Changes in teacher education provision: comparative experiences internationally

ABSTRACT

Many changes have taken place in initial teacher education (ITE) programmes over the last number of years in countries such as Israel, Portugal, Jamaica, Ontario (Canada), and England. This paper outlines some of these changes, why they occurred, and to the extent possible, how effective these changes have been from the experience of the teacher educators who have written this paper. In particular, they describe one significant change that would greatly improve ITE in their respective jurisdictions. In the latter part of the paper, the writers discuss current trends and possible directions for teacher education across international contexts. With its contrasting accounts of ITE in different national contexts across the world, this article argues for high quality initial teacher education to provide a global educational workforce in which teachers and learners can flourish within an equal, yet diverse and decolonialised ecosystem.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher education changes
• teacher education curriculum
• revision
• initial teacher education (ITE)
• challenges in ITE

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The Ontario College of Teachers refers to students who are in an Initial Teacher Education programme as ‘teacher candidates’ rather than ‘pre-service teachers’ or ‘student teachers’.