quality of teaching and learning. Just a few lessons a week guarantee enough time to find and use all the needed material to prepare a good lesson. 5. Every lesson should be supervised properly. The mentor should be ready to give enough time to help the student. A mentor should attend every lesson taught by a student. 6. The feedback given to the student teacher should be encouraging. It should not concentrate on mistakes but to help the student become a reflective teacher who is willing to develop his/her skills through the whole working career. 7. Supervisors of future teachers should be paid properly for their mentoring work. 14

15 8. A school which specialises in teaching practice should be an essential part of the teacher training department of all universities in the EU. 9. Student teachers should be able to practise teaching in another European country as a part of supervised trainee mobility. 10. During the first year, every new teacher should have a mentor, an experienced teacher, who can not only devote his or her time to supervising the beginner but also ensure that the new teacher is aware of what facilities and equipment are available. This is obviously very important in the practical teaching of physics and chemistry. 15

16 Chapter 2 Development activity of the project Jarkko Lampiselkä Conducting the development The project was practical in nature and it included developmental activities. For practical and financial reasons, we selected an action research methodology (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2000; Denzin and Lincoln, 2000; Carr & Kemmis, 1986). Some researchers, for example Denzin and Lincoln (1998), suggest that action research and case study are two different research strategies whereas other researchers, for example Cresswell (1998), think that action research belongs to a subcategory of case studies. Nevertheless, Cohen et al. (2000) define action research as a small-scale intervention in the functioning of the real world and a close examination of the effects of such intervention. Carr and Kemmis (1986, 164) gives another definition: educational action research is a term used to describe a family of activities in curriculum development, professional development, school improvement programmes, and systems planning and policy development. These activities have in common the identification of strategies of planned action, which are implemented, and then systematically submitted to observations, reflection and change. Participants in the action being considered are integrally involved in all these activities. Usually, the action research process is depicted as in Figure 1. Observation Observation Reflection Action Reflection Action Planning Planning Figure 1: Action research process There has been criticism of the methodology and, according to Cohen et al. (2000), the points usually made are that its objective is situational and spe- 16

17 cific, its sample is restricted and unrepresentative, it has little or no control over independent variables, and its findings cannot be generalised but usually generally restricted to the environment in which the research is carried out. These arguments are good but it should be pointed out here that action research represents a different research strategy than, for example, survey, and therefore should be compared to co-operative inquiry or action inquiry (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000) rather than e.g. a survey. Obviously, there are occasions when action research as a method is fitting and appropriate. Cohen et al. (2000) declares that action research is appropriate whenever specific knowledge is required for a specific problem in a specific situation or when a new approach is to be grafted onto an existing system. This is well in accordance with the project aim, which was to design, develop and deliver a new and flexible programme with common core elements relating to the practice of science teachers training at schools in the participating countries. The quality and development of learning environments were examined by paying special attention to the authenticity and interactivity of the learning situations as well as to student teachers professional growth. In this project the authenticity meant, above all, the correspondence between what is learnt at university and what is needed in working life, programmes and for further studies. From this perspective, development of such evaluation methods that would support authentic learning also becomes central. To achieve the research aim described above, the project launched developmental activities together with senior secondary schools in participating countries. The design Targets Project objectives were to find the best practices in the teacher training programmes in the participating countries and to facilitate the student teacher s mobility in Europe. The targets for finding the best practices were, on the one hand the official documents of teacher training programmes of the participating institutions, and on the other hand the student teachers experiences concerning the implementation of the programme. Implementation leans on close co-operation with the relevant upper secondary school where the student teachers carry out their teaching practice. The targets concerning student mobility were the student teachers themselves. In all, the two mobility periods involved 28 student teachers, 14 in the first mobility during spring 2007 and 14 in the second mobility during spring Each period lasted for three weeks and the students were given a sche- 17

18 dule concerning the mobility. These student teachers were typical chemistry and physics student teachers of the participating institutions, had a basic knowledge of the English language, had studied chemistry or physics at least at bachelor level and had some teaching experience. The upper secondary schools involved in the study were chosen on the basis of their availability at the time. The most frequent reason for refusal was that the school did not have the time or resources to join in the study. Where possible we wanted to include schools both from urban areas and the countryside. Teachers for the teaching groups were typical of these schools, were all experienced mentors and had years of experience in teacher training. The groups consisted of typical students in these schools and had selected their particular schools for geographical reasons or on the basis of their personal preferences. The selection of students into these teaching groups was determined primarily by the school they had initially sought, and secondly by the course in which they had enrolled. The first instance was influenced by their prior educational achievement, among other things, while the second choice was influenced by the progress of their studies and also by their fellow students. As for the subject matter, we were concerned with chemistry and physics, and some of these courses were compulsory. Data collection The data was collected by learning diaries (Appendix 1), mobility reports (Appendix 2), lesson observation forms (Appendixes 3, 4), and interviews (Appendix 5). The relevance and suitability of the information gathering forms was determined by the handbook of evaluation and dissemination strategies for Comenius 2 projects (Feijen, Reubsaet, Espinach, 2000) and from the questionnaire used in the massive EURYDICE data collection on science teaching (Anon., 2005). Areas of interest were the four European principles of teacher education: school systems, teacher training practice, best practices and the functionality of the designed exchange period itself. At the beginning of the exchange period student teachers were asked to keep a learning diary. Its purpose was to provide authentic information about each student teacher s learning and about the meaningfulness of his or her working in the host country. They were instructed to describe the progress of classes, the topics discussed, what they had or had not learnt, and what factors they found as promoting or hindering the learning process. In addition, they were also asked to describe their feelings, about the teacher and the class in general, as well as learning attitudes and the general atmosphere in 18

19 the class. In particular, student teachers and teachers alike were instructed to record their observations about the student teacher s workload. Interviews helped obtain a deeper understanding of what mentors, tutors and students had written in their diaries. The student and the interviewer together went through the diary, and the student could supplement his or her answers to the questions and explain how they had been arrived at. Analysis and interpretation Inductive content analysis (Patton, 2002) characterises the analysis of the student teachers written responses. Answers to the open-ended questions, learning diaries and interviews were read as a whole, not focusing on the questions. Mentors/tutors/student teachers responses were quite extensive; altogether about 50 pages. Secondly, information was elicited diversely and by various data collection techniques. Responses thus lent themselves to examination through the methods of triangulation and data saturation (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000). Of course, the methods were mutually overlapping and interrelated, but these were nevertheless the prime approaches of the analyses. During content analysis, the researchers searched the text for recurring words or themes with the object of reducing original expressions to find the core meaning, which can be called a pattern or theme. Patterns are descriptive findings that could be quite fuzzy. Themes are more categorical, even exclusive. Reducing the text, the researchers formed reduced expressions and several hierarchical sub-categories. When interpreting the texts, the analysing unit was not a student teacher but sequence or an idea. Eventually, the categories could be understood as the answers to the study questions (cf. Introduction). The researchers in the study read, independently, all responses several times and conducted initial categorisation following the principles of inductive content analysis. They discussed the initial categories and read the responses again to have consensus on the categorisation. 19

20 Chapter 3 Description and comparison of the teacher training programmes in the partner countries Józefina Turło, Katarzyna Przegiętka Abstract This chapter first of all describes the national educational systems of the partner countries, together with a description of the national resources in the teacher training area. Then there is a comparison of teacher training curricula together with the main common features significant for the future implementation of the unified teacher training curriculum. Introduction Most countries are usually dissatisfied with their educational system. Therefore, in making an effort to improve it, they adopt an educational policy in line with their aims and social conditions. Thus, in recent years the school systems in almost all European Union countries have been undergoing essential reforms on different levels of education, the reason being the process of coordination of the educational systems. This had made possible co-operation in the field, which was recognised as one of the most important European common goals. In the Maastricht Treaty, in Article 149/1 (Anon., 2008a), it says that: the Community shall contribute to the development of quality education by encouraging cooperation between Member States and, if necessary, by supporting and supplementing their actions, while fully respecting the responsibility of the Member States for the content of teaching and the organisation of education systems and their cultural and linguistic diversity. Taking into account that science is an important component of our European cultural heritage... and that it is the quality of the teacher that is the major determinant of student engagement with science (Osborne, J. & Dillon, J.,2008), in this chapter we are going to concentrate mainly on the structure of the teacher training programmes, and especially on the science teacher training curricula in the institutions of the EU TRAIN project partner countries. To understand the differences and similarities between the teacher 20

21 training programmes it is necessary to begin by describing briefly how the education systems in the partner countries are organized. Primary and secondary education systems in the partner countries The present systems of primary and secondary education in our four partner countries (including the results of the recent educational system reforms in Bulgaria, Estonia and Poland) are shown in Figure 1. To compare them, the levels of ISCED (International Standard Classification of Education of UN- ESCO) were used (UNESCO, 2008c). ISCED uniform levels were established to make the comparison of the education systems in different countries possible. It's important to stress here that the situation is continuously changing because of the process of reforms and conformation of national systems to the European Union regulations. As we can see, the major differences are observed in the duration of compulsory education and the structure of education at the pre-primary, primary and secondary levels. In general, pre-primary education is not compulsory. In Poland six year old children should only attend the special zero class, which is treated as the first preparatory year of primary education. It can be provided by primary schools or kindergartens under the auspices of the local government. In other partner countries pre-primary education is treated as an option for parents. Local governments are obliged to create and supervise the kindergartens. The duration of compulsory education differs in the partner countries from 9 years in Estonia and Finland to years in Poland (until the age of 18). In Finland education is compulsory in primary and lower secondary school. In Estonia primary and lower secondary levels are combined but, like Finland and Bulgaria, schooling is obligatory until the age of 16. It is also worth noting that the upper secondary schooling in Bulgaria and Estonia lasts 4 years, but in Finland and Poland 3 years. The different structures of the education systems lead to a situation where pupils who end their compulsory education have different educational backgrounds. In Bulgaria, Estonia and Poland, some upper secondary schooling is compulsory. Thus the process of unifying the school systems seems to be incomplete and needs improving. These differences are not very important from the project partners' point of view. We are focused mainly on a unified science teacher training practice for lower and upper secondary school, where the age of children is not much different in every partner country. The fact that the training practice doesn't involve only subject teaching preparation (methodology of teaching), but also more general pedagogical and sociological preparation for the roles of the teacher and pupils' supervisor, also makes our task more realistic. 21

22 In the next sections we analyse the national resources in teacher training and science teacher training curricula in the partner countries which is the starting point for their further comparison. Organisation of teacher training in the partner countries The initial (pre-service) teacher training in the partner countries takes place mainly during university education (professional teacher education is realized at the same time as the discipline core subjects education) and this programme of teacher education we call the concurrent model. However, in each of the four partner countries it is also possible to obtain teaching qualifications using an alternative training pathway, e.g. the consecutive model, where students first receive a general education in order to obtain a degree in a particular subject or branch of study, and then begin the initial professional training programme, enabling them to qualify as teachers. Teacher qualification standards are very alike in all partner countries. These standards consist of a set of core competencies, relevant knowledge (subject, methodical and practical) and skills (such as a foreign language or ICT), that a future teacher must possess. Thus, the initial study programme should make it possible for student teachers to obtain their teaching qualification. The main forms of study programmes are also similar and there are lectures with final exams, laboratory work, exercises, seminars, school practice (supervised by a university or school teacher), individual work of the teachersto-be or their groups (completing the following tasks: writing essays, preparing exercises, working in libraries, preparing lessons, writing papers, giving seminar talks and passing the final exams). However, it's important to emphasize that in our comparison we take into account only this part of the studies, which should be named contact hours (activities organised by the university or a teacher training school). It's very difficult to estimate the approximate amount of time spent by trainees on self studies, group work, etc. Of all the partner countries, only in Finland is this part of the student's work included in the ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) points calculation. A general comparison of the studies' structure shows that the organisation of the academic year is similar in all universities. The academic year consists of two semesters of almost the same duration (15 to 16 weeks). We describe next the teacher training resources in partner countries in general (in alphabetical order), and then the few particular peculiarities of each national teacher training system. 22

23 Figure 1. Primary and secondary education systems in partner countries. 23

24 Bulgaria Initial teacher training in Bulgaria is carried out in higher educational institutions universities and special teacher higher institutes (Eurydice European Unit, 2001). Since 2002, state regulations on higher education for Bachelor's and Master's degrees fixes a minimum of 4 years study with a total of no less than 2,200 and no more than 3,000 hours for a Bachelor's degree, and for a Master's degree for profile and extensive training, related to the major of the previous Bachelor's degree, no less than one additional year is required. Teacher training is parallel to the specific subject studies. Those who just study the particular subject at university can acquire teacher qualifications upon their graduation (the alternative pathway of teacher training). In Bulgaria teacher training is carried out in the following types of institutions: Universities: The universities of Sofia, Plovdiv, Shumen and Blagoevgrad offer Bachelor's and Master's degrees in various fields of higher education, including teacher training in the following professional spheres: theory and management of education, pedagogy and teaching of different school subjects. Specialized higher institutes, for instance: The National Sports Academy in Sofia, The National Arts Academy in Sofia, The Arts Academy in Plovdiv, etc., offer teacher training in specialized subjects (physical education, music, arts, etc.). Qualification Centres in Sofia, Stara Zagora, Varna and Silistra offer postgraduate studies for teachers, where it is also possible to obtain qualifications for teaching a second subject. Training in each profession in higher institutions follows a curriculum, which includes compulsory, choice and facultative subjects. Compulsory subjects provide fundamental discipline knowledge in a wide profile of the chosen professional field. Choice subjects provide specific knowledge and competencies in their major field and facultative subjects offer knowledge and skills in various scientific fields according to students' interests. Estonia Teacher training in Estonia takes place only at the level of higher education (Eurydice European Unit, 2001). Teachers of primary and secondary school subjects are inducted into their profession upon graduation from a five-year 24

25 Master's degree programme. Teachers for kindergartens and vocational education institutions are trained during Bachelor studies and by the realization of applied higher education curricula. As in the other partner countries, the teacher training programme includes discipline core subjects and educational subjects. In Estonia teacher training is carried out in the following types of institutions: Universities: Most teacher training in Estonia is run by the two largest universities in the country, Tartu and Tallinn and their colleges in Narva, Haapsalu and Viljandi. Specialized higher institutes, for instance: the Cultural Academy of the University of Tartu in Viljandi, the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and the Estonian Academy of Arts, which offer training of special subject teachers Tallinn Pedagogical College, the only school of applied higher education, which prepares kindergarten teachers. Those who did not obtain their teacher's qualifications during their basic courses can complete them through additional studies. For example, Tallinn Technical University and University of Tartu offer such in-service programmes for teachers of vocational subjects. Universities are also offering the additional programmes for working teachers, where they can acquire the knowledge and skills needed for teaching a second, additional subject. The duration of these extra studies is generally a year. Since 2004, graduates of teacher training programmes have had to undertake a so-called mentor year. The trainee is assisted by an experienced colleague mentor and by the support programmes offered by the universities. Only after this, qualifying on-the-job, phase do future teachers obtain full teacher's qualifications. Finland The training of prospective pre-primary, primary and secondary school teachers in Finland takes place at the universities and at vocational teacher education colleges. Physics and chemistry teacher education is given at the University of Helsinki, the University of Joensuu, the University of Jyväskylä, the University of Oulu, the University of Turku and bo Akademi. 25

26 Unique in the European scale system are thirteen teacher training schools, which belong to the faculties of behavioural sciences of Finnish universities and play a central role in training prospective teachers (Finnish Ministry of Education, 1995). There are two such schools in Helsinki, and the others are located in Hämeenlinna, Joensuu, Jyväskylä, Kajaani, Oulu, Rauma, Rovaniemi, Savonlinna, Tampere, Turku and Vaasa (language of instruction is Swedish). These teacher training schools are also called normal schools as at one time their primary duty was considered to be setting the norm, or providing the model, for good teaching. Other than handling vacancies (which is the responsibility of the universities), these schools enjoy independence. Their operations are governed by the relevant legislation on the teacher training schools and regulations issued directly by the Ministry of Education. The teacher training schools' basic duties are: providing teaching for comprehensive and upper secondary levels, supervising teacher trainees, making school teaching experiments, doing research. The teacher training schools also support and complement the teacher education and research activities of the universities. The close relationship between theory and practice forms the basis of the whole concept of a teacher's education. In the teacher training schools, knowledge in various fields of the arts and sciences, together with educational theory and know-how are applied in practice. Besides the pre-service training system, future teachers can complete their professional education after graduation using the alternative pathways (Eurydice European Unit, 2001). To qualify as a secondary school teacher (subject teacher) a candidate must complete separate, one year, pedagogical studies after her/his higher education graduation. Poland Initial education of teachers for the different levels and types of schools is provided within the higher education and teacher education sectors (Eurydice European Unit, 2001). Until 2004 in the framework of each study area the students had a choice of teacher specialisation, which meant that they could acquire their teaching qualifications in parallel with their core discipline subject studies. In 2004 the National Ministry of Education issued new 26

27 regulations and now the education of lower secondary (gymnasium) twosubject school teachers may last three years (in parallel with the Bachelor's studies). For those who graduate with no teaching specialisation and later decide to enter the teaching profession, it is possible to acquire teaching qualifications during postgraduate studies or during in-service education. In the academic year 2006/2007 there were more than 300 higher educational institutions in Poland, of which 130 were public. About 70 of them are in charge of teacher education for all levels of education. Universities, technical universities and teacher education schools (pedagogical universities) train teachers of various specialisations for schools at all levels and teachers of vocational subjects for secondary schools. Academies, for instance Academies of physical education, Academies of fine arts and Academies of music, train teachers of physical education, art and music respectively. Academies of economics, agriculture, medicine and the Academy of Mining and Metallurgy train teachers of vocational subjects for secondary vocational schools Schools of higher vocational education train teachers of various specialisations for nursery, primary and basic vocational schools, continuing education establishments, school libraries as well as teachers of theoretical vocational subjects and practical vocational skills for secondary schools. Teacher education colleges train teachers of various specialisations for nursery, primary and basic vocational schools, educational and child care establishments as well as school libraries. Foreign language teacher education colleges train teachers of one foreign language for primary and secondary schools. Anyone, who has higher education with relevant pedagogical qualifications or has graduated from a teacher education institution, can undertake a teaching job in a school or other educational establishment. A teacher, who is going to undertake her/his first job as a fully qualified teacher, is employed for a period of one year in order to undergo a trainee period required for promotion to the post of contract teacher. A trainee teacher in Poland is upgrading her/his practical qualifications needed for taking an initial position in the four levels promotion scale. The completion of teachers' qualifications is also possible during additional, postgraduate studies of general pedagogy (pedagogical course) offered by 27

28 universities and other educational institutions, like the National Teachers Professional Development Centre in Warsaw (in Polish CODN) and the 16 Regional Teachers Professional Development Centres (ODN). Furthermore, a working teacher may acquire the skills necessary for teaching an additional second subject during 18 months postgraduate studies at a university. Considering that teaching is a very important profession, there is need for continuous professional development. Thus, in-service teachers' training courses are organized in Poland by the above mentioned CODN institution CODN, ODN, universities and other educational institutions. Due to the efforts of the Polish Ministry of Education the national system of certification and provisions for the consecutive steps of teachers' professional advancement was developed. The teacher at the beginning of her/his career can be employed as a trainee teacher, then as a contract teacher and after fulfilling the specified requirements as nominated teacher, and finally as a diploma teacher. A diploma teacher with extraordinary merits in the educational field can be also distinguished by receiving the honorary title of professor of education. 28

29 Requirements and evaluation of the prospective teacher's qualifications According to the national teacher qualification standards, future teachers in every partner country should complete their Bachelor s or Master s subject studies, and either prepare a diploma thesis or pass the subject diploma exam. Additionally, candidate teachers are obliged to pass exams devoted to the pedagogical part of the curriculum. Table 1 (Eurydice European Unit, 2001, Finnish Ministry of Education, 1995), compares the models of education of future teachers, information about the duration of studies for the degree obtained and teaching qualifications level. Table 1. Requirements for prospective secondary school teachers in the partner countries. Country Number of study years Degree Qualifications level Bulgaria 4 BSc 4+1,5 MSc Lower & upper secondary ISCED 2 & 3 Lower & upper secondary ISCED 2 & 3 Estonia 5 MSc Finland 5 MSc Lower & upper secondary ISCED 2 & 3 Lower & upper secondary ISCED 2 & 3 Poland 3 BSc 3+2 MSc Lower & upper secondary ISCED 2 Lower & upper secondary ISCED 2 & 3 The specific differences in the teacher training system for each partner country, important from the point of view of the common curriculum of practical training, are related to the length of the teacher training programme, its place in the whole curriculum and its organisation in general. Also the number of ECTS points given for the whole programme, and for the teacher training practice in particular, is different. For example: 29

30 in Finland and Estonia only Master's degree graduates can be teachers of Physics and Chemistry in secondary schools; in Poland it's possible for Bachelor's degree graduates to teach in lower secondary schools, while in Bulgaria Bachelor's degree graduates can be teachers in upper secondary schools as well; the length of the Bachelor's degree study periods varies from three years in Estonia and Poland to four years in Bulgaria; the pedagogical training of students in Bulgaria, Poland and Finland starts in the Bachelor degree studies, while in Estonia it takes place only during the Master degree studies. The special requirements and forms of assessment of the future teacher's qualifications are different in every country. Table 2 shows teachers' qualifications evaluation strategies and certification procedures present in the partner countries (Eurydice European Unit, 2001). Table 2. Evaluation and certification of prospective teachers in the partner countries. Country Education Final teachers qualification exam Certificate Bulgaria examination and course work integrated practical and applied teachers state exam Diploma certifying completion of the teachers' vocational studies or Certificate to the diploma of the graduated degree of higher education Estonia examination and course work not present Diploma certifying completion of the teachers' training curriculum Finland examination and course work not present Diploma certifying completion of the teachers' training curriculum Poland examination and course work not present Diploma certifying completion of the teachers' vocational studies 30

31 In every partner country the future teacher receives a special document: diploma or certificate proving her/his professional qualifications. Only in Bulgaria is there a final state examination phase. This special teacher's state exam includes a theoretical part and a lesson given by the candidate in the presence of the examination committee. Description of science teacher training at the partner institutions In this section we are going to describe the teacher training programmes and possibilities of science subjects teaching qualifications in the five universities taking a part in the EU TRAIN project. University of Plovdiv, Bulgaria Education at Plovdiv University has recently been undergoing reform aimed at meeting the requirements of the Bologna process, which is supported by Bulgaria. One of the targets of this reform was to gradually introduce a three-tier degree system for Bachelor's, Master's and Doctor's degrees, as well as ECTS credit points for different subjects. Students of science studies at three faculties those of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, and in three double subjects Physics and Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics, and Biology and Chemistry were the main objectives of this process. The courses for these subjects last 4 years and correspond to the Bachelor's Degree. Students who graduate in the above double subjects can teach two of the selected subjects: physics, chemistry or biology in secondary schools. For four years the university has also had a license to train Master's students, but completion of this degree takes an additional one and a half years of fulltime study (Anon., 2008d). Tartu University, Estonia The University of Tartu is the only institution in Estonia training future physics teachers for the secondary school level (Anon., 2008c). To become a Physics or other science subject teacher at secondary school level it's necessary to complete Master degree studies. The Bachelor's programme of Physics or other selected subject provides a general introduction to the area of Science and more advanced knowledge of the selected discipline. The aim of the Bachelor's degree course is to qualify the undergraduate student for Master's level studies in the selected speciality (for example Fundamental Physics, Applied Physics or Teaching of Physics). 31